by Kristin Holt | Aug 21, 2015 | Articles
Victorian attitudes, being what they were, separated the sexes. Women should be nurturers, mothers, wives, and homemakers. Men should be protectors, breadwinners, and if either partner in marriage were to engage in business or education, it would be he.
Many single women hoping to find a spouse between 1865 and 1869 attended college. Ambitious women enrolled in schools across the eastern portion of the states were seeking to become doctors, lawyers, and journalists. Unfortunately for these ladies, men viewed female college graduates as poor homemakers, and the few eligible bachelors around kept their distance from educated ladies.
~ Object: Matrimony, The Risky Business of Mail-Order Matchmaking on the Western Frontier, by Chris Enss, p 36
by Kristin Holt | Aug 15, 2015 | Articles
Our Victorian sisters worked tirelessly for equal rights in so many ways, including the right for an equal education and career choices. A list of 13 predominate FIRSTS in Female Education, 19th Century American West.
by Kristin Holt | Aug 6, 2015 | Articles
Frederick Henry Harvey recognized a need along the railway lines–good quality food, comfortable accommodations, and sterling service. He’d worked as a mail clerk on the railroad and discovering the unmet needs of travelers, opened his restaurant business in the 1870’s. By 1883, he replaced male waiters with young ladies whose impeccable appearance and gracious service increased Harvey’s business from local men. Courtships ensued (restricted to the “courting parlor” in the women’s dormitories), marriage occurred–but not until the minimum of one year of service to the company was met. Fred Harvey is credited with much more than quality food and entrepreneurship in the Southwest, he single-handedly brought about the civilizing of the west by importing more “brides” than any other “agency”.
by Kristin Holt | Aug 3, 2015 | Articles
I share My Personal Top 5 Reasons AUTHORS (especially me) Benefit From (touring and visiting) Historical Residences. I’ve visited many and share highlights as well as personal epiphanies of the value of researching history up close and personal.
by Kristin Holt | Jul 31, 2015 | Articles
You might think it’s easy to come up with way more than FIVE top reasons. Go ahead. Start listing. It’s not as easy as it might seem.
After all, have you even thought about intentionally touring American Victorian Era museum houses that are open to the public? Why would you even want to visit a musty, old house? You read books set in the era, love them enough to pick up another, enjoy visiting the past and its various locales… so what’s to be gained by physically setting foot in a house that was built (and lived in) during the time period?
I share My Top 5 Reasons READERS of Western Historical Romances Benefit From Visiting Historical Museum Residences.
