Were earrings popular and common within the nineteenth century? Or did they come into vogue (and acceptance) post 1900?
This article references period newspapers, catalogs, and vintage photographs. Also discloses an element of cover art for (Gus’s Story) The Marshal’s Surrender.
September 8th marks the anniversary of the Great Hurricane in 1900, the tremendous storm that struck Galveston, Texas and took approximately 8,000 lives. Despite numerous other hurricanes, blizzards, earthquakes, floods, and tornadoes, the Great Hurricane remains the single-most destructive natural disaster in United States History. This article encapsulates the high points of the storm’s events through two newspaper articles in the week following the storm, a YouTube presentation by a young girl, and quotes from historical sources. This historical event is of import to me personally as I spent many long, hot, sunshiny summer days on Galveston beach.
Victorian Americans needed ice–for home use, through delivery businesses, on a commercial scale (to keep food from spoiling at the grocery and in railroad transportation). Ice houses were built all over the United States from the independent family’s ice house on their property to the enormous commercial Swift & Co. Ice House storing 60,000 tons annually. Ice harvesting occurred in January and February and kept in storage facilities until the following winter by applying ingenuity, science, and hard work. Men used saws, horse-drawn sleighs, and the strength of their own backs to harvest the cash crop each winter. This article contains vintage photographs, newspaper ads, and science info of the Victorian era.
The Victorian Era drew to a close in January, 1901 with the death of Queen Victoria. The newspaper article I share within this post comes from July, 1902 (technically the Edwardian Era), but society’s expectations of table manners and propriety at a summer resort hadn’t changed. This article covers a few of the many, many “Summer Resorts” in the Victorian-Era United States and touches on why these resorts were so loved.
Picnics were a common and notable diversion for Victorian Americans whenever weather permitted. Schools, churches, families, and organizations hosted picnics. Reasons varied from welcome-home parties to gatherings to hear a speaker or minster to holiday celebrations. This article contains recommendations for preparing and transporting picnic foods properly, protecting young ladies from harm (let’s keep those chaperones in place!), and a peek inside my new release Courting Miss Cartwright–specifically the picnic basket auction scene.
