If you’ve ever bemoaned the fact that you share a bathroom with several family members or housemates, you’re not alone. Most New Yorkers live in apartments and most units have just a single bathroom. A hundred and fifty years ago, however, the situation was much worse. At the time, New Yorkers had just a fewContinue reading “This Is What Life Was Like in New York City Before the Invention of Indoor Plumbing and Indoor Toilets”
Tag Archives: 1900s
13 Amazing Vintage Photographs of American Pioneering Cowgirls
The word cowgirl originally emerged in the early 19th century. However, unlike the term cowboy, which defined a man as one who tended cows, herded cattle or worked in rodeos, the term cowgirl embodied an emboldened, pioneering spirit. That is perhaps, because in those days it was virtually unheard of for a woman to performContinue reading “13 Amazing Vintage Photographs of American Pioneering Cowgirls”
Annie Edson Taylor: The First Person to Survive Trip Over Niagara Falls in a Barrel in 1901
Annie Edson Taylor (1838-1921) was an American adventurer who, on her 63rd birthday, October 24, 1901, became the first person to survive a trip over Niagara Falls in a barrel. Desiring to secure her later years financially, and avoid the poorhouse, she decided she would be the first person to ride over Niagara Falls inContinue reading “Annie Edson Taylor: The First Person to Survive Trip Over Niagara Falls in a Barrel in 1901”
The Smallest Shop in London, 1910
London’s best known shops are often the giant department stores which draw in the tourist crowds, but this photo from 1910 shows one of the smallest shops in London. The smallest shop in London, occupied by a cobbler, at 4 Bateman Street, Soho. The shop is six feet long, five feet high and two feetContinue reading “The Smallest Shop in London, 1910”
Method of Women’s Self Defense: Vintage Photos From 1906 Illustrate Modes for Warding Off a Street Bully or Foul
In 1906, the famed New York City photographer Percy C. Byron was commissioned to take a series of studio photographs depicting “Dr. Latson’s Method of Self Defense”. The pictures show an athletic young woman demonstrating an unarmed combat stance, several techniques of self defence with an umbrella and a stamping side kick to the attacker’sContinue reading “Method of Women’s Self Defense: Vintage Photos From 1906 Illustrate Modes for Warding Off a Street Bully or Foul”
Heart-Wrenching Colorized Photos Depicting Child Labor in Early 20th Century America
Photographer Lewis Wickes Hine once said: “There is work that profits children, and there is work that brings profit only to employers. The object of employing children is not to train them, but to get high profits from their work.” Lewis Wickes Hine was an American sociologist and photographer whose work was instrumental in changingContinue reading “Heart-Wrenching Colorized Photos Depicting Child Labor in Early 20th Century America”
Nat Love, America’s Greatest Black Cowboy of the Wild West
Mounted on my favorite horse, my … lariat near my hand, and my trusty guns in my belt … I felt I could defy the world. — Nat Love in The Life and Adventures of Nat Love, 1907 Thousands of black cowboys drove cattle up the Chisholm Trail after the Civil War, but only NatContinue reading “Nat Love, America’s Greatest Black Cowboy of the Wild West”
10 Sad and Strange Facts About Victorian Post-Mortem Photography
The invention of the daguerreotype in 1839 made portraiture much more commonplace, as many of those who were unable to afford the commission of a painted portrait could afford to sit for a photography session. This cheaper and quicker method also provided the middle class with a means for memorializing dead loved ones. Post-mortem photographyContinue reading “10 Sad and Strange Facts About Victorian Post-Mortem Photography”
Portraits of Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Known as the Victorian era, her reign of 63 years and seven months was longer than any previous British monarch. It was a period ofContinue reading “Portraits of Queen Victoria”
Sears Catalog ‘Kit Homes’ From the Early 20th Century
Sears Catalog Homes (sold under the Sears Modern Homes name) were catalog and kit houses sold primarily through mail order by Sears, Roebuck and Company, an American retailer. Sears reported that more than 70,000 of these homes were sold in North America between 1908 and 1940. More than 370 different home designs in a wideContinue reading “Sears Catalog ‘Kit Homes’ From the Early 20th Century”
