• The lost world of the 17th-18th c. London coffee houses.
• Five hundred old fairy tales discovered in Germany.
• A revolution for the young: exactly how old were the founding fathers (& mothers) in 1776?
• Medieval fertility and pregnancy tests.
• One-time commercial rivalries now recreated for glorious sport: 41st Annual Swale Sailing Barge Match.
• Doesn't that dress look familiar? How many times a single lavish costume appears in different films.
• "Please to remember the grotto": London's Oyster Day, important to Georgian & Victorian Londoners.
• The ladies' cabin, 1889: "The first thing an American woman requires to commence a journey is a suitable male escort."
• If I die young: a brief history of funeral invitations.
• The mansion in the shadow: an eccentric 19th c. NYC socialite builds a mansion behind her gargantuan Madison Avenue chateau where it sits vacant for 20 years.
• Twenty-two delightfully geeky facts about the Thames.
• How well do you know Jane Austen? Take the Janeiac quiz!
• An unexpected detail of Victorian streets: urine reflectors.
• An 18th c. "recipe" for knitting children's shoes.
• "Calligraffiti", inspired by work of medieval scribes.
• America's forgotten pin-up girl, the zaftig Hilda.
• Short video exploring 1919 Art Deco garment by Paul Poiret.
• This medieval reader is so engrossed in his book that he doesn't realize he's turning into a lion.
• Mrs. Astor is snubbed by the ghost of Anne Boleyn, 1916.
• Fascinating history of clowns & our fear of them, including Joseph Grimaldi, Charles Dickens, & Pierrot.
• The 70-year-old virgin, 1738.
• Included in Miss Leslie's 1864 advice to ladies: Never say slump, stoop, or mayhap.
• After the American Revolutin, a patriot edits his hymnal accordingly.
• Double vision? 18th c. sheet music with a printer's "slur."
• Working with worm-eaten mushrooms: an 18th c. recipe for ketchup, and nary a tomato in sight.
• Early Quakers wished to "wait together upon the Lord in Pure Silence," yet were associated with "roarings, yellings, howlings" and sexuality.
• "Ciao" was originally a way of politely decclaring "I am your slave" - more words with Italian origins.
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2 comments:
Thanks for sharing my piece about ages. It's a fascinating way to humanize the American Revolution.
Louisa May Alcott must have been familiar with that advice to young ladies. Miss Leslie would be horrified at Jo March (who shortens her name and routine uses slang).
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