Category: Research

Beach Machines Part 2

4/5/2019

Bathing Costumes from Marshall & Snelgrove, Oxford, Lady's World, 1 August 1887. Courtesy of Wikipedia Commons

I'm having fun with my beach machine research and found a lot of information and images to share with you for Rise of the Beach Machines Part 2. So, stop by www.history.com and see the fashion and trends for yourself.

A Plug Hat You Say?

10/5/2015

Nathan Gager 1787-1872

Bill Atkinson, barber, 1917. Courtesy of the Chapleau Public Library.

Today I'm blogging at Heroes, Heroines & History about my search to find what was meant by a plug hat back in 19th century York County, Ontario.

So if you're interested in period clothing, fashion, etc, you should check out Plug Hat - Bowler or Top Hat?

The post came about while researching our family history, aided by my recent trip to Ontario. If you get a chance to dig into your family history, take it because you'll find all sorts of unique stories that are waiting to be told.

Photographs of early 1900 Romance

9/5/2014

The first two decades of the 20th century brought tremendous changes on both sides of the Atlantic. People zipped around in automobiles, airplanes, and motorcycles. The rise of women's skirt lengths threw men's heads in a tizzy along with the matrons of society who wanted to cling to the Victorian age. And along the way, young ladies stepped out with a beau--alone, without a chaperone--leaving parents and guardians sitting on tenterhooks until their daughters returned.

And so begins my post today at CFHS where I'm showing how young ladies enjoyed stepping out with their fellas through early 1900 photographs. The 1890's image below is only one of the activities I've used in my Photographs: Early 1900's Romance post.

View of North Shore, ca.1890's. Cavendish, P.E.I., Courtesy of ourontario.ca and University of Guelph Library

Announcement: I am excited to announce that the CFHS blog is changing its look!
Eff Sep 8th, you'll see the change as shown in this graphic:

Historic Winter Sports: Ice Sailing

1/20/2014

I'm blogging at the Inkwell again with another post on my Historic Winter Sports series, this time on the fun and adventure of ice sailing.

The images I've used were found in different library systems and archives fonds and I can't say enough about the people who work to bring these sources to the public. Today's images are courtesy of the:

As well, I've included a video over on my Inkwell Inspirations Ice Sailing post which gives the feel of skimming across the ice in a modern ice boat made for racing.

Here's one photo you won't find over there...it's a stereoview from 1900 and if you go to the page I found it, you can read a description put out by the Keystone View Company.

1900 Canadian Winter Sports, Ice Yachting, Ontario, Canada. Courtesy of Maritime History of the Great Lakes.

19th Century Sleighs

11/2/2011

Yesterday, I posted about 19th Century Sleighs at Inkwell Inspirations.

This Portland cutter is a very common design for Santa sleighs, mainly because it's of the light, cutter class built for speed.

Portland Cutter (Photo Courtesy of www.sugarloafmt.com)

Check my post at the Inkwell for many other photos of 19th century sleighs and cutters.

Deeanne Gist: Research and Life

10/19/2011

Deeanne Gist made a stop at Inkwell Inspirations today as part of her blog tour for her new release, Love on the Line.

It reminded me that I never posted the video I took of Deeanne back in July when she did her Bottoms Up: a Look at Victorian Women’s Clothing from the Inside Out workshop at the Romance Writers of America (RWA) conference in New York Cityalthough I talked about it at the Inkwell with my post Victorian Underwear Research Workshop.

Now that I have Deeanne's permission to show you this short clip, I'm posting it here to let you see how thorough this author is with her research.

Deeanne Gist (photo courtesy of Keli Gwyn)

By the time she finished dressing, she wore an outfit any woman would be proud to wear down an 1860's street, hoop skirt, gloves and all.

Then as I went to check out Deeanne's Facebook page today, I saw this video made when she crashed her daughter's bachelorette party.

This video is so full of life. And I realized how much fun Deeanne injects into the lives of those around her. If she can do that with real life, imagine how imaginative and entertaining she can be with her books. Add that to her deep emotions and tension, and you know why she's a best-selling author.

Victorian Womens Underwear BlogPost

8/9/2011

I'm blogging at Inkwell Inspirations today about a Victorian Underwear Research Workshop I attended at the end of July while at the Romance Writers of America (RWA) conference in New York.

Presented by historical romance author Deeanne Gist, the workshop was described as:

Bottoms Up: a Look at Victorian Women’s Clothing from the Inside Out
Ever wonder what Victorian women wore under all those gowns?
Find out as a best-selling historical author strips down to chemise and bloomers,
and then watch as her lady’s maid dresses her, layer by layer.

It certainly grabbed my attention. If you'd like to know more, head on over to the Inkwell and see for yourself.

Today's discussion accompanying my Inkwell post is about corsets, research, and 19th century fashion in general.

Hope to see you there.

Research Trip to Fort Walsh

7/17/2011

Last week, my son JJ and I travelled to the Cypress Hills in the Southwest corner of Saskatchewan and discovered the reconstructed site of Fort Walsh in the original North West Territories (now Saskatchewan) of Canada.

Fort Walsh was used by the North West Mounted Police in the 1870's and 1880's as part of the Old Forts Trail.

For an account of our journey back in time to this historic fort, please check my research page on The Mounties.