MetaFilter posts tagged with 19thcentury

H.H. Cool J

cashman — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 16:47:50 -0800

Helen (Hunt) Jackson was an author and an activist. Her mom died when Helen was 14, her dad 3 years later. Helen's first child died at 11 months, her second at 10 years old. In 1879 she was inspired after hearing Chief Standing Bear describe how the U.S. government took Native Americans' land. She began to publish in support of Native American rights. 1881 brought her book A Century of Dishonor [pdf], branded with the words "Look upon your hands! They are stained with the blood of your relations". In 1883, she published her most famous work, Ramona, a novel about racial discrimination set in California. If that's too much to take in, and now you need some kitties, she's still got you covered. Letters from a Cat (1879) is being featured at Archive.org today. Her husband, Edward Bissell Hunt, died in 1863. He held various positions in the United States army, producing a pamphlet urging the "energetic deportation" of Black people so that land could be "reclaimed for the sole use of the white man". Parenthesis around "Hunt" in Helen's name because apparently she went either by Helen Hunt or by Helen Jackson.

To awaken quite alone in a strange town is one of the pleasantest sensations in the world.

ikahime — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 08:41:41 -0800

Women Explorers and Travellers of Asia and the Middle East - In an age where women struggled for basic human rights, these individuals were literal trailblazers. Leaving their homelands for varying motivations (but often due to dissatisfaction with their social lot in life), they devoted their lives to "explore these antique lands before they are irretrievably caught up in the cacaphonic whirl of the modern world." Gertrude Bell - Iraq previously Isabella Lucy Bird - Japan Lady Anne Blunt - Arabia Alexandra David-Neel - Tibet Dame Freya Stark - Hadhramaut

"My humble efforts to assist in the elucidation of the social condition of a distant and comparatively unknown race."

goodnewsfortheinsane — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 11:34:54 -0800

Sketches of Japanese Manners and Customs (1867).

Cholera and Epidemiology

peacay — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 12:49:12 -0800

Sick City - Maps and Mortality in the Time of Cholera [print version] reviews Stephen Johnson's "The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic"*. Dr John Snow became the acknowledged modern father of epidemiology by identifying water as the transmission vehicle of a cholera outbreak in Victorian England. UCLA have an amazingly comprehensive website devoted to Dr John Snow (and much more) - worthy of a look if only for the nice maps.

An fine gallery of fine mustachios

MadamM — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 18:30:08 -0800

An excellent resource for connoisseurs of facial hair that is firmly above-the-lip. Also good for people interested in amusing blogs, vintage photography and glossaries. My first post ever! I hope I didn't break anything. Link thanks to The Morning News and their wonderful headlines.

In China, it is a common thing to stumble over the bodies of dead babies in the streets.

goodnewsfortheinsane — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 11:26:47 -0800

In the 19th century, English author Favell Mortimer wrote several books describing various countries to children. Apparently she didn't travel much. Favell Mortimer also wrote "The peep of day, or, A series of the earliest religious instruction the infant mind is capable of receiving" and "Reading without tears", a childrens' orthography primer. Wikipedia.

Lautrec's models in photographs

taz — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 06:42:13 -0800

Photographs of the dancers, actresses, cafe-life figures and prostitutes who were the subjects of Toulouse Lautrec's paintings, including such luminaries as Sarah Bernhardt, "La Goulue" (Louise Weber; remember this?), and Jane Avril, who was the model for this last, iconic, Lautrec poster. View pages of the art matched up with photos, here, here, and here, and go to this page to rummage around in even more collections that include photos of Lautrec, his friends and family, street and location scenes, and lots of other tidbits. [Spanish language site; NUDITY]

Deja View: Historic landscape "rephotos" (1800s, 1970s, 1990s)

taz — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 06:15:41 -0800

The Third View project is a fascinating presentation of "rephotographs" of over 100 historic landscape sites in the American West that presents original 19th-century survey photographs, photographed again in the 1970s, then once again in the '90s - from the original vantage points, under similar lighting conditions, at (roughly) the same time of day and year. [Flash, and you'll probably need to allow pop-ups; a little more info inside...]

The last samurai

tellurian — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 18:51:24 -0800

Bakumatsu - from this to this. Photographs from an exhibition at the University of Tokyo. [related]

The Superior Works

growabrain — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 01:37:52 -0800

A wonderfully told story about a guy's exciting find. C.A. Jewett's Patternmaking Chest. (Via)

John Smith's Ephemera

Len — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 09:44:22 -0800

"John Smith, Youngest, of Crutherland, was given the honorary degree of LL.D in 1840. In 1842 he announced the bequest to the University [of Glasgow] of his runs of publications from learned societies, and his volumes of ephemeral items. These came to the library on Smith’s death in 1849." Some examples: Playbill, Theatre Royal, York Street. Broadsheet account of an attempted prison break. Radical Party election ballad. See also: Glasgow Broadside Ballads: cheap print and popular song culture in nineteenth-century Scotland and Glasgow Broadside Ballads: The Murray Collection

Memento Mori

grapefruitmoon — Thu, 08 Jun 2006 08:34:43 -0800

Memento Mori : both in Europe and The United States, post-mortem photography [pdf] was both reminder of and coping mechanism for death in the 19th century.

19th century medical caricatures

iconomy — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 09:35:50 -0800

A nice collection of 19th century French and English medical caricatures, including some drawn by George Cruikshank.

Deafness in disguise

madamjujujive — Sat, 15 Oct 2005 07:32:12 -0800

Concealed hearing devices of the 19th and 20th centuries. Great images in this delightful exhibit of wacky yet charming devices like auricle headphones, dentaphones, concealed beard receptors, barrettes, jewelry, hats, and acoustic chairs.

Missouri Botanical Gardens Rare Books/Illustrations

peacay — Tue, 23 Aug 2005 09:41:12 -0800

Missouri Botanical Gardens Rare Books: The Illustrated Garden
This collection contains seventy seven 18th and 19th century botanical books and these are just a small sample of the 3000+ beautiful illustrations contained within. (via)

Somnambulism and mesmerism

strikhedonia — Fri, 22 Jul 2005 18:02:12 -0800

To witness the decline of the Enlightenment in American culture, one could do worse than to begin by examining the case of Jane C. Rider, the "Springfield Somnambulist." With the decline of the Enlightenment rose the pseudo-science of mesmerism, both as a way to cure the mentally ill and as a stage attraction. Given the submissive nature of mesmerism, it occasionally led to abuses, both real and imagined. [more inside]

A game of excruciatingly correct 19th century Victorian behavior.

Lush — Sun, 06 Mar 2005 08:32:45 -0800

Mind Your Manners! Put your knowledge of excruciatingly correct behavior to the test: "Adopt the role of a late 19th century character and try to earn your place in a world where every move is governed by the rules of etiquette." Certainly antiquated but amusing nonetheless.

State of the Art 1876

Mitheral — Wed, 12 Jan 2005 08:12:17 -0800

Knight's American Mechanical Dictionary Containing over 3000 pages the Knight's American Mechanical Dictionary was billed as A description of tools, instruments, machines, processes and engineering; history of inventions; general technological vocabulary. Published in 1876 it is a great resource for those trying to figure out how things were done in the time of our great (great?) grand parents. Ilustrations, upwards of 5000 engravings, include a ride inside monocycle, trestle bridges, compound microscope, clod crushers, washing machines, spoke driver, hydraulic wagon-tipper, and a farmers tool-house. Warning: the book has been scanned in and all the item links are to 100-150K images.

Arctic Blue Books

plep — Tue, 28 Dec 2004 23:32:26 -0800

Arctic Blue Books Online - 'a searchable, World-Wide Web version of Andrew Taylor's unique index to the 19th Century British Parliamentary Papers concerned with the Canadian Arctic. '