A mid-century Mother's Day brunch

By | May 12th, 2023|Categories: 1950s fun|Tags: , |

Happy Mother’s Day to our sweet readers and customers! What are you doing to celebrate? Are any of you attending a Mother’s Day brunch? If you are, you are taking part in a tradition that goes back many decades. I know this partially because about a year ago I stumbled upon a delightful assortment of [...]

1960s fashion: the long and short of it

By | May 3rd, 2023|Categories: Fashion history|

A couple of weeks ago I have the privilege to learn more about 1960s fashion designer Mary Quant and the legacy she left when she left when she passed last month. Over the course of my research, I was reminded of what a dynamic decade the 1960s were for fashion. It had so many unique [...]

April history news roundup

By | April 30th, 2023|Categories: History News, Uncategorized|

April was a great month for history news and research! I have compiled my favorite stories from sources near and far and hope that it will make for fun weekend reading. A few highlights: A comprehensive Beatrix Potter exhibition in NashvilleThe castle that marked the beginning of Catherine Howard’s downfallA guide to the Restoration  I [...]

Celebrating spring with the maypole

By | April 26th, 2023|Categories: Holidays, Victorian culture, Victorian Era, Victorian Era Celebrations|

How are you celebrating the arrival of spring? I will be spending a few days in the mountains next week, both as a farewell to the long winter we have had in Denver and also for my birthday which lands on May 3rd. I will be following in a long tradition of venturing out into [...]

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 [...]

Mary Quant: British Fashion Influencer

By | April 19th, 2023|Categories: Fashion history, Women's History|Tags: , |

England lost one of its most notable fashion designers this month with the passing of Mary Quant, the Swinging 60s creator who is often credited for popularizing mini skirts, hot pants, and clothing whimsy. I am a big fan of both mini skirts (I bought two this weekend!) and 1960s fashions so began to read [...]

The charvolant: Regency kite buggy

By | April 13th, 2023|Categories: Regency Era|

April 16th is Fly a Kite Day, and the sunny weather here in Denver is inviting me to celebrate. I wanted to share the excitement over spring with our readers and it immediately dawned on me that there must have been some smart inventors in the 19th century who used kites in various ways. New [...]

All About April

By | April 6th, 2023|Categories: Easter, Holidays|Tags: , |

Robin Williams said that “spring is nature’s way of saying ‘let’s party!'” I’ve always thought that was quite a cute way of looking at it, and even more so this year after having been through such a long winter here in Denver. And even though it snowed all day long yesterday, it is meant to [...]

March History News Roundup

By | April 1st, 2023|Categories: History News|

March was a fun month for women’s history research and human interest stories! It was a challenge to pull my top picks and also to stop myself from spending all day in bed reading each day after discovering the latest each morning. I hope that this will provide some fun weekend reading for you. There [...]