The stereotype is that women drivers are bad drivers. This stereotype no doubt got its start in the early days of the 20th century when motoring was thought of as a male pursuit. Some pioneering women thought it was all nonsense. A woman could operate an automobile just as well as a man. Women were […]
Victorians Take Credit for These Customs and Traditions
Have you ever stopped to think about the origins of many of the customs and traditions we hold dear? Most of these customs and traditions feel like they have been around forever, but many have existed for less than 200 years and originated with the Victorians. Here are three notable examples. The list, however, goes […]
Cook Like It’s 1917: Organic and Homemade
Learning how to cook in the early 20th century was not a matter of choice for women. It was a matter of survival. Women were expected to cook for their families, but what were they cooking and how were they preparing it? “All the food that we ate when I was a child in the […]
Canada: Our Fascinating Neighbor to the North
I have been a history lover for many years, and I am obsessed with World War I to the point of addiction. This focus has grown to include Canada and its history. Why, you may ask, would an American be interested in Canada? It began with the conception of my novel, Angel of Mercy. The […]
Bow to the Power of Mother Nature: Galveston Hurricane of 1900
On Sept. 8, 1900, a hurricane ripped through Galveston, then Texas’s largest city, and became one of the deadliest natural disasters in U.S. history. The city was important to the shipping industry and was a vacation spot for the wealthy. It also was technologically forward, introducing telephones and electricity before many other cities. A Brewing […]
Public Displays of Mourning — the Victorians and Edwardians
We live in a day and age where sex tapes make people celebrities, and the thought of our mortality makes people uncomfortable. There was once a time when the opposite was true. People were aware of the shadow of death, and mourning was a public activity. Their sex lives, on the other hand, were never […]
Baby Names: Comparing the 1890s to Today
The choice of baby names is vitally important to any parent. And such a big decision it is! The pupils taking the eighth grade exit exam in 1910 would have been born around 1896. What names would have appeared on their classrooms’ rolls, and how do those names compare to today? Then and Now The most […]
Education in the 1910s
In 1900, the U.S. high school graduation rate was six percent. During the 1910s in Canada, the highest level of education the average person completed was grade six. The majority of teachers were women. While this is probably still the case today, women were expected to quit working once they married. In some districts, teachers […]
“Mama, We All Go to Hell”
Inspiration can come from the most unexpected places. Who would have guessed a hard rock song could inspire an entire historical fiction novel? But that’s exactly what happened with my novel, Angel of Mercy. It was inspired entirely by the song “Mama” from My Chemical Romance‘s album Welcome to the Black Parade. The song begins and […]
WWI: Forgotten in the U.S. But Not Around the World
World War I is the most important event of the 20th century, setting into motion a second world war, the Cold War, and countless political and social revolutions. Most Americans know nothing about it including the fact that Veterans Day, November 11, was Armistice Day. To add insult to injury, there is no national World […]
History That Speaks to My Soul
History has long been a passion of mine. It began in childhood when my mother read me the Little House on the Prairie series. Since that time, I have read volumes of history books, taken classes for the sure pleasure of learning, watched documentaries, and been drawn to historical fiction movies and television programs, sometimes […]