Author: Christine Skirbunt Welcome, dear reader, to a most singular entry in the chronicles of Recollection’s diary. I beg you to open your mind to an unearthly October visitation for this is a journey into those curiosities that ought never to have been. Tonight, you step beyond the veil of time and place, into a [...]
Author: Christine Skirbunt With the invention of the telephone in the late 19th century a new profession was also invented: that of switchboard operator. This job was vital because, in the earliest days of the telephone, people could not dial each other directly. They needed an intermediary – known as a telephone operator – to [...]
Author: Christine Skirbunt “That night, and every night she appeared at the London Pavilion, Florence Mills received an ovation each time she came on stage – before every song she sang. This is a tribute, which in my experience, I have never known to be offered to any other artist.”-C.B. Cochran, British Theater Impresario Florence Mills [...]
Author: Christine Skirbunt March is Women’s History Month and, while we sing the praises of an often-well-known repertoire of already famous woman, Women’s History Month includes the history of some lesser-known-but-no-less-important infamous women. Women who defied their times and stood their ground outside of traditional norms. Thus enter the English Highwaywomen. While highwaymen are among the [...]
I know our readers love them some Beatrix Potter. For me, her illustrations bring to mind thoughts of warm summer days at my grandparent's house - open fields and veggies growing for what seemed to be miles when I was young. I am sure many of you feel the same. And I am sure that [...]
A lot of women made enormous strides in the 19th century. One woman carved the way for others in two different countries and left a legacy still honored today. Are you familiar with Elizabeth Blackwell? Born in 1821, she is recognized as the first woman to earn a medical degree in the United States and [...]
I love to wear lipstick and do so almost every day. Occasionally I notice that in casual settings I am the only woman doing so, but there is something about it that makes me feel like “me.” Coloring one’s lips has a history that goes back thousands of years, with it signifying different meanings entirely [...]
I am a fan of Edward Linley Sambourne and I didn’t even know it! During my time as a women’s history researcher and blogger, I have used Sambourne’s photography multiple times, never realizing the source. I think because photography was emerging as such a popular medium during the Edwardian era I assumed that the plethora [...]
A couple of weeks ago the U.S. Mint announced that in 2024 it will be releasing five new quarters featuring five new American women. I don’t know about you, but I am excited to start a collection of women’s history coins. To add to the excitement I thought it would be fun to take a [...]