by Kristin Holt | Jun 14, 2016 | Articles
Victorian Americans not only observed Flag Day on June 14th–they created it. Flag poles on government property sported the star spangled banner. Private citizens raised the flag, draped patriotic bunting over porch rails and fences, and attended military parades. Most of all, they recalled what the American flag stands for, its symbolism, and the meaning of patriotism. The practice of observing Flag Day on June 14th, annually, had been in practice since the 1870s and become widespread, but it took well into the 20th century for a President of the United States to make the day a federal holiday.
by Kristin Holt | May 18, 2016 | Articles
Judge John H. Arbuckle promised divorces to unsuspecting men duped by mail-order brides from the East who padded their limbs, hips, bosoms or employed false hair or used cosmetic paints. Such elements of beauty were common in the Victorian American Era, at least among the wealthy. It must have been common enough among disillusioned bridegrooms for the Judge to rule (April 3, 1873) that “marriages into which a man is seduced by the use of (his list of offenses like makeup and padded breasts) without the man’s knowledge, shall stand null and void if he so desires”. Victorian ladies were guilty of nothing today’s generation hasn’t done. But just what padding devices and cosmetics were readily available in the early 1870’s?
by Kristin Holt | May 12, 2016 | Articles
Victorian-era Americans (both men and women) had ready access to commercially prepared human hair pieces. Women wore them to achieve the style of the day without cutting their hair or to achieve the fullness and length considered stylish and desirable when their own hair couldn’t grow to such amazing lengths. Mail-order catalogs of the period provided a wide variety of products, appealing to men and women alike, including products purported to restore gray hair to the color of youth.
by Kristin Holt | Apr 29, 2016 | Articles
The first Arbor Day was held in the early 1870’s in Nebraska. The event slowly became an annual occasion in all of the fifty States. This tradition of planting trees to beautify and forest the plains has benefited all states in the union. Quotes, a period newspaper article, and historic images enrich the historic understanding of this holiday’s origins.
by Kristin Holt | Jan 27, 2016 | Articles
I’ve read books where the intrepid hero has to reuse brown paper the mercantile owner used to wrap a purchase in order to leave the heroine an all-important note. I read another novel where a would-be bride’s employer deducted the cost of paper and envelope from her wages. Was paper that expensive? Did expense translate to scarcity?
