Do you hang mistletoe in your home over the holiday season? Do you know that of all the holiday traditions that have both ancient and pagan roots that this is one is among the oldest? Or that it was ever-so-saucy Victorians that turned it into the kissing ritual as we know it today? The history [...]
Polly Pry is a bit of a legend in Colorado. That is because she is directly tied to the notoriety of the most famous people from the state’s history. How so? She is responsible for much of their fame due to being the reporter who put them in the papers. When I first began my [...]
A memorable Halloween starts with a memorable costume. Why not make it one to remember by dressing as a woman from history who deserves to be remembered? Victorian Halloween costumes are always a part favorite because they are striking and great conversation starters. But who to choose? A lot of women from the Victorian era [...]
I am still quite a fan of snail mail and look forward to using the holidays as excuses to send cards and letters to people in my life. And I do so with quite a bit of freedom. I choose my own paper, my own color of ink, and allow my personality to come through. [...]
Last week I wrote about the Victorian home workout and the various attitudes about female exercise of the time. I included illustrations from exercise 19th century fitness manuals which showed women performing various exercises in their full proper dress of the time; corsets, petticoats, and all. Clothing had not yet evolved to a point where [...]
Last weekend I picked up the April copy of Real Simple. The theme for the issue is naturally, spring cleaning. It got me thinking about how this tradition has been around for so long and wondering how much I could find in Victorian household manuals on the topic. I am also striving to use more [...]
I somewhat randomly came across the curious Victorian trend of maps of human conditions and experiences, including marriage and being a woman. The Open Country of a Woman’s Heart is of particular interest to me. I thought it would be a wonderful post in the lead up to Valentine’s Day and research soon followed. The [...]
The holidays are here, and boy, don’t we all need it? It’s been a year of struggles for all of us, and I can tell how much people are looking forward to being with their families and to enjoying some comforts as we wait for the fresh start of the new year. And some of [...]
"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 [...]