Kristin Holt's Blog, page 28

Victorian Combination Desk and Book Cabinet

My husband's brother inherited a piece of antique Victorian-era furniture originally belonging to his great-grandfather. The piece has stood in the living room of my brother- and sister-in-law for many years since Grandma (the original owner's daughter-in-law) passed away. I've admired the piece but didn't recognize it was more than a glass-fronted cabinet--a writing desk!--until I saw an historic advertisement for a nearly identical piece in a nineteenth century newspaper advertisement.

This article contains newspaper advertisements with engravings, images of current antique combination desk bookcases, and our family heirloom piece. Victorian prices are compared with the modern dollar (accounting for inflation).

Mail-Order Bride Farces…for Entertainment?

Victorian Americans loved live entertainment. In this era prior to motion pictures (or television)–theater performances, opera, musicals, orchestra performances–were all highly sought after. And not just in the settled cities of the east. Live theater was a significant source of entertainment in the Old West. The historic city of Tombstone, Arizona, sported at least six […]

L-O-N-G Victorian Hair

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.

Book Review: Legends of the Wild West: Tombstone, Arizona (by Charles River Editors)

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.

Definition of Love Making was Rated G in 19th Century

In  my recent post about The Proper (and safe) Way to Terminate a Victorian American Courtship because we all know the threat of a suit of Breach of Promise was too great, a quote by the Reverend George W. Hudson in his 1883 book sounded rather scandalous. The good reverend actually said "making love"--and he didn't mean in a sexual way. It's essential to note that the term had a very different meaning in the 19th Century and early 20th Century than it does now.

BLOG BLITZ: Her Independent Spirit by Zina Abbott

Zina Abbott guests posts with her Blog Blitz for new release HER INDEPENDENT SPIRIT, a sweet, clean romance set in Lundy, a mining town of the Eastern Sierra Mountains. Excerpt #5 introduces readers to her main characters. See inside for the opportunity to enter the Amazon Giveaway Sweepstakes.

The Proper (and safe) Way to Terminate a Victorian American Courtship

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.

Victorian American Romance and Breach of Promise

The more I study historic details of America's past, the more I realize I don't know--such as the common practice of suing for breach of contract when a young swain's courtship derails and no marriage results. I was fascinated by newspaper accounts of settlements upon jilted brides, the dollar amounts sued for, common beliefs of the time period about courtship in general. Who knew courtship in nineteenth century America was such a legal risk?

First Historical Use of term “Correspondence Courtship”

Whether referred to as "Correspondence Courtship" or "Epistolary Courtship", part of the natural course of 19th century courting included letter-writing. Victorian-era couples could express tender sentiments in letters more easily (often) than in person. Many couples didn't have the opportunity to spend time together, face-to-face, for too many miles separated them. Coming to know one another, and fall in love, through letter-writing was a standard practice. Results varied from blissful conjugal felicity (a frequently used term of the American Victorian era) to sensational disasters.

Interestingly enough, the term "Correspondence Courtship" (or very similar phrasing) appeared much more frequently and earlier than did the phrase "Mail-Order Bride".

First Historical Use of term “Mail-Order Bride”

Though another blogger cited the first recorded use of "mail-order bride" in the New York Times in 1929, I've found documentation in other newspapers of the phrase in use much earlier. The short snippets of stories illustrating the use of "mail-order bride" in the decades between the Turn of the Century and 1929 illustrate the general acceptance of this phrase in American English prior to 1916 or 1911, earlier than 1906...yes! 1903! (And perhaps even earlier as more historical documentation becomes readily available).