"To the unrefined or unbred, the visiting card is but a trifling and insignificant bit of paper; but to the cultured disciple of social law, it conveys a subtle and unmistakable intelligence. Its texture, style of engraving, and even the hour of leaving it combine to place the stranger, whose name it bears, in a [...]
Our readers and customers really love Halloween. That is a delight to me, as it is my favorite holiday. I love the chance to dress up, go to parties, and have all sorts of festive fun without all of the pressures associated with the upcoming winter holidays. I also enjoy it because one of my [...]
Last week I explored the Victorian croquet craze and the role that flirtation played in the game’s quick rise in popularity. Young men and women delighted in the opportunity for casual socializing and flocked to lawns around England and America to interact. It lost as many fans as it gained, however, with many losing their [...]
Wanting to do a seasonally-appropriate post on popular Victorian summer activities, I decided to take a look at the history of croquet. For a few decades, the game was undeniably the most popular pastime in both England and America. With an absence of socially acceptable mixed-gender activities, young people especially flocked to lawns to take [...]
Last week I wrote about Edwardian depictions of women and the threat that many men felt about women claiming more and more independence in the early 1900s. One of the common depictions was of a wife heading out of the house with the husband forced to stay at home and attend to the laundry. This, [...]
I don’t know about you, but to me, it feels like a decade since the last summer. Having the pandemic hit in the middle of winter and summer has made carefree days of warm weather seem like a far off dream, and it feels so good to know that it is fast approaching. So, let’s [...]
Spring is here and summer is fast approaching. While 2020 might not include family reunions, street festivals, and out of state vacations, there is still the opportunity to get out safely and enjoy nature. My own COVID-19 schedule includes daily walks in my Denver neighborhood with various exercise routines at a local park. As I [...]
In my last blog post, I explored the light side of smuggling in the Victorian Era and the innovative ways that female entrepreneurs took full advantage of their women’s-only clothing to advance their position in the marketplace. During my research, I encountered many stories of Victorian women using their skirts for a different purpose: Civil [...]
How Women Used Their Skirts to Smuggle Goods in the Victorian Era When I covered the rise and fall of the bustle in a post late last year, one of our readers brought up a good point. The extra space under the skirts of the popular dress styles of the mid to late 1800s would [...]