Rosy cheeks: the Victorian way

By | May 27th, 2022|Categories: Fashion, Victorian culture, Victorian Era, Women's History|

One of the first things I do when I put on makeup is to dab my cheeks with a bit of blush. I have always loved the effect and while blush has taken a back seat to eyeliner and contouring more recently, it is still a part of my most basic leaving the house routine. [...]

Five fun facts about Sarah Bernhardt

By | May 25th, 2022|Categories: Women's History|Tags: |

I have been interested in diving into the life of Sarah Bernhardt for a long time. There are so many things that interest me including that one of my heroes, Margaret Brown (aka Molly Brown) was a huge admirer of hers. Margaret Brown was so inspired by Sarah Bernhardt that she took acting lessons in [...]

Nellie Cashman: Wild West Angel

By | May 19th, 2022|Categories: American West, Old West, Victorian Era, Women's History|Tags: , |

I have recently returned back to Denver after another great trip to Tombstone, AZ. It was a magical few days full of new friendships, horseback riding, saloons, and of course, history. I picked up a copy of the Tombstone Times while I was out on one of my shopping excursions and was excited to see [...]

Mother's Day in America and Around the World

By | May 5th, 2022|Categories: Women's History|Tags: |

Happy Mother’s Day to any readers celebrating this week! We are so thankful to have you and thankful for the special role that you play in our communities. To celebrate along with you we thought we would take a look at how communities in other parts of the world honor mothers. Perhaps you will be [...]

A brief history of Victorian afternoon tea

By | April 25th, 2022|Categories: Entertainment, History of the home, Victorian culture, Victorian Era, Women's History|Tags: , |

Something about springtime makes me think of picnics and afternoon tea. Last year I wrote a post that I enjoyed from start to finish on planning a Victorian picnic. I enjoyed the post so much that I referred to it for recipes to make finger sandwiches for an Easter brunch that I attended this year. [...]

The woman behind the Campbell's Soup Kids: Grace Drayton

By | April 7th, 2022|Categories: Edwardian Era, Women's History|

Because of my interest in paper dolls, I have wanted to research the origins of Dolly Dingle for a while now. What I have uncovered is the illustrious career of a pioneering female artist, Grace Drayton. You will no doubt be familiar with some of her most well-known cartoons, which she was creating during a [...]

Port Townsend Victorian Festival

By | March 24th, 2022|Categories: Customer's Fashions, Destinations, Recollections, Victorian Era, Victorian Era Celebrations, Women's History|

We recently heard from a customer who wrote in to let the Recollections team know how much she was enjoying her new jacket. We always love hearing from happy customers, but when we learned that the jacket had been purchased to wear at the Port Townsend Victorian festival that she was helping to organize, we [...]

Mary Titcomb: service through books

By | March 14th, 2022|Categories: Women's History|Tags: |

I thought a post on the early history of bookmobiles would be of interest to our readers. I quickly found when beginning my research a couple of weeks ago, however, that it is a longer and more complex history than I ever thought. After digging and digging (and digging!) I decided that my favorite aspect [...]

Victorian traveling dress: guidelines for a proper lady

By | March 3rd, 2022|Categories: Fashion, Victorian Era, Victorian Fashions, Women's History|Tags: , |

The travel bug has bitten me once again! I have been a world traveler my entire adult life and found it challenging to stay put the last two years, though I did gain a lot from doing so. My first trip since the beginning of the pandemic was my glorious Christmas holiday to Tombstone Monument [...]