A Victorian interest in apples

By | October 19th, 2023|Categories: History of the home, Victorian culture, Victorian Era|Tags: , |

While they are available now year-round, apples are technically a seasonal fruit for fall. That is probably why so many warm dishes were made with them during the Victorian era. Apples in the Victorian era were a very popular and common ingredient, even served as a dessert dish on their own. There was also a [...]

The Golden Age of Paper Dolls

By | August 24th, 2023|Categories: 1950s fun, History of the home|

It would be hard to imagine children playing with paper dolls today, but there was an era when they were collected and well-loved. There was a window of time when paper dolls were all the rage, right before they would be replaced by the Queen Bee of all dolls to this day, Ms. Barbie herself. [...]

Thimbles: protecting us from pinpricks for thousands of years

By | April 23rd, 2023|Categories: History of the home, Trinkets|Tags: , |

I love to study trinkets from time. Some of my recent ideas have come from research I did last year for a post on women’s tie-on pockets. Among the many items that were commonly carried in the deep, under-the-skirt pockets of the 19th century were thimbles. It struck me that women would be ready to [...]

That's write! Inkwells through time

By | January 8th, 2023|Categories: History of the home, Regency Era, Victorian Era|Tags: |

I have a new hobby! I am a big fan of hand-lettering and a big history enthusiast. I recently decided to combine two of my passions and start lettering with a fountain pen. That naturally led me down an internet rabbit hole of trying to learn about the history of fountain pens and their related [...]

Letter seals: a history

By | November 13th, 2022|Categories: History of the home, Regency Era, Victorian Era|

There is something so satisfying about depictions of 19th-century letter exchanges. The paper appears thick and high quality, the letting is in cursive writing which is so rare these days, and of course, the wax seals they are often closed with. Communicating this way must have made each correspondence somewhat significant, more so than the [...]

Heloise's 1962 Housekeeping Tips

By | November 6th, 2022|Categories: History of the home, Women's History|Tags: , |

I really enjoy vintage etiquette and household manuals. The latest in my collection is a 1962 edition of Heloise’s Housekeeping Hints. I have been enjoying poking through it over the last couple of weeks, being both educated on some helpful tips and humored at some of the outdated inclusions. For instance, have you ever tried [...]

19th century spicy trinkets: Nutmeg graters

By | September 25th, 2022|Categories: History of the home, Regency Era, Trinkets, Victorian Era|Tags: , |

About a month ago I covered the cute history of the tie-on pocket. Part of my research involved reading articles documenting the various items that 18th and 19th-century women would carry with them day-to-day. Items of a predictable nature included keys, money, and gloves. Not-so-predictable items on my list were pincushions and nutmeg graters. "Why [...]

A look at tea tables

By | June 4th, 2022|Categories: Entertainment, History of the home, Regency Era|Tags: , |

Let’s return to the history of afternoon tea! I have been having so much fun looking into the various aspects of the history of tea, especially as it relates to the Victorian era. So far this summer we have looked at a short history of the English afternoon tea and teaware of times past. I [...]

Teaware from times past

By | May 15th, 2022|Categories: Entertainment, History of the home, Victorian Era|

Last week I began my summer series on Victorian tea culture. There is so much to explore! One thing that interests me about the history of tea time in England is that something now considered to be so associated with the United Kingdom was relatively new in the 1800s. It quickly became an indicator of [...]