by Kristin Holt | Jun 23, 2017 | Articles
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!
by Kristin Holt | Feb 21, 2017 | Articles
A bicycle built for two plays a role in my new release, Sophia’s Leap-Year Courtship. Such bicycles are romantic–and they’re making a resurgence. I see them in romantic bridal photography, all over Pinterest, and the research for the book showed me just when they were originally “a thing” and how they could fit into this book. Come see!
by Kristin Holt | Feb 12, 2017 | Articles
Featured in my soon-to-be-released title, Sophia’s Leap-Year Courtship, is my heroine Sophia Amelia Sorensen. I didn’t pull that name out of a hat…or off a list of most-common names from her birth decade (my usual practice). I borrowed my great-great grandmother’s name…and her cookie jar.
by Kristin Holt | Oct 20, 2016 | Articles
Nineteenth Century American Bath Houses were often businesses connected to hotels, barber shops, ladies’ hairdressers, and spas offering massages and curative measures (steam baths, medicated baths, etc.). In the Old West, such businesses advertised in the newspapers of the day, some announcing prices (compared to today’s dollar). It’s a peek into the luxury of a wet-from-head-to-toe bath when a person has no running water at home.
by Kristin Holt | Aug 29, 2016 | Articles
The rotary lawnmower was first patented in England in 1830. The new invention replaced the centuries’ reliable scythe in keeping lawns trimmed and neat. Americans jumped on that bandwagon, and lawnmowers became popular by the late 1860’s. Lawnmowers were advertised in newspapers of the day as well as mail-order catalogs like Sears and Montgomery Ward’s.