Before the 1800s, baking in most homes was a challenge. As far back as ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome, most people purchased baked products, mainly breads, from a professional baker. Only the wealthiest households had wood-fired enclosed ovens. Other daily home cooking was done on an open fire. Sweet baked goods like cake and … Continue reading Hearth Baking in early America: Lettice Bryan’s Washington’s Cake
Today, memorial keepsakes commemorating a deceased loved one are common. One can buy mementos created from funerary ashes, window decals, tattoos, plaques, wind chimes, and blankets, often featuring photos of the deceased. Memorial keepsakes are not a new thing. Before commercially produced mementos became available, hand-made needlework memorialized the death of loved ones. Select the … Continue reading Remembering the Dead with Embroidery
Crazy quilt-making was all the rage in the late 1800s. These were not typical patchwork quilts created from cotton or wool and inspired colonial thriftiness or frontier frugality. Crazy quilts were created from fancy dress fabrics, usually silk, and decorated with ornate silk embroidery and trims. This style of quilting was a product of the … Continue reading The Crazy Quilt Craze – History of 19th-century Crazy Patchwork
Tree stones are unique grave markers popular from the 1850s until the 1920s and 1930s. As with most funeral monuments, tree stones may represent an individual, family, or the wider culture and trends of the era. Tree stones also represent shifts in the funeral industry caused by the Industrial Revolution. Select the images for a … Continue reading Tree Stones in American Cemeteries
Hydropathy, or the water cure, was a 19th-century health reform movement and treatment popular in Europe and the United States. Patients soaked in cold or hot baths, took showers, were wrapped in wet compresses, sheets, belts, or special wet dresses, and also drank vast amounts of water. Hydropathy became a popular craze – a treatment … Continue reading Hydropathy: Pseudoscience in the 19th Century
Crafts, sewing, and needlework projects are growing in popularity as people spend more time at home. Etsy, the online marketplace for arts and crafts supplies and finished work, boomed in 2020. However, getting creative at home for fun or profit is not a new thing. In the 19th century, creative projects called “fancywork” were all … Continue reading Etsy: Reviving 19th Century Fancywork
By the late 19th century, summer vacations were a routine part of the lives of many people in the upper and middle classes. Time in the country, at the seashore, or at a resort was viewed as a healthful and restorative experience. However, extended vacations were out of reach of most people in the working … Continue reading Solving the Girl Problem with Wholesome Vacations
Decorating with inspirational phrases, quotes, or single words is fashionable. Vinyl stickers of popular words and phrases are created using cutting machines and pasted on everything. Do-it-yourself ideas for embellishing walls, pillows, plaques, and even laptops with personal mottoes can be found online and in print. Home stores sell decorative items with stock phrases for … Continue reading Decorating with Mottoes: Inspirational Words in 19th Century Homes
The Zodiac Man or Man of Signs (homo signorum in Latin) is an age-old diagram relating the calendar and the movement of the heavenly bodies to the human body. Sections of the body are labeled with the twelve zodiacal signs, beginning with Aries, which ruled the head, and ending with Pisces associated with the feet. … Continue reading The Zodiac Man: How Astrology Guided Health Care
In the early 19th century, Nathanial McClure, a frontiersman in Garrard County Kentucky, had a problem. Open sores or abscesses were growing on his neck. Local physicians didn’t have the answer for his problem, diagnosed as the King’s Evil or scrofula. He learned about the cures of Richard Carter, a frontier herb doctor. According to … Continue reading What is scrofula? Can it be cured?
Scams, rip-offs, cons, quacks, and purveyors of fake news thrive on the internet and other modern media. However, their tactics aren’t new; only the media carrying their message has changed. Ancient Rome had frauds, swindlers, cheats, and liars and Latin phrases warned consumers. Caveat emptor and cui bono are examples of age-old advice to follow … Continue reading Caveat Emptor and Cui Bono: Ancient Advice for Modern Consumers
Utopias are usually imaginary places of perfection and limitless possibilities. Most utopian visions live in our minds, fictional literature, and art. However, in the late 19th century, fiction inspired very real utopian communities. The stories of Rugby, Tennessee; Kaweah, California; Ruskin Colony, Tennessee; and Equality Colony, Washington began with novels. Rugby, Tennessee Select the images … Continue reading Utopian Communities Inspired by Novels
Dragons are everywhere in 21st-century popular culture: books, movies, novels, games, and decorative arts. Dragons are also historical, roaming in cultures throughout the world since ancient times. They fly, slither, and swim in the folklore and myths of past cultures in the Americas, Africa, the Near and Far East, India, and Europe. However, when it comes … Continue reading The Evil, Medieval Ancestors of Modern Dragons
Looking for a culinary challenge this Thanksgiving? Consider preparing your Thanksgiving dinner like it was 1796. The following recipes are from American Cookery by Amelia Simmons, the first cookbook written by an American, for an American audience, and published in the United States. Before its publication in 1796, only British cookbooks or American reprints of … Continue reading Thanksgiving Recipes from 1796
Cemetery and tombstone symbols have been reused and reinterpreted for thousands of years. The ancient Egyptians used pyramids, obelisks, sphinxes, and various symbols for monuments, temples, and tombs. Everything Egyptian became stylish again in the 19th century. During this Egyptian Revival, the designers of rural or garden cemeteries and families choosing tombstones and monuments adapted … Continue reading Egyptomania: Reviving Ancient Symbols in 19th Century Cemeteries
Almanacs were a popular and handy reference for information and entertainment centuries before internet search engines, calendar apps, YouTube, blogs, and Google Maps. And like the internet, almanacs also informed us about new products and services through advertising and promotional articles. Select the images for a larger view and more information. At the heart of … Continue reading Almanacs: Information before the Internet
Labor Day commemorates the American worker. But one group of American workers is often overlooked – the domestic worker. Households and families have required work since the dawn of time. Daily chores such as cooking, cleaning, and caring for children and the elderly are usually performed by women. These women – mothers, daughters, female relatives, … Continue reading Consider Domestic Laborers this Labor Day
The word “camping” often inspires nostalgic summer memories in the outdoors or dreams of future escapes to nature. However, camping as a fun and relaxing activity is a new concept in the long history of human experience. Camping isn’t always a vacation for everyone. Originally, a camp was the place where military troops were located, … Continue reading Camping: A Night Under the Stars is Not Always a Vacation
Old recipe books tell the story of the daily routine of average women in the past. Lettice Pierce Bryan (1805-1877), the author of The Kentucky Housewife, was one of those women. Her collection of “receipts” for food and more illustrate key lessons about running a household in the pre-industrial era. A quick history of cookbooks … Continue reading Mrs. Bryan’s “Kentucky Housewife”: Managing a Household in the 1830s
Old picture postcards are primary source records of places. Postcards document the natural landscape as well as the built environment- buildings, gardens, parks, cemeteries, and tourist sites. Postcards also commemorate major events, popular humor, and many other aspects of daily life – transportation, entertainment, sports, work, religion, or advertising. Collectors and all types of historians … Continue reading Old Postcards: Messages about the Past