Victoria Woodhull for President!

Victoria Woodhull was the first woman to run for president, in 1872, almost 50 years before the nineteenth amendment guaranteed women the right to vote. How is that for a kick-ass heroine? She was also, in 1870 the first woman to testify before congress, and man, what a testimony that was! Instead of campaigning for [...]

This Is the Way We Wash Our Clothes . . .

Hate to do the laundry?

Well, compared to the Victorians, we have it easy. We separate our clothes by whites and colors, dark and light, then throw them into the washing machine, add soap, and the machine takes over. Afterward, we toss them into the dryer. The rest is folding–a few things may need ironing, but [...]

Victorian Weddings

I came across something while surfing. This woman is planning her wedding, and apparently has done a bit of research. I found it interesting. Does anyone have anthing else to add?

Beneath It All #3

Now I’ll wrap up my series on Victorian undergarments.

Petticoats were used to keep dresses clean by avoiding contact with skin and also to provide fullness in the skirt and protect the wearer’s modesty. Victorian petticoats were often constructed of white cotton, although they also used flannel for warmth in cold weather. I’ve also heard references [...]

After Dinner—the Rotund Victorians

So I cooked the Victorian Dinner, ate the Victorian dinner and now I have the Victorian hips. Just for kicks, I took the menu I published earlier on the site and tried to calculate the calorie count
Fried oysters————-167Oxtail soup—————-68Salmon——————- 184Chicken Croquettes——–276Roast Sirloin—————177Ices————————100Duck———————–300Chocolate Souffle————63
Which comes to a whopping 1,335 for one dinner! Now, granted the portions [...]

A Lasting Tribute

A lovely Lady I know from one of the loops I’m on has written an article about the Royal Mausoleum at Frogmore in Windsor. Actually, its more about Victoria and her grief and how she handled it. Anyway, its a great article to check out.

Ghosts haunting Cary House Hotel

I live in Placerville, CA, and find it to be a mecca for history lovers. The art gallery where I work in situated across the street from the Cary House Hotel which was built in 1857. Two ghosts, Stan and George, still call the hotel their home. Poor Stan. He was [...]

Some Victorian Hotels in the Wild West by Jeanmarie Hamilton

Contrary to the ideas some folks have about the old west, there were many towns with fine hotels. Some of the better hotels had restaurants with popular menus for that time. Such as one where my great grandfather, Jim Christie, worked. He married my great grandmother in Houston and in the early 1880s they moved [...]

Votes for Women!

According to wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suffragette), suffragists are peaceful protestors and suffragettes are violent protestors. Huh, there’s a difference I wouldn’t have caught. But I guess when you’re protesting the protestors, you tend toward semantics.
Actually, when I see Suffragettes (suffragists, whatever), I think of music. Oh, I know the history of women’s right, not nearly all of [...]

Victorian dinner part II—I failed.

It wasn’t the menu. I had the menu all set, complete with all the courses that my handy-dandy cookbook suggested—A Matter of History compiled by Living History Farms in Urbandale Iowa. The museum has on it an old 1870 Victorian mansion called the Flynn Mansion, and the book has a sample Victorian dinner [...]