I've tried to sort links into appropriate sections, though sometimes that can be difficult.
Right now this page consists of the following sections:
Clothing / Costume
Books online
Art Galleries
This 'n That: misc. interesting sites
Castles
Newspapers and magazines online
Cottage, Village, City and Town, assorted sites for old house and history fans
Georgian and Early American
Mid Twentieth Century
Links for early Twentieth Century homes
Victorian architectural and historic links
Click on older posts at the bottom of the page for the final sections.
Be sure to check The Old House Book List if you're looking for links to period online books on architecture and interior decor
Clothing / Costume
HISTORIC CLOTHING PATTERNS
THE COSTUMER'S MANIFESTO a great site to research period or ethnic dress, or just for entertainment.
FRENCH FASHION PRINTS the prints on this page are from La Mode Illustree 1875-1886. In the 1800's women would cut the pages out of the magazine, then frame and hang them. They were later reproduced and the framed reproductions were sold for decades. I have a couple of them in my own home, and if you check out Lucy and Ricky Ricardo's first apartment, you'll find a couple hanging there too.
18TH CENTURY CLOTHES AND UNIFORMS a book courtesy of the National Park Service. It's rather long, and can take a little while to download even on high speed internet.
COSTUME OF COLONIAL TIMES, a book published in 1911, from Hearth, at the Cornell Library.
LA COUTURIERE PARISIENNE the English version. Fashion through history with colorful plates, paintings, some patterns and links. Some things are in German only.
THE FREAKS OF FASHION: with illustrations of the changes in the corset and crinoline, from remote periods to the present time., A book published in 1870. I haven't had a chance to read this, it has a great title, doesn't it? The drawings are very nice too.
HAIR HISTORY AND HAIRSTYLES
HAIRSTYLE HISTORY part of the Online Costume Gallery. At the bottom of the page you can access the rest of their site.
HISTORIC DRESS IN AMERICA 1800-1870 a book published in 1910, also from the Hearth Library. The illustrations didn't scan very well, but the text is very informative.
FASHION-ERA another large site.
MORBID OUTLOOK an article about Victorian mourning clothes.
THE TAILOR'S GUIDE a book published in 1856. The second volume is full of drawings of patterns for menswear.
THE COSTUMER'S MANIFESTO a great site to research period or ethnic dress, or just for entertainment.
FRENCH FASHION PRINTS the prints on this page are from La Mode Illustree 1875-1886. In the 1800's women would cut the pages out of the magazine, then frame and hang them. They were later reproduced and the framed reproductions were sold for decades. I have a couple of them in my own home, and if you check out Lucy and Ricky Ricardo's first apartment, you'll find a couple hanging there too.
18TH CENTURY CLOTHES AND UNIFORMS a book courtesy of the National Park Service. It's rather long, and can take a little while to download even on high speed internet.
COSTUME OF COLONIAL TIMES, a book published in 1911, from Hearth, at the Cornell Library.
LA COUTURIERE PARISIENNE the English version. Fashion through history with colorful plates, paintings, some patterns and links. Some things are in German only.
THE FREAKS OF FASHION: with illustrations of the changes in the corset and crinoline, from remote periods to the present time., A book published in 1870. I haven't had a chance to read this, it has a great title, doesn't it? The drawings are very nice too.
HAIR HISTORY AND HAIRSTYLES
HAIRSTYLE HISTORY part of the Online Costume Gallery. At the bottom of the page you can access the rest of their site.
HISTORIC DRESS IN AMERICA 1800-1870 a book published in 1910, also from the Hearth Library. The illustrations didn't scan very well, but the text is very informative.
FASHION-ERA another large site.
MORBID OUTLOOK an article about Victorian mourning clothes.
THE TAILOR'S GUIDE a book published in 1856. The second volume is full of drawings of patterns for menswear.
Books online
The first section lists online book collections.
Following that are links to some of the books I've found there.
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN DIGITAL LIBRARY FOR THE DECORATIVE ARTS
THE ONLINE BOOKS PAGE from the Univerity of Pennsylvania
ONLINE BOOKS 4 FREE
BOOKS-ON-LINE, most of them free
GOOGLE BOOKS Some books and magazines are free to read, others are not, I suggest you Google 'google books' to learn more. To change the list of book and magazine covers on this particular page just refresh the page.
DIGITAL BOOK INDEX you have to log in to use this site. For the organization line, just put in 'none'.
PROJECT GUTTENBERG
CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
MONOGRAPHS COLLECTION
CHILDREN'S BOOKS ON LINE You'll love the illustrations in these old books
HEARTH the home economics archive from Cornell University. Check Subjects to see what's covered on the site, I like to use the Browse page to look through books.
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN DIGITAL LIBRARY
IBIBLIO from the University of North Carolina
THE INTERNET PUBLIC LIBRARY'S LISTING OF ONLINE TEXTS
KNOWLEDGE RUSH this particular link will take you to books listed in alphabetical order
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE Aa link to the Park Histories page. Among other things it holds some very interesting architectural studies and surveys.
THE BRITISH LIBRARY ONLINE GALLERY did you ever think you could read the Lindisfarne Gospels, or Jane Asten's The History of England written in her own hand, or peruse Leonardo da Vinci's personal notebook? Now you can.
_______________________________________________________________
VILLAGE LIFE IN AMERICA 1852—1872, as told in the Diary of a school-girl, Caroline Richards, who lived in Canandaigua, N. Y.
THE HOUSEHOLD CYCLOPEDIA was a book of general knowledge printed in 1881.
THE LADIES'S WORK-BOOK :containing instructions in Knitting, Crochet, Point-Lace, &c., Victorian era, date unknown
THE LADIES' ALBUM OF FANCY WORK FOR 1850 "NOVEL, ELEGANT, AND USEFUL DESIGNS IN KNITTING, NETTING, CROCHET, BRAIDING, AND
EMBROIDERY"
GODEY'S LADY'S BOOK ONLINE here you can browse 5 months of Godey's from 1850.
GODEY'S LADY'S BOOK Vol. 42, January, 1851
A NEW TREATISE ON FLOWER PAINTING,or, Every lady her own drawing master: containing familiar and easy instructions for acquiring a perfect knowledge of drawing flowers with accuracy and taste: Also complete directions for producing the various tints...published 1818
AMERICA OF THE FIFTIES,LETTERS OF FREDRIKA BREMER the 1850's, that is. You can also read the scanned page images if you prefer.
TRAVELS IN AMERICA 1750-1920 an extensive collection of books and pamphlets, all from The Library of Congress
MY LIFE AS AN INDIAN:THE STORY OF A RED WOMAN AND A WHITE MAN IN THE LODGES OF THE BLACKFEET published 1907
HOW THE OTHER HALF LIVES, by Jacob A. Riis, Studies among the tenements of New York, 1890
ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF FURNITURE FROM THE EARLIEST TO THE PRESENT TIME the present time being 1893
STYLES OF ORNAMENT exhibited in designs, and arranged in historical order, with descriptive text. 1906
LOSSING'S FIELD BOOK OF THE REVOLUTION,VOL. I, published 1850
VOL. II You can read a little bit about the author Benson John Lossing here.
Following that are links to some of the books I've found there.
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN DIGITAL LIBRARY FOR THE DECORATIVE ARTS
THE ONLINE BOOKS PAGE from the Univerity of Pennsylvania
ONLINE BOOKS 4 FREE
BOOKS-ON-LINE, most of them free
GOOGLE BOOKS Some books and magazines are free to read, others are not, I suggest you Google 'google books' to learn more. To change the list of book and magazine covers on this particular page just refresh the page.
DIGITAL BOOK INDEX you have to log in to use this site. For the organization line, just put in 'none'.
PROJECT GUTTENBERG
CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
MONOGRAPHS COLLECTION
CHILDREN'S BOOKS ON LINE You'll love the illustrations in these old books
HEARTH the home economics archive from Cornell University. Check Subjects to see what's covered on the site, I like to use the Browse page to look through books.
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN DIGITAL LIBRARY
IBIBLIO from the University of North Carolina
THE INTERNET PUBLIC LIBRARY'S LISTING OF ONLINE TEXTS
KNOWLEDGE RUSH this particular link will take you to books listed in alphabetical order
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE Aa link to the Park Histories page. Among other things it holds some very interesting architectural studies and surveys.
THE BRITISH LIBRARY ONLINE GALLERY did you ever think you could read the Lindisfarne Gospels, or Jane Asten's The History of England written in her own hand, or peruse Leonardo da Vinci's personal notebook? Now you can.
_______________________________________________________________
VILLAGE LIFE IN AMERICA 1852—1872, as told in the Diary of a school-girl, Caroline Richards, who lived in Canandaigua, N. Y.
THE HOUSEHOLD CYCLOPEDIA was a book of general knowledge printed in 1881.
THE LADIES'S WORK-BOOK :containing instructions in Knitting, Crochet, Point-Lace, &c., Victorian era, date unknown
THE LADIES' ALBUM OF FANCY WORK FOR 1850 "NOVEL, ELEGANT, AND USEFUL DESIGNS IN KNITTING, NETTING, CROCHET, BRAIDING, AND
EMBROIDERY"
GODEY'S LADY'S BOOK ONLINE here you can browse 5 months of Godey's from 1850.
GODEY'S LADY'S BOOK Vol. 42, January, 1851
A NEW TREATISE ON FLOWER PAINTING,or, Every lady her own drawing master: containing familiar and easy instructions for acquiring a perfect knowledge of drawing flowers with accuracy and taste: Also complete directions for producing the various tints...published 1818
AMERICA OF THE FIFTIES,LETTERS OF FREDRIKA BREMER the 1850's, that is. You can also read the scanned page images if you prefer.
TRAVELS IN AMERICA 1750-1920 an extensive collection of books and pamphlets, all from The Library of Congress
MY LIFE AS AN INDIAN:THE STORY OF A RED WOMAN AND A WHITE MAN IN THE LODGES OF THE BLACKFEET published 1907
HOW THE OTHER HALF LIVES, by Jacob A. Riis, Studies among the tenements of New York, 1890
ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF FURNITURE FROM THE EARLIEST TO THE PRESENT TIME the present time being 1893
STYLES OF ORNAMENT exhibited in designs, and arranged in historical order, with descriptive text. 1906
LOSSING'S FIELD BOOK OF THE REVOLUTION,VOL. I, published 1850
VOL. II You can read a little bit about the author Benson John Lossing here.
Art Galleries
I've found online art galleries both entertaining for browsing and enlightening when looking for information about historic periods.
I've listed museums, commercial galleries and auction houses that are easy to browse.
ARC you can search by artist, or browse the alphabetical list page by page.
ART UNFRAMED over 23,000 paintings
CGFA a virtual art museum
DONALD HEALD, OLD PRINTS AND DRAWINGS the prints and drawings index
OLDMASTERPRINT.COM etchings, engravings and drawings from the 15th,16th and 17th centuries
GODEL & CO. a fine art gallery in New York
ANTIQUE MAPS AND PRINTS
ROYAL ACADEMY OF ARTS
SCHWARTZ GALLERY a fine art gallery in Philadelphia
SHANNON'S fine art auctioneers. This link will take you to the archives page, pick a sale date, then view.
TATE MUSEUM a link to the search page
WEB GALLERY OF ART
I've listed museums, commercial galleries and auction houses that are easy to browse.
ARC you can search by artist, or browse the alphabetical list page by page.
ART UNFRAMED over 23,000 paintings
CGFA a virtual art museum
DONALD HEALD, OLD PRINTS AND DRAWINGS the prints and drawings index
OLDMASTERPRINT.COM etchings, engravings and drawings from the 15th,16th and 17th centuries
GODEL & CO. a fine art gallery in New York
ANTIQUE MAPS AND PRINTS
ROYAL ACADEMY OF ARTS
SCHWARTZ GALLERY a fine art gallery in Philadelphia
SHANNON'S fine art auctioneers. This link will take you to the archives page, pick a sale date, then view.
TATE MUSEUM a link to the search page
WEB GALLERY OF ART
This 'n That: misc. interesting sites
NEW
WORLD WAR II, PEOPLE'S MEMORIES, from the BBC, an archive of war memories written by the public. Very interesting reading.
NEW
THE ELIZABETHAN ERA.Lots of information about Elizabethan life, very good
WHAT COLOR DEFICIENT PEOPLE SEE An interesting site for those of us with correct color vision. My father had a degree of red-green color blindness, my son has a slight problem with blues and purples.
TAQUITOS.NET, a site that has reviews of snack foods...weird, though sort of helpful, I guess. I couldn't help looking around.
THE WORD DETECTIVE Have you ever wondered about the origin of words and phrases?
ASK FOR IT BY NAME! The origins of popular product names.
JOHN LEEKE'S HISTORIC HOMEWORKS an informative site for people restoring an old home. Browse around, you might find just what you've been looking for.
THE PHRASE FINDER, the meanings and origins of phrases, sayings and idioms.
THE WORLD CLOCK The next time your kid asks you "what time is it in....? you'll be ready. For more information, check out their home page.
CLUSTER HEADACHE WATER TREATMENT My son suffers from cluster headaches. His doctor prescribed some medications for him, none of which helped very much. I found this site recently and printed it out so my son could try it the next time they occured. This remedy does seem to work for some people. I hope it does the trick for him.
THOUSAND EGGS, The website of Cindy Renfrow, author of books on ancient and medieval cooking and brewing. History of foods and recipes.
COOKBOOKS Links to online texts of historic cookbooks from Cindy Renfrow's site.
MOTION PICTURES FROM 1894-1915 150 films of Americans at work and play, a Library of Congress site
MOTION PICTURES OF VARIETY ACTS 1897-1920 See what folks regarded as entertainment in the good old days.
ELASTIC BABY feeling rotten, tired and blue? If you haven't visited the elastic baby yet, you should drop by.
HOUSE CLEANING TIPS do you like to clean? a great site for you. Do you hate to clean? a great site for you too. Personally, I hate to clean.
WORLD WIDE WORDS explores the origins and usage of words and phrases.
SNOPES what's true and what isn't. Does it really take seven years for chewing gum to go through the digestive system?
RADIO LOVERS.COM listen to old radio shows like Gunsmoke, Blondie, Death Valley Days, and Buck Rogers.
INFOMERCIAL RATINGS find out if those products are worth the money here.
DISTANCE CALCULATOR,a fast and easy way to find out how far you'll have to travel to get to where you're going.
THE BETSY-TACY HOMEPAGE when I was a girl I loved the Betsy-Tacy books by Maud Hart Lovelace. If you did too you'll enjoy this site.
THE BETSY-TACY SOCIETY Yes, Betsy, Tacy and Tib rate more than one site. You can see pictures of the girls' homes here.
REMINISCE MAGAZINE, memories of back when....
THE INTERNET ARCHIVE a wonderful site full of music, films, texts, all of which you can download for free. I hadn't seen a Little Audrey cartoon in years, and in 1930's music, well, I find the Hoosier Hotshots a hoot.
ANTIQUES DIGEST Lost Knowledge From the Past, a sizeable collection of articles.
MIDSOMER MURDERS LOCATION INDEX I love the show Midsomer Murders, and not just for the charming English locations. On this site you can check out various old buildings used in the show.
THE OLD FOODIE an old foods blog. On every weekday the Old Foodie gives a short story on a food history topic, with a recipe.
VIRTUAL KEYBOARD describes itself as "The best online onscreen virtual multilingual keyboard emulator on the internet!" Pick your language, and the alphabet keyboard appears. You can then type your message, and cut and paste it wherever you wish. Šeši begėžiai čiulpė saldainius.. I'm not sure if I spelled the words right, but you get the idea.
WORLD WAR II, PEOPLE'S MEMORIES, from the BBC, an archive of war memories written by the public. Very interesting reading.
NEW
THE ELIZABETHAN ERA.Lots of information about Elizabethan life, very good
WHAT COLOR DEFICIENT PEOPLE SEE An interesting site for those of us with correct color vision. My father had a degree of red-green color blindness, my son has a slight problem with blues and purples.
TAQUITOS.NET, a site that has reviews of snack foods...weird, though sort of helpful, I guess. I couldn't help looking around.
THE WORD DETECTIVE Have you ever wondered about the origin of words and phrases?
ASK FOR IT BY NAME! The origins of popular product names.
JOHN LEEKE'S HISTORIC HOMEWORKS an informative site for people restoring an old home. Browse around, you might find just what you've been looking for.
THE PHRASE FINDER, the meanings and origins of phrases, sayings and idioms.
THE WORLD CLOCK The next time your kid asks you "what time is it in....? you'll be ready. For more information, check out their home page.
CLUSTER HEADACHE WATER TREATMENT My son suffers from cluster headaches. His doctor prescribed some medications for him, none of which helped very much. I found this site recently and printed it out so my son could try it the next time they occured. This remedy does seem to work for some people. I hope it does the trick for him.
THOUSAND EGGS, The website of Cindy Renfrow, author of books on ancient and medieval cooking and brewing. History of foods and recipes.
COOKBOOKS Links to online texts of historic cookbooks from Cindy Renfrow's site.
MOTION PICTURES FROM 1894-1915 150 films of Americans at work and play, a Library of Congress site
MOTION PICTURES OF VARIETY ACTS 1897-1920 See what folks regarded as entertainment in the good old days.
ELASTIC BABY feeling rotten, tired and blue? If you haven't visited the elastic baby yet, you should drop by.
HOUSE CLEANING TIPS do you like to clean? a great site for you. Do you hate to clean? a great site for you too. Personally, I hate to clean.
WORLD WIDE WORDS explores the origins and usage of words and phrases.
SNOPES what's true and what isn't. Does it really take seven years for chewing gum to go through the digestive system?
RADIO LOVERS.COM listen to old radio shows like Gunsmoke, Blondie, Death Valley Days, and Buck Rogers.
INFOMERCIAL RATINGS find out if those products are worth the money here.
DISTANCE CALCULATOR,a fast and easy way to find out how far you'll have to travel to get to where you're going.
THE BETSY-TACY HOMEPAGE when I was a girl I loved the Betsy-Tacy books by Maud Hart Lovelace. If you did too you'll enjoy this site.
THE BETSY-TACY SOCIETY Yes, Betsy, Tacy and Tib rate more than one site. You can see pictures of the girls' homes here.
REMINISCE MAGAZINE, memories of back when....
THE INTERNET ARCHIVE a wonderful site full of music, films, texts, all of which you can download for free. I hadn't seen a Little Audrey cartoon in years, and in 1930's music, well, I find the Hoosier Hotshots a hoot.
ANTIQUES DIGEST Lost Knowledge From the Past, a sizeable collection of articles.
MIDSOMER MURDERS LOCATION INDEX I love the show Midsomer Murders, and not just for the charming English locations. On this site you can check out various old buildings used in the show.
THE OLD FOODIE an old foods blog. On every weekday the Old Foodie gives a short story on a food history topic, with a recipe.
VIRTUAL KEYBOARD describes itself as "The best online onscreen virtual multilingual keyboard emulator on the internet!" Pick your language, and the alphabet keyboard appears. You can then type your message, and cut and paste it wherever you wish. Šeši begėžiai čiulpė saldainius.. I'm not sure if I spelled the words right, but you get the idea.
Castles
CZECHOSLOVAKIAN CASTLES, photos of some gorgeous examples.
CASTELAND
CASTLES, B&W photos from old books, with some plans
CASTLES OF BRITAIN
CASTLE XPLORER, castles of Britain
COWDRAY CASTLE, a very informative site
MEDIEVAL FURNITURE sketches and plans to make your own furniture. Miniaturists, just scale them down.
MORE MEDIEVAL FURNITURE PLANS
SCOTTISH CASTLES VISITED BY MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS Note: The home page can be slow to load, and plays bagpipe music. The pictures of the castles are very good.
THE GROWTH OF THE ENGLISH HOUSE, Photos from an old book of castles and manors, with some plans.
CASTLE WEBRING I found this site recently and haven't had a chance to check the links out.
CASTELAND
CASTLES, B&W photos from old books, with some plans
CASTLES OF BRITAIN
CASTLE XPLORER, castles of Britain
COWDRAY CASTLE, a very informative site
MEDIEVAL FURNITURE sketches and plans to make your own furniture. Miniaturists, just scale them down.
MORE MEDIEVAL FURNITURE PLANS
SCOTTISH CASTLES VISITED BY MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS Note: The home page can be slow to load, and plays bagpipe music. The pictures of the castles are very good.
THE GROWTH OF THE ENGLISH HOUSE, Photos from an old book of castles and manors, with some plans.
CASTLE WEBRING I found this site recently and haven't had a chance to check the links out.
Newspapers and magazines online
TIME MAGAZINE ARCHIVES search the issues of Time from 1923 to the present day. You can also browse by COVERS
GOOGLE NEWS ARCHIVE SEARCH shows news articles, I've seen some from the 1920's, for example. Unfortunately many of the sites listed have fees.
WIKIPEDIA LIST OF ONLINE NEWSPAPER ARCHIVES some you can search or browse for free
THE BROOKLYN EAGLE 1841-1902.The entire newspaper is online.
THE 19TH C. IN PRINT, from the Library of Congress. An assortment of periodicals online. MANUFACTURER AND BUILDER has plans for houses in many of its issues. I found selecting the option of “volumes for this periodical”, the simplest way to browse through the pages.
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN JOURNAL COLLECTION journals from 1831 to 1901
RAWSON MEMORIAL LIBRARY Cass City Michigan, newspaper collection. I was browsing the grocery ads one evening, oh those food prices. If you're curious to see them, type Erla's in the search box.
GODEY'S LADY'S BOOK some images from the pages of Godey's and other sources.
HARPERS WEEKLY Read complete issues from 1861-1865.
MAKING OF AMERICA, Cornell University digitized books and journals
HARPER'S BAZAR Read the complete Nov. 2, 1867 issue online.
NEW YORK TIMES You can search the archives of the NY Times dating back to 1861. You may have to register for complete access.
GOOGLE NEWS ARCHIVE SEARCH shows news articles, I've seen some from the 1920's, for example. Unfortunately many of the sites listed have fees.
WIKIPEDIA LIST OF ONLINE NEWSPAPER ARCHIVES some you can search or browse for free
THE BROOKLYN EAGLE 1841-1902.The entire newspaper is online.
THE 19TH C. IN PRINT, from the Library of Congress. An assortment of periodicals online. MANUFACTURER AND BUILDER has plans for houses in many of its issues. I found selecting the option of “volumes for this periodical”, the simplest way to browse through the pages.
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN JOURNAL COLLECTION journals from 1831 to 1901
RAWSON MEMORIAL LIBRARY Cass City Michigan, newspaper collection. I was browsing the grocery ads one evening, oh those food prices. If you're curious to see them, type Erla's in the search box.
GODEY'S LADY'S BOOK some images from the pages of Godey's and other sources.
HARPERS WEEKLY Read complete issues from 1861-1865.
MAKING OF AMERICA, Cornell University digitized books and journals
HARPER'S BAZAR Read the complete Nov. 2, 1867 issue online.
NEW YORK TIMES You can search the archives of the NY Times dating back to 1861. You may have to register for complete access.
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