The Soda Fountain was a hallmark of late Victorian-era United States culture. Numerous patents and patent renewals show the developments in technology–just how complicated and how effectively simple the designs were. Vintage newspaper articles explain Europe’s reaction to Dows’ Soda Fountain in the American Restaurant at Paris’s Universal Exhibition. Soda fountains have come a long way!
Despite the voice of reason from scientists of the day, medical doctors, dress reformers, nineteenth century women continued to cling to advertisements claiming health depended upon corsets and laced tightly to achieve the beautiful figure they desired. Advertisements didn’t promote mere beauty–they went so far as to claim health. A newspaper article published in Chicago Daily Tribune of Chicago, Illinois, on April 24, 1897 spoke of Roentgen’s Light–X-rays–and the malformation caused by lacing. Today, the argument seems sound, prudent, and almost laughable that anyone fell for corsets.
Heidi Vanlandingham’s new title, The Woodworker’s Mail-Order Bride will release next week on Wednesday, May 17th. It is available for preorder on Amazon. In this article, Heidi shares her inspiration and how she chose a setting for Rebecca and Anthony, and the conflicts that would threaten their fledgling marriage.
111 years ago today, April 18, 1906, an earthquake with a magnitude (estimated) of 7.8 destroyed much of San Francisco. Charles River Editors did a fine job covering this tremendous natural disaster in a brief, concise, instructive manner. See my five-star review.
A vintage newspaper article from 1897 retells the harrowing experience of Sharkey, owner of the Copper Queen Mine outside Salmon, Idaho–a shootout, Old-West style–between himself and a 6-foot rattler.
