Let's talk about Victorian cameos!

By | February 18th, 2023|Categories: Accessories, Victorian Era, Victorian fashion, Victorian Fashions|

A brooch is the perfect finishing touch to any Victorian dress or ensemble. I know I have regretted not having one more than once when dressing for a 19th-century-themed event! We have some great options here at Recollections, my favorite is the fairy cameo below.  Vintage Fairy Brooch The cameo style is a very distinctive [...]

Happy Valentine's Day!

By | February 12th, 2023|Categories: Holidays, Regency Era, Valentine's Day, Victorian Era, Victorian Era Celebrations|Tags: |

We love Valentine’s Day here at Recollections! Perhaps it is because the Victorians embraced it so much. Whatever the case, we look forward to it and have enjoyed creating some great content over the last few years. We also love using it as an occasion to express love and appreciation for our customers and readers. [...]

19th-century Valentine's gifts (to make you swoon)

By | February 9th, 2023|Categories: Holidays, Valentine's Day, Victorian culture, Victorian Era|Tags: |

Several months back I came across a framed glove on the Victoria and Albert Museum website. Upon further inspection, I was pleased to discover that it was a Valentine from 1836 from an unknown person to their unknown lover. It got me more than curious about the possibility of other existing 19th-century Valentine’s gifts. I [...]

January History News Roundup

By | January 31st, 2023|Categories: Victorian culture, Victorian Era, Women's History|Tags: , |

We are going to try out a new feature here on Recollections! Knowing how much our community loves all things history, fashion, and women’s history related we will now be gathering news stories through the month that includes the latest in research on each topic.  What history news would you like us to make sure [...]

Did Queen Victoria turn Victorian Wedding Dresses White?

By | January 20th, 2023|Categories: Civil War, Fashion, Victorian Era, Victorian Era Celebrations, Women's History|Tags: , |

Victorian wedding dresses are a sight for any eyes - sore or otherwise. The era was a big time for weddings as life was becoming more public and both parties were increasingly given more say in who they met at the end of the aisle. Queen Victoria herself is a great example of this gradual [...]

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 [...]

Head-scratching Victorian Christmas cards

By | December 26th, 2022|Categories: Christmas, Holidays, Victorian culture, Victorian Era|

Happy Holidays! I have such an interest in learning new things about Victorian culture. Last year I discovered that clovers and pigs were popular symbols to represent the start of a new year and were featured on greeting cards for decades. I wondered if there was a similar thing to learn about 19th-century Christmas cards [...]

The Victorian Study of Snowflakes

By | December 3rd, 2022|Categories: Christmas, Victorian Era|

Victorians were innovators with a deep curiosity about the natural world. They also had a real knack for creating beautiful visuals, especially to our modern sensibilities. As we saw in my look at the life of Marianne North a couple of weeks ago, their scientific explorations often ended with beautiful aesthetics that we still enjoy [...]

Botany Beauty: Marianne North

By | November 17th, 2022|Categories: Victorian Era, Women's History|

I love looking at vintage botanical illustrations and have wanted to cover the history of the art form for a long time. I started to dig in over the last month and was pleased to discover that an Englishwoman was one of the more influential leaders of the Victorian movement to explore and document natural [...]