• Beard caught in bicycle chaing - a cautionary tale, especially for Movember.
• Streets of Old London captured in early photographs, c. 1900.
• Could Aaron Burr and his daughter haunt this one-time blacksmith shop in NYC?
• The beautiful Maria Gunning and the trials of being a celebrity in the 18th century.
• Twenty-seven reasons why "Scientific Gossip" of the 1870s is the best newspaper column of all time.
• Unpublished Rowlandson drawings discovered in Princeton University Library.
• Stunningly matter-of-fact letter home after the battle from a Waterloo soldier.
• Ultra-stylish designer coat for a pampered pooch, 1920s.
• Fortune-telling, Iron-Age style: the Crosby-Ravensworth spoons.
• Lard baths for Junior! The worst baby advice in history.
• Marriage contract of Mozart and Constanza Weber.
• Can you crack the code? WWII pigeon message stumps modern decoders.
• One of England's worst-ever storms hit the country on November 24, 1703.
• The alcoholic delights of syllabub to brighten a dreary day - especially when it's straight from the cow.
• Romeo and Juliet....and they lived happily ever after in this finale from the Norwich Theatre, 1758.
• "Housewives! Save waste fat for explosives!" 1939-1945
• Do you know what an aquamanilia is? Functional vessels & decorative tableware in the Middle Ages.
• An 18th c. 'Marriage most Horrid.'
• November, 1812: John Adams writes from St. Petersburg of Napoleon's disaster.
• Holiday baking: "Black Cake, much esteemed", 1837 recipes, more.
•"Mightly lewd books": 18th c. appetites for pornography (with ladies buying, too.)
• Remains of elite archers identified on the Tudor Mary Rose shipwreck.
• Hipparchia, the female philosopher who flouted the conventions of Ancient Greece.
• Odds for a lottery win, 18th century style.
• The WWI trench talk that's now entrenched in the English language.
• Counterfeit foods, from asses' milk to Westphalian ham.
• When a First Lady cuddled a raccoon.
• Highwaymen: some famous, some not, but both here and here.
• The wonders of Victorian beards.
• When kids (literally) played with fire: adorable & dangerous early 20th c. toy stoves.
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Ooh - I see I'm up there! Thanks for the shout-out, and for all those interesting links. Lots to keep the mind busy for a bit :)
ReplyDeleteMy wife and I listen to "Old Time" radio on Sirius. Recently, I got hear one of the original radio PSA's for the "Waste fat for explosives!" campaign.
ReplyDeleteI knew that those drives existed, but I wasn't aware that they were SELLING the fat back to the butcher. I figured it was like all the other volunteer recycling programs. They must have really needed the glycerin to pay for it.