The Victorian Kitchen Garden is a 13-part TV series that aired in 1987 on BBC2. It follows the month-by-month restoration of the Victorian walled kitchen garden at the Chilton Foliat estate in Wiltshire, England. Almost all the episodes are available to watch online. (via hark, a vagrant) It had three sequels - The Victorian Kitchen, The Victorian Flower Garden, and The Wartime Kitchen and Garden - and inspired more recent historical reconstruction programs: Tales From the Green Valley, A Tudor Feast at Christmas, Victorian Farm, Victorian Farm Christmas, Victorian Pharmacy, and Edwardian Farm. (Victorian Farm and Edwardian Farm previously.) [more inside]
posted by flex on Feb 26, 2012 - 29 comments

There's a growing movement to make sure that smells are incorporated into historical records. Historians, perfumers, and florists all want to make sure we can smell the past.
posted by rageagainsttherobots on Jul 24, 2011 - 36 comments

Evolution of the Map of Africa [more inside]
posted by zarq on Jul 7, 2011 - 15 comments

Le blog de VelosVintage is a gorgeous French blog chock full of detailed photographs and history of beautiful vintage racing bicycles from older to newer.
posted by loquacious on Aug 18, 2010 - 10 comments

The Victorian Dictionary: A motley collection of primary source documents and reference materials about Victorian London by historical thriller author Lee Jackson. Read the 1841 Census, browse peroid advertisements, zoom in on the 1881 Pocket Guide to London or just learn some dirty words.
posted by The Whelk on Apr 19, 2010 - 17 comments

Peacay of BibliOdyessey highlights some stunning examples of Victorian Infographics from the Rumsey Map Collection(previously). (Direct Flickr link)
posted by The Whelk on Dec 22, 2009 - 21 comments

Kate Beaton, Historical Cartoonist
posted by flatluigi on Mar 13, 2009 - 70 comments

The Australian National Library is digitising newspapers.
posted by Fiasco da Gama on Dec 16, 2008 - 13 comments

For Sale: Max Yasgur's Farm [more inside]
posted by not_on_display on Jan 9, 2008 - 56 comments

Telephone Central Office Histories - A fascinating collection of personal anecdotes and histories about telephony from the US and around the world, from The Telephone Exchange Name Project. Coral Cache links -1- -2- (via)
posted by loquacious on Jun 9, 2007 - 8 comments

What's so funny?
posted by gilgamix on Aug 9, 2005 - 9 comments

New York Changing. Rephotographs from then and now.
posted by stbalbach on Nov 22, 2004 - 43 comments

33 40' 31'' N - 106 28' 29'' W, 7/16/45, 05:29.45
posted by crunchland on Jul 16, 2004 - 21 comments

10 years ago today, and the killer is still at large.
posted by crunchland on Jun 12, 2004 - 46 comments

Dazzling, full-color shots of people long since dead, landscapes long since paved, and an empire long since overthrown.
A pre-WW I process for creating color image projections meets Photoshop®
posted by magullo on Jan 16, 2004 - 27 comments

Wow. Spartacus Educational is a masterwork of hyperlinked history with a rather eclectic list of focus topics that can suck you in and never let go. Start anywhere, and then just click, and click, and click...

In light of recent events, you might begin, if you wish, with a brush-up on the 1914 assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, and from there go on to find out more about the Black Hand secret society responsible for the killing. You may attempt to sidestep politics by going to cartoonists, or U.S. novelists and poets, but you will find that the site is organized against a backdrop of world politics (viewed chiefly from a British perspective), a point of view that weaves its own endlessly looping and mesmerizing mesh.
posted by taz on Mar 14, 2003 - 9 comments