Wedding Wednesdays: 1890 Veil
Wedding circa 1890 In the late 1880s to early 1890s brides wore headdresses and long veils. Leaves and seed pearls piled high on top of up-swept hair was the fashion. Long trailing ribbons of pearls...
View ArticleThank you to the Maine Genealogical Society and the Maine Historical Society
A great big thank you to everyone who attended yesterday's Maine Genealogical Society Spring Conference held in Augusta. I have a new appreciation for that part of the state. It was my first trip to...
View ArticleWedding Wednesday: A White House Affair
President and Mrs. Cleveland, Littleton View Co., 1886.In 1886, 21-year-old Frances Folsom married 49-year-old President Grover Cleveland, a bachelor. Frances became an instant style maven with young...
View ArticleWedding Wednesday: Collage
I'm having a great time playing with Pixlr.com The evidence is this collage that focuses on the details in this wedding portrait. It's another unidentified bride and groom from images I've...
View ArticleWeekend at the Museum: Concord Museum and the Shot Heard 'Round the World
On April 19, 1775 colonists and British troops skirmished at the North Bridge. It was the "shot heard 'round the world." The momentous events of that day are taught to school children across the...
View ArticleSaving a Slice of Family History
Family history is so much more than a collection of documents. It's also in the holiday traditions passed down from generation to generation. In my husband's family one of these traditions features a...
View ArticleTech Tuesday: Shuttersong
I saw this lovely app, Shuttersong, mentioned in a column in Better Homes and Gardens. Can't wait to try it, but can't seem to download it for either Apple or Android. It allows you to add music to...
View ArticleHey! Don't I know you?
Hey! Don't I know you? How good are you at recognizing faces? Researchers found that 1 in 50 have some version of face blindness. Watch the video and take the test. You might be surprised.
View ArticleWedding Wednesday
It's not a great photo. Some of the folks moved and blurred the shot. The left and right sides are over exposed by the flash. It's on cheap gray card stock. Despite all the shortcomings of this image...
View ArticleCelebrity Wedding: Tom Thumb and Lavinia Warren, 1863
No doubt about it. P.T. Barnum was a showman extraordinaire. He knew how to get attention. In April 1863, two of his stars General Tom Thumb (Charles Stratton) and Minnie (Lorinia) Warren married....
View ArticleNGS Happenings: Out of the Box Sessions
I love national conferences. You get to meet folks you haven't seen in a year or more. Make new acquaintances and oh yeah....learn new things. Stop by booth #620 for even more ideas on how to solve...
View ArticleHairstyles Has A New Look
If you liked my book, Fashionable Folks: Hairstyles, you're going to LOVE the new one simply called Hairstyles 1840-1900. It's updated and revised and best of all in COLOR. I've spent the last few...
View ArticleFashionable Folks Hairstyles versus Hairstyles 1840-1900
If you go to Amazon.com (or my website) you'll see two titles by me on the same subject. This is the old edition. I'm going to retire this title on July 1st. It's all black and white. This is the...
View ArticleTech Tuesday: Daguerreobase
A big thank you to Facebook friend Dick Bolt for telling me about this Facebook page for European daguerreotypes. A daguerreotype is a shiny reflective image on a silver coated copper plate. You have...
View ArticleWedding Wednesday: General William Tecumseh Sherman's Daughter Minnie
When Maria Ewing Sherman married Thomas William Fitch on October 1, 1874.Library of Congress, Rare Book and Special Collections Division. Civil War General William Tecumseh Sherman and his wife, Ellen...
View ArticleTech Tuesday: Listen to Historical Figures Speaki
There's a new treat for users of wikipedia. Voice recordings. That's right. Along with biographies the BBC has shared voice recordings from some of their programs. Take a listen to Emma Thompson,...
View ArticleWedding Wednesday: A Couple from the Mid-1890s and Crayon Swindlers
collection of the author The spectacle of the Kim Kardashian/Kanye West wedding is outside the pocketbooks of modern brides, nineteenth century high society wedding with white gowns, diamonds and...
View ArticleOldest Living Revolutionary Widows
As of June 30, 1898 five women appeared on the pension rolls as widows of Revolutionary War soldiers. Esther Damon of Plymouth Union, Vermont age 84 Nancy Jones of Jonesboro, Tennessee age 84 Rebecca...
View ArticleA Thankful Moment
Years ago I met genealogist Joyce M. Bowden and we chatted about the connection between family history and photography. A few months ago she sent me a copy of the book she'd been writing. It's a...
View ArticleKodak Craze circa 1893
Thank you to Lori Parkinson who found this clipping in the front of a family scrapbook circa 1893. The woman attended Mt. Carmel (Illinois) High School and Northwestern. Today's parents worry about...
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