From the category archives:

Social History

An idea for the Transmission of Power before Electrical power.

June 21, 2010

We take so much for granted in modern  Society, power at the flick of a switch, all conveniences at our fingertips, but rarely considering how it came about….this is from a Family Magazine in 1875… “If power could be sent in pipes from place to place like gas and water, and if we had only [...]

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Rossow’s Midgets

June 20, 2010

1895 Magazine Article…. The Smallest Athletes and Wrestlers  in the World. The two midgets, Francis and Charles, whose portraits we give this month, have had the honour of appearing before most of the Continental Courts, and justly claim to be the smallest athletes and wrestlers of the world. Francis, the elder, born on the 28th [...]

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Locusts cause a train smash! 1895

June 19, 2010

From an 1895 news magazine…. This shows an accident more remarkable for the immediate causes of its occurrence than for the appearance of the wreck itself. Mr. W. E. Drew, to whose kindness we owe the photograph from which the above is reproduced, gives the following account of the occurrence : ” This railway accident [...]

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The Last of the Tchankats – Sylvain Dornon Knitting on His Stilts

June 19, 2010

News magazine 1895: “The Tchankats are shepherds of Landes, in France, a race who passed their lives on stilts, crossing rivers and forests full of venomous snakes without danger. They have now almost died out, and Sylvain Dornon, whose portrait we give, is one of the last of the tribe. He made himself notorious by [...]

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Gold-Washing, Yale, British Columbia 1896

June 18, 2010

GOLD-WASHING, YALE, BRITISH COLUMBIA. Since the great discoveries of gold in Australia in the second quarter of the present century, the production of gold in all parts of the world has been steadily increasing. India, South Africa, and now the great Province of British Columbia, have entered into active competition for the supply of the [...]

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Ethical Advertising?

June 18, 2010

I still wonder today at the power of Images to sway the will, and lure folks into parting with their readies, through Advertising….works better today than it did 150 years ago!

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Post-Boxes are Effeminate!

June 15, 2010

Pillar-Boxes(Post-Boxes) are Effeminate! IN the year 1892 the Boers  debated in their Parliament in Pretoria as to whether they should erect pillar-boxes. A great many members objected to them- and said they were extravagant and effeminate.   One man (Mr. Talgaard) said, ‘He could not see why  people wanted to be always writing letters.    He wrote [...]

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Gypsy Names of Countries and Towns

June 14, 2010

This from a family magazine of 1875.. Gypsy Names of Countries and Towns. From Borrow’s Romano-Lavo-Lil we gather the following, which shows that the gypsies are shrewd enough, and epigrammatic enough too, in the character of their nomenclature :— Swineherds’ Country, Hampshire ; Shepherds’ Country, Sussex ; Great Church Town, York; Great Tree Town, Fairlop [...]

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