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Miss Hazeltine's Christmas Number
The Virtual Dime Museum | December 23rd 2009 by Lidian
Miss Julia Anne Scott Hazeltine was certain that the city editor at the Brooklyn Daily Eagle was going to be so grateful - so pleased! As a matter of fact, it would be one of the nicest Christmas presents anyone would be receiving in all of Brooklyn read more
The Skeleton Bang
The Virtual Dime Museum | December 7th 2009 by Lidian
Just down the street from Mrs. Thompson who sold hair switches and medicated gloves in New York City in the 1880s, we find one L. Shaw, advertising in Cosmopolitan in 1888 who sold - hair switches and medicated gloves. Her gloves were called Monte C read more
Mrs. Thompson Redux: The Celebrated Patent Waves
The Virtual Dime Museum | December 4th 2009 by Lidian
Mrs. Thompson has some Celebrated Patent Waves (or rather "Waves") for you, so that you will make the best-dressed list in New York in 1882. It does not look false and wig-like (although it is in fact false and wig-like) - and is perfect for those wh read more
Victorian Women And Their “Toys”
Gypsyscarlett's Weblog: Writing the Victorian Gothic | December 2nd 2009
Matthew Sweet states in his book, Inventing the Victorians: “William Acton’s The Functions and Disorders of the Reproductive Organs (1857)- in which he famously remarked that ‘ That majority of women are not very much troubled by read more
Wine of Cardui
The Quack Doctor | October 23rd 2009 by Caroline Rance
WINE FOR WOMEN! Woman’s modesty and ignorance of danger often cause her to endure pains and suffer torture rather than consult a physician about important subjects. Pains in the head, neck, back, hips, limbs and lower bowels at monthly inte read more
Gunzer's Ghost
The Virtual Dime Museum | October 7th 2009 by Lidian
Henry Dierking was a 25 year old grocer with a business at 813 Park Avenue, Brooklyn, when he married wealthy widow Appolonia Gunzer after a whirlwind courtship of a month and a half.Appolonia's late husband John Gunzer (George in some accounts) was read more
Sparks and Son India-Rubber Urinals
The Quack Doctor | September 30th 2009 by Caroline Rance
Far from being a quack remedy, this device must have been a boon to desperate travellers everywhere. Surgical instrument maker William Huntly Bailey, whom we have met before, described the problem: If there is any inconvenience in travelling on the read more
Empress Josephine Face Bleach
The Quack Doctor | September 21st 2009 by Caroline Rance
In a testimonial included in another Empress Josephine Toilet Co. advert, “Mrs Jos. C. Morton” wrote: Some years ago I ruined my skin and complexion by the use of worthless face powders. Pimples would raise up in large lumps all over my face. Th read more
An Uplifting Device
The Virtual Dime Museum | September 13th 2009 by Lidian
If you were a lady in the Victorian era, and you wanted to go for a walk - whether in the country or the city - there was a problem. The problem was the interaction of your long and trailing skirts with rural mud or dirty city streets (full of heaven read more
The Astonishing Madame Morrow
The Virtual Dime Museum | August 27th 2009 by Lidian
ASTONISHING. - MADAME MORROW, seventh daughter, beats the world in telling magic likenesses, tells your thoughts on entering her room. For 50 cents. Gents not admitted. 184, Ludlow Street, near Houston. - Newspaper ad, quoted in Greville John Chester read more
A Medicinal Cigarette
The Virtual Dime Museum | August 18th 2009 by Lidian
I'm about to start working on a piece about a notorious fortune teller in mid-19th century New York - she was quite a character, and I'm looking forward to devoting some time to this.In the meantime, here's a startling little ad from Godey's Lady's B read more
Finding Nemo's Corset
The Virtual Dime Museum | August 11th 2009 by Lidian
When I think of the word "Nemo" I tend to think of the Disney character, and of Esther Summerson's father, Captain Hawdon, in Dickens' Bleak House, who goes by the pseudonym Nemo. The word is Latin for "no one." And I cannot imagine what connection i read more
Velocipede Hair Oil
The Virtual Dime Museum | August 9th 2009 by Lidian
What could possibly be the connection between riding a bicycle and a hair preparation?1. The oil kept your hair tidy and/or shiny while you were riding your velocipede.2. It only worked if you were in motion on a bicycle.3. No connection at all, but read more
The Mysteries of Mme. Du Vall
The Virtual Dime Museum | August 3rd 2009 by Lidian
Mme Du Vall of 655 Fulton Street, Brooklyn, was the greatest medium in the city in the late 1890s. Of course, so were all of her competitors, but no matter.Another of Mme. Du Vall's ads tells the reader that she is the Mary Poppins of mediums, with n read more
Summer Fashions For 1867
The Virtual Dime Museum | August 1st 2009 by Lidian
I finally found the two Godey's Lady's Books that I bought 30 years ago (I was an old-magazine and Victorian enthusiast way back then, too). One is a Christmas issue so I'll wait and make some posts with it in December. But the other one is the July read more
The Boxing Gordon Sisters
The Virtual Dime Museum | July 15th 2009 by Lidian
It's been awhile since we had any video clips, but I've got a good one for you today. Here are the Gordon Sisters, filmed on May 6, 1901 by Thomas Edison - having a boxing match in frilly dresses accessorized with leather boxing gloves. They are figh read more
A Bitterness Beyond Endurance: The Tragedy of Emily Hall
The Virtual Dime Museum | July 10th 2009 by Lidian
It was April of 1895 when a newspaper reporter walked into Frank Gibbs' undertaker's shop, for reasons that were never made clear later. People were too busy trying to figure out what came of that visit, to wonder why he was there in the first place. read more
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