As an amateur historian, I’m thrilled to share my five-star Goodreads Review of author Mary Cable’s The Blizzard of 88. This nonfiction account of how and why this great blizzard impacted life in 1888 from Maine to Washington, crippling New York City. Can’t recommend this title enough!
The decade of the 1880s proved among the most disastrous, desperate, life-threatening (and life-taking)–as winter in North America was at an extreme, the whole decade long. Climatologists have theories we understand today, but were unknown to our Victorian American ancestors. If you read a fictional book set in the 1880s, that touches on a mild winter, be surprised. Today, March 11th, is the anniversary of “the big one”.
Along with just about anything a late 19th century household could desire to obtain, Sears, Roebuck & Co. offered telephones for sale. Sears offered the newest telephone technology…until the turn of the century. The 1902 catalog is devoid of telephones. Any idea why?
The Idaho Hotel was built in 1863–and is still open for business (in the summer months). Jacquie’s Much Ado About Silver City was held at this historic hotel. This article contains many images taken in June 2016 (and some historic images). Lots of amazing history and preserved elements of the past in this hotel! #JacquieRogersAdo16
As an amateur historian, fascinated by all things Victorian and in anxious search of accurate information about the telegraph in the United States, I found Standage’s book to be informative, concise, humorous, entertaining, an easy read, and exactly what I was looking for. I understand more now about how the antiquated–and yet highly innovative–Victorian technology actually worked than I could have imagined. Standage addressed everything from the various men at work (often unaware of one another) to create the means of sending rapid messages over a great distance to the consequences on warfare and other news of the day. He addressed the employees of both genders, romances that flourished as a result of time spent together ‘online’, and the challenges eventually conquered in laying the Transatlantic Cable. 5 STARS!
