by Kristin Holt | Jul 21, 2016 | Articles
You’re likely familiar with Victorian-era “bathing costumes”–puffy dresses with pantaloons that still leave much to the imagination, thereby protecting the Victorian sense of propriety and decency. Inside this article, I share images of men’s bathing suits, attitudes (about bathing suits) expressed in United States newspapers of the day, and informative glimpses into a man’s view of a woman’s reasons for bathing in the sea before an audience…or not. A romantic tragedy on Coney Island in 1875 illustrates the dangers of the Victorian’s passion with immersing themselves in the sea.
by Kristin Holt | Apr 21, 2016 | Articles
Victorian Era Women seldom trimmed their hair, allowing it to grow to incredible lengths. As styled, it often wrapped high in coiffures of twists, curls, braids, loops, pompadours, buns, knots, and more. Once you see the tremendous lengths of photographed ladies’ hair, you’ll understand why women (from the moment they cast off short dresses of girlhood) wore their hair up. It’s no surprise commercially prepared products catered to a woman’s desire to grow her hair to great lengths.
by Kristin Holt | Apr 18, 2016 | Articles
FIVE STARS for Charles River Editors’ Legends of the Wild West: Tombstone, Arizona. This nonfiction account covers the breadth of Tombstone from the first miners and where the settlement took its name to the forever famous gunfight at the O.K. Corral. Amateur historians and readers of fiction set in the American West will benefit from reading or listening to this informative and entertaining book.
by Kristin Holt | Apr 9, 2016 | Articles
We’ve seen the financial, legal, and emotional costs of a courtship gone wrong and culminating in a suit for breach of promise. In Victorian America, where such a consequence was possible if not common enough (to scare a young swain or two), advice of how to break up an unhealthy courtship–or cancel a planned wedding–must have been given by mothers, fathers, society matrons, and “Dear Abby’s” of the day. Indeed they did! This article includes quotes from 3 era-specific books published during the time period.
by Kristin Holt | Aug 30, 2015 | Articles
Every cowboy knew how to whittle a toothpick from a stick–and did so regularly. But when (and how) did toothpicks become commercialized? What was the earliest dental floss made of?
