In support of my other articles about oatmeal in the recipes of Victorian-era Americans, this post contains a lengthy vintage newspaper clipping, an article titled “Oatmeal for Food”. Originally published: Green-Mountain Freeman of Montpelier, Vermont on May 21, 1873. Included as a careful transcription, maintaining formatting, spelling, punctuation, paragraph length, and more. Also includes the digital images from the nearly 150-year old newspaper.
At the outset of Unmistakably Yours, Hank Murphy, proprietor of a fine new grocery emporium, is desperate to ensure adequate supplies to see his community through winter have arrived safely in Mountain Home. Much like Aesop’s fables about ants and grasshoppers, the American-Victorian era is ripe with moral-rich stories urging hard work during the summer to secure safety and comfort in the winter. This vintage newspaper article from 1880 showcases an example of the era’s “stories with a moral”.
This newspaper article, published in Vermont Journal of Windsor, Vermont, on November 30, 1889, instructs our Victorian ancestors (in the United States) how to properly carve a turkey. Picture the Thanksgiving table laden with fancy dishes, and the head of the household carving the bird from his place of honor at the head of the table.
Did Victorians blame tooth decay on worms or germs?
Scientific understanding of dental decay received a huge boost in the work of Dr. Willoughby Miller, an American dentist in Germany in the late 19th century. His publication of his microbiology discoveries, Micro-Organisms of the Human Mouth, eradicated old myths and brought about “an unprecedented interest in oral hygiene”… and occurred just in time to contribute to my novella’s [Isabella’s Calico Groom] setting and characters’ development.
What is a Dental Dispensary (as seen in Isabella’s Calico Groom)? Compared to true-to-history dispensaries for medical care and eye troubles, this component of medical care to meet the needs of the poor was a real thing in the 19th century United States.
