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Hi Everyone, and welcome back to another Artifact Corner. Today we will be looking at this copy of Good Housekeeping magazine from December of 1914. The magazine has your normal articles, some advice columns, and just like today, dozens of advertisements. The cover of the magazine is in color, while the interior is printed in black and white. Because it is the December issue, much of the magazine is about Christmas and New Years. Let’s learn a bit more about the Good Housekeeping Magazine.

Good Housekeeping’s first magazine was published on May 2, 1885. The mission of the magazine was “to produce and perpetuate perfection — or as near unto perfection as may be attained in the household.” This is certainly a lofty mission. The magazine became a monthly publication in 1891, and by 1911 it had a circulation of around 300,000 people. Now, Good Housekeeping is not only a magazine, but also an Institute that was designed to provide consumer protection and wellness. Founded in 1900, the Good Housekeeping Institute was, at first, called the Good Housekeeping Experiment Station. The invention of electricity had introduced many new labor-saving home appliances but few consumers had any real knowledge of their operation and maintenance. With the goal of studying “the problems facing the homemaker and to develop up-to-date firsthand information on solving them,” the staff at the GH Experiment Station tested products and housekeeping methods and published articles about their discoveries and observations. They also reprinted advice from readers who wrote them. One reader offered a cure for callouses (she used olive oil and cotton); another reader advised about how to launder lace drapes; and another gave tips about the best way to clean a meat chopper.

In our edition of the magazine there is a discussion about the act of gift giving around the holidays, and whether or not it is still in vogue. Here is an excerpt from the article; “It would not be advisable to stop all Christmas giving, as many conscientiously try to give gifts of value and utility. But the usual orgy of shopping, when anything, no matter how ill chosen, is purchased and sent to get someone off the list, should by all means be stopped – by each one’s not taking part in it. What is the most acceptable gift? There is none for all people. A box of candy will be just the thing for one to give; a ton of coal for another. Give what you please, but give advisedly – put your heart in it, or don’t give.” To be perfectly honest, this seems like good advice, even 100 plus years on.

Our magazine has seen better days. The cover has a lot of wear, and has come away from the main body of the magazine. This is unsurprising given that the magazine is 107 years old. Other than the cover, the body of the magazine is in quite good condition. This is a fascinating look back at one of the first women’s magazines in the United States, and we are so lucky to have it in our collections. Thanks so much for stopping by!

Music: Acoustic Breeze by Benjamin Tissot www.bensound.com

Hi Everyone, and welcome back to another artifact corner. Today we will be looking at this Heinz sales pamphlet from 1910. The pamphlet is an advertisement for all of the different products that Heinz offered in 1910. Most of us know Heinz as simply a ketchup company, but as you can see in the pamphlet, they had a large variety of not only savory, but sweet condiments. Let’s learn a bit more about the history of the H.J. Heinz Company.

Henry John Heinz started selling his condiments in Pittsburgh in 1869. By the age of 16 Heinz had several employees working to cultivate he had built, and to deliver his produce to local grocers. Heinz was selling horseradish, pickles, vinegar, and other sauces, all in clear bottles so that his customers could see the quality of his goods. The original name of the company was the Anchor Pickle and Vinegar Works. By 1876, Heinz had developed its now world famous ketchup and starts manufacturing and selling it. Also in 1876 they introduce the very first sweet pickles to the market. In 1893, Heinz had a booth at the World’s Fair in Chicago. Their booth was a bit out of the way, and so Henry decided to hand out free pickle pins and samples. By the time the fair had ended, the Heinz company had handed out more than one million pins. In 1896 the company coined the slogan 57 Varieties. This was not because that’s the number of products they sold, but simply because Heinz thought the number sounded lucky.

By 1908 the Heinz company had become the largest tomato manufacturer in the world. They had also become the largest producer of pickles, vinegar, and ketchup in the United States. By 1919 the company had over 6,000 employees and 25 factories. Heinz was also a relatively progressive employer for his time. He was one of the few food manufacturers to support the federal Pure Food Act of 1906. This act prohibited the sale of misbranded or adulterated food and drugs. It also laid the groundwork for the Food and Drug Administration.

Our pamphlet lists 57 of Heinz’s products. The range of condiments that they offer is quite large. They have a number of baked beans for sale, including a vegetarian offering. They also have soups and even canned spaghetti (A L’Italienne). They have fruit preserves, butters, and marmalades. They have a wide variety of pickled goods, ranging from pickled onions, pickled walnuts, and the one that makes us scratch our heads the most, pickled stuffed mangoes. The description for these is as follows; “small melon mangoes cored and filled with finely chopped sweet pickles, deliciously spiced and seasoned, then preserved in Heinz sweet pickling liquor.” They sold for $1.00 a jar. They also sold olives, olive oils, and vinegars. Of course they have a wide variety of Ketchups, they have regular tomato ketchup, but they also have mushroom ketchup, mustard ketchup, and the oddest one of all, walnut ketchup. All of the ketchups sold at the time for 25 cents a bottle. Our pamphlet is in great condition. It has little to no wear on it, and the color is beautiful. This is a fantastic look back at vintage food advertising, and we are so lucky to have it in our collections. Thanks so much for stopping by.

Music: Acoustic Breeze by Benjamin Tissot, www.bensound.com

Hi Everyone, and welcome back to another artifact corner. Today we will be looking at some pieces that were discovered discretely pressed between the pages of Henry Webb’s bible. Henry Webb was married to our Frances Delord Webb, and the father of our Fannie Delord Webb Hall. These leaves were found throughout the book, and in one spot there was a note stating that the leaves were gathered in Hartford, CT in 1846. Interestingly, Henry Webb passed away on October 12th, 1846. So are these leaves that Henry gathered and pressed before he passed, or did perhaps his daughter, who inherited his bible collect these leaves and press them in her father’s bible? We simply don’t know for sure, but pressing and or drying leaves and flowers has a long and varied history. Let’s learn a bit more about it.

The oldest preserved flowers were found in a Roman tomb in Egypt, and are around 2,000 years old. Preserving vegetation takes on many forms and has a variety of uses. In some cases, like our leaves it’s to preserve a memory, but there are so many other uses for dried flowers and leaves. The ancient Egyptians dried plants for use in medicines, fragrances, and cosmetics. The Romans are responsible for bringing dried wreaths and garlands into common use. It became a tradition in both Greek and Roman society to bestow wreaths or garlands to politicians, athletes, poets, and even victorious warriors. Crowns of leaves and dried flowers were worn on the heads of state, much like metal and jeweled crowns are worn today. Different plants held different significance, and each had its own meaning. A dried bay laurel was considered the highest honor, and an olive wreath was used to symbolize peace. That’s where we get the phrase, “extending an olive branch” from, it was a literal symbol of peace in antiquity. In Mediaeval Europe, herb gardens were ubiquitous, and dried herbs were very important in everyday life. Church would scatter their floors with dried lavender, which was thought to ward off evil. In reality, dried lavender can ward off pests and therefore was keeping any illnesses they might bring at bay. So, even though people in the Middle Ages didn’t quite understand the science behind this practice, the idea was still sound.

The Victorian’s were very passionate about flowers. They created a whole language around them, and sending flowers was basically a dialogue. A yellow pansy meant that the sender was thinking of you, a poppy meant that the sender was not free (or in today’s parlance, not single), a white rose was a flat out rejection from the sender, while a red rose or red tulip was a declaration of love. A Canterbury Blue Bell meant that your letter had been received, a Yellow Marquerile meant to expect a visit soon, and a Red Fuchsia meant the sender thought you had excellent taste. So, what do you do with an important or special flower that you want to preserve, well, you can dry it or press it in the pages of your favorite book. Pressing a flower is very easy, and you almost guaranteed already have everything you need. If you have a beautiful flower or leaf you’d like to preserve, grab a book, and some wax paper or parchment paper. You don’t need the wax paper for this to work, it’s mostly to protect the pages of your book. Find a good spot in the middle to end of the book, and arrange the flower or leaves the way you’d like them to be preserved. In about two weeks it will be sufficiently dried, and your flower or leaf is preserved. The color will last for anywhere between 5 to 10 years. Many Victorian’s would keep their pressed flowers or leaves next to special passages or chapters in books they adored, kind of like a bookmark.

Our leaves are in good condition, given that they are 175 years old! We have removed them from the Bible because as they age, they can compromise the pages of the book, which is not something we want. These are a lovely reminder of a memory of a Fall season in CT in 1846, and we are so lucky to have them in our collections. Thanks so much for stopping by.

Music: Acoustic Breeze by Benjamin Tissot, www.bensound.com

Hi Everyone, and welcome back to another artifact corner. Today we will be looking at a book that was published in 1871, by a very famous author, Harriet Beecher Stowe. The book is called Pink and White Tyranny, and the author expressly says that it is not a novel. Beecher Stowe says, “Now, a novel, in our days, is a three-story affair,- a complicated complex, multiform composition.” She later states that this work is, “..this is a little commonplace history, all about one man and one woman, living straight along in one little prosaic town in New England.” This book is 331 pages long, and follows the marriage of John Seymour and Lillie Ellis. It is meant to be a social commentary on the fact that men of the day wanted “sylph-like,” fashionable, delicate women, but were then disappointed to find they had married sylph-like, fashionable, delicate women. It was also Beecher Stowe’s way of warning women away from so called “easy” divorces. I won’t go too much further into the details of the book and spoil it for anyone who may want to read it, but let’s learn a bit more about the author, Harriet Beecher Stowe.

Harriet Beecher Stowe was born on June 14, 1811 in Litchfield CT. She was the 6th of 11 children! Her father was a reverend, and Harriet was raised in a very religious family. Her parents wanted their children to better the world around them, and all seven of her brothers became ministers. Her eldest sister Catherine helped pioneer education for women, and her youngest sister Isabella was one of the founders of the National Women’s Suffrage Movement. In 1824 Harriet began studying at the Hartford female Seminary, which her sister Catherine founded. By 1832 her father had accepted a new position in Cincinnati, OH, and Harriet moved west with the family. It was around this time that she met her husband to be, Calvin Stowe. The pair married and had seven children together. In 1849, the couple lost their then 18 month old son to cholera. The pain was almost unbearable for Harriet, who later said that she channeled that pain to help her write her most famous novel.

In 1851, Harriet Beecher Stowe was contacted by a local abolitionist newspaper to write a piece that would “paint a word picture of slavery.” She started out with the intention of writing three or maybe four chapters that would be published in the newspaper, she wrote more than 40 chapters. The book was published in 1852 under the title “Uncle Tom’s Cabin or Life Among the Lowly,” and was an instant best seller. The book sold more than 300,000 copies in the first year of publication, and was also very popular in Europe. The book however was banned in the South. Harriet and her husband Calvin moved to Maine, and she continued writing. As they got older, they found the harsh New England winters to be a bit too much for them, and so they began to winter in Florida. All throughout her life Harriet Beecher Stowe was an abolitionist and a firm proponent for education for everyone. Harriet passed away on July 1, 1896.

If you are interested in reading Pink & White Tyranny, or any of Beecher Stowe’s works, you can find them readily available online. My only advice would be to view the works as a time capsule, and bear in mind that views towards marriage and women’s rights have changed dramatically in the last 150 years. It is an interesting book, and definitely transports you back to the Victorian mentality. Our book is in very good condition, there is very little wear to the binding or the pages. It is a neat look back at marriage in the 1870’s, and we are very lucky to have it in our collections. Thanks so much for stopping by!

Music: Acoustic Breeze by Benjamin Tissot www.bensound.com

Hi Everyone, and welcome back to another artifact corner. Today we will be looking at a sitz bath, spelled s -i-t-z, or otherwise known as a hip bath. The term sitz comes from the German verb sitzen, which simply means to sit. The sitz bath tub was invented in 1842, and was used as part of the Malvern Water Cure. The tub was designed in conjunction with a number of other activities that “cured” almost anything that could ail a person. Let’s learn a bit more about sitz tubs and the Malvern Water Cure.
Malvern, England is famous for it’s water. The water has been lauded for not only being refreshing, but also for curing afflictions. The first mention of the waters at Malvern goes as far back as 1622, from Bannister’s “Breviary of the Eyes.” In it he states;
“A little more I’ll of their curing tell.
How they helped sore eyes
with a new found well.
Great speech of Malvern Hills
was late reported.
Unto which spring
people in troops resorted.”

Following the discovery of the curative powers of the spring water, it started to be bottled and shipped all over England. Throughout the 17th and 18th Century, people were prescribed the water by their doctors, and either bought bottles of it, or made the trek to Malvern itself. In the 1830’s two doctors, Dr. James Wilson and Dr. James Manby Gully, set up hydrotherapy centers in Malvern. The clinics became known as The Malvern Water cure. It was a regime of plenty of Malvern water, a very strict diet, and plenty of exercise. Most of these things we can recognize today as beneficial, and this hydrotherapy actually was successful. People flocked to Malvern for “the cure,” including some very well known names like Charles Darwin. Charles Dickens wrote of the cure the following;
“It is a most beautiful place. Oh heavenly to meet the cold waters as I did this morning when I went out for a shower bath.”

Even today you can visit the many wells around Malvern and drink the water. It is reported that Queen Elizabeth II has gone to Malvern to drink from the waters, so it truly is fit for royalty.

The sitz bath was invented to be part of the regime for the patients going to the hydrotherapy clinics. It was designed to cure ailments of the lower body, and again, it did ease the discomfort of many of the patients. So, the sitz bath became popular outside of Malvern England. Our Fannie Delord Webb Hall was a self taught pharmacist, who studied medical texts voraciously. She was up to date on all of the best treatments, and ordered all of the latest apparatus of the day, so it is unsurprising that she would have purchased a sitz bath for her practice. The sitz bath was thought to help with things like digestive problems, hemorrhoids, liver obstruction, and constipation, just to name a few. It could be used with hot water or cold water, depending upon your ailment. Our sitz bath is in ok condition. There is some cracking and it will no longer hold water. Despite that, it is a unique look back into Victorian medicine, and we are so lucky to have it in our collections. Thanks so much for stopping by.

Music: Acoustic Breeze by Benjamin Tissot www.bensound.com

Hi Everyone, and welcome back to another artifact corner. Today we will be looking at an early sewing machine that we have in our collections. Our model of sewing machine was made in the mid 1850’s. It is set on a wooden table, and the means of propulsion is by a foot treadle. The machine itself has beautifully hand painted flowers and vines adorning it. The table has one small drawer for storing supplies. Let’s learn a bit more about the history of the sewing machine.

Prior to the invention of the sewing machine, all garments were made by hand. The oldest sewing needle ever discovered comes from Serbia and dates to about 60,000 BCE. It was made of a bird bone, which is ideal due to how small and light weight bird bones are. The down side to using bird bones is that they are fragile. Other needles that have been found dating to 45,000 BCE have been made from ivory, camel bone, deer bone, and whale bone. Humans started using metal sewing needles around 7,000 BCE, and used copper, iron, and bronze needles. Metal needles are far stronger than bone needles, and therefore can last longer. Metal needles are also great for working with more dense and heartier materials, like animal hides and leathers.

For almost all of human history, if you wanted a garment, you either had to sew it yourself, or have another person hand sew it. In the late 18th Century a British cabinet maker named Thomas Saint created the first sewing machine to create a chain stitch. He designed it to be used on leather, and mostly in the manufacturing of shoes. It is not known if he ever actually made the machine, he had his invention drawn up and patented, but nothing survives in the record about whether or not the machine ever actually existed. In 1830 a French tailor named Barthélemy Thimonnier patented and made the first mechanical sewing machine. This machine also used a hooked needle to create a chain stitch. Unlike Thomas Saint, he not only made his first mechanical sewing machine, but he also put it into production. Thimonnier invented his machines to produce uniforms for the French army. Tailors in France were afraid that the machines would put them out of business, and around 200 of them rioted and destroyed all of Thimonnier’s machines. But, the genie was out of the bottle, and the sewing machine would soon be all of the world. In the United States by 1860, over 110,000 sewing machines were manufactured and sold. Soon sewing machine would be affordable enough that the average person could own one. This was a huge time saver, primarily for women. Darning and mending a families clothing was time consuming when doing it by hand. A sewing machine would dramatically cut down on that task, allowing women more time to pursue other interests.

Our sewing machine was made by D. Corkins from Troy, NY, again in the mid 1850’s. We’ve had some trouble locating information about this manufacturer, but according to the Smithsonian Institution, that’s not surprising. In the mid 1800’s, there were so many sewing machine makers, and so few of them lasted for any length of time, that there are many “one off” makers out there. Our machine is in good condition, but not currently in working order. It is missing it’s belts, and would likely need to be professionally restored before we would try to use it. It is a beautiful example of early Victorian sewing machines, and we are so lucky to have it in our collections. If you’d like to see it in person, we have it on display this season, and we are open for tours on Fridays and Saturdays from 10 to 3. Thanks so much for stopping by.

Music: Acoustic Breeze by Benjamin Tissot www.bensound.com