Coca-Cola was born in Atlanta, and quickly gained popularity at drugstores and soda fountains, showing up very quickly a thousand miles away in mid-Kansas! Coca-Cola was touted for a wide variety of medicinal benefits, including nervous affections and sick headache. In less than fifteen years, Coca-Cola was widely known from New England to Los Angeles. Coca-Cola belongs on the long list of American Victorian Inventions.
November 16, 1880 (136 years ago today). A look back in time through three newspapers from the Old West: The Daily Commonwealth (Topeka, Kansas), The Independent Record (Helena, Montana), and Lawrence Daily Journal (Lawrence, Kansas). Brief clippings from each paper highlight how much has changed over the years…treatment for sinus congestion, focus of Thanksgiving, and ability to fight wildfires (and prosecute the fire-bug).
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.
The Doctor Wore Petticoats speaks of 12 different physicians (two of them dentists), their stories, their reasons for pursuing a career in medicine, the school(s) attended, tales of their families (and marriages, many of which failed), and the communities they served. At a time in history when men and women alike adamantly opposed female doctors, the forces against these pioneers were tremendous. Each chapter’s biography illustrates characteristics of perseverance, determination, confidence, and a lifelong dream of making a difference. 5 stars!
