From the category archives:

Social History

Sheepeaters Monument Thunder Mountain Idaho

July 25, 2010

The striking photograph reproduced above shows a curious work of Nature near Thunder Mountain, Idaho, U.S.A. This gigantic monolith is eighty feet high, and about ten or twelve feet square at the base, tapering towards the top to about seven feet or less. The great rock poised on the top is estimated to weigh fully [...]

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Communism not dead!

July 20, 2010

How easily the masses are duped, comrade..”Communism is dead, the Cold War is over”…I think not, quite the reverse in fact…

This from 1926, the year of the General Strike. One of my ancestors administered Strike pay to local  miners,( given by the Kremlin). I understand why many of the poor who are ground down by [...]

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Thumbnail image for Oil Fire at Spindle Top 1900

Oil Fire at Spindle Top 1900

July 15, 2010

(Newsclip from an adventure magazine ~ 1900)

This photo shows an oil “gusher”, and a tank containing 37,000 barrels of oil on fire at the “Spindle Top”  oil-field in Texas. Just 3 weeks after the great fire at Jennings, the tank seen on the left of the photograph was mysteriously ignited. Everything hereabouts, even the very [...]

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Thumbnail image for The Right Hon RA Cross MP – Later Viscount

The Right Hon RA Cross MP – Later Viscount

July 9, 2010

(From a contemporary newspaper report)..
London:  Jan 8 1914
Viscount  Cross, who was  one  of  the  most  prominent Conservative  statesmen  in  England thirty years ago, died here to-day.  He held at various times the Secretaryship of State for the Home Department, the Secretaryship of State for India, and the post of Lord Privy Seal.
He was a member [...]

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Thumbnail image for A GYPSY ENCAMPMENT IN ESSEX 1896

A GYPSY ENCAMPMENT IN ESSEX 1896

July 6, 2010

A GIPSY ENCAMPMENT IN ESSEX.
“A strange people, still living apart and keeping apart, the gipsies are, in England, as in other parts of Europe, a wandering tribe. School-boards, local authorities, the endless regulations by which civilisation seeks to protect itself, have made times [...]

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Thumbnail image for A Talk with Jerome K Jerome (1901)

A Talk with Jerome K Jerome (1901)

June 27, 2010

From a weekly magazine in 1901, by Raymond Blathwayt.

A TALK WITH MR JEROME K JEROME (1901)
A VERY quiet, retiring man of some thirty-odd years, Mr. Jerome is, nevertheless, possessed of a quietly humorous way of putting before his listener the most ordinary incidents of human life. He is, therefore, a very delightful companion, and a [...]

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Thumbnail image for Alas for loss of masts and sails – The Navy in 1896.

Alas for loss of masts and sails – The Navy in 1896.

June 25, 2010

The following from a Navy magazine of 1896..
INSTRUCTION in Gymnastics, properly so called, is of recent introduction in the Navy, consequent to a great extent upon the abolition of masts and sails. Formerly the necessary handling of the sails, etc., at sea, and the keen competition at exercises aloft in harbour, constituted [...]

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Thumbnail image for To overcome seasickness…

To overcome seasickness…

June 24, 2010

Motionless among the Billows

“There is no doubt about it; it is the motion of a vessel which produces sea-sickness. If we could only have a perfectly steady platform on board ship, one-half of the landsman’s terrors would be removed: he might be drowned, but there would be no chance of his being sea-sick. In Mr. [...]

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Thumbnail image for Precursor to the ubiquitous Baby Buggy 1894

Precursor to the ubiquitous Baby Buggy 1894

June 22, 2010

A handy contrivance for those busy nannies in 1894..
I’ve not seen one in an Antique shop or Auction though….have you?

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Thumbnail image for A handy stairlight for your mansion…1895

A handy stairlight for your mansion…1895

June 22, 2010

A  Convenient Stair  Light…
Persons ascending stairs to their rooms after the gas has been turned off for the night may find the travelling night lamp which we illustrate useful. The lamp is suspended between two guides by means of a counterpoise in such a manner that when the person, after lighting it, takes hold of [...]

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