Cultural History

When I began writing my first manuscript, a time travel set in 1871 Wisconsin, my knowledge of the era came mainly from history books (like those read in school), from movies, or from other romance novels. It wasn’t enough. I needed to know more.

In each scene, I struggled to imagine myself in my heroine’s mind, a late 20^th century urban business woman cast back into the life of a 1871 farm wife. But, although I had grown up in a house built in the late 19^th century, it wasn’t the same. I hadn’t actually lived in the time when that house was new.

What did they eat and how was it cooked? What illnesses were common; what medicines were taken? What were their beliefs and values? How much was a pound of sugar? Did women hand-sew everything, or were some clothes ready made? What did a child learn in school? What dances were popular? How were holidays celebrated?

Not that I needed to put all those details into the story, but I needed to know so I could put myself in my characters’ minds.

In those pre-Internet days, I trudged to the library. There were, of course, long shelves filled with history books. I'd already read many. Most were written about famous events and battles, about economics and politics. I found almost nothing about how the every day man and woman actually lived their day-to-day lives.

What I was looking for, but didn’t realize it until a few years later, were books on cultural history.

Over time, I’ve found many books that proved helpful to better understanding the era. Foremost of these was a series Harper Collins published called Life in Everyday America Series.

A few years after the Harper Collins' series, Writer’s Digest books published the Writer’s Guides to Everyday Life series.

I discovered a wealth of information about my Civil War veteran hero when I found The Life of Billy Yank: The Common Soldier of the Union.

Later I uncovered its companion book – The Life of Johnny Reb.

Diaries and journals are an incredible source, first hand impressions of the time. Mary B. Chestnut’s Diary from Dixie gives riveting accounts of a southern woman’s life in the Civil War. These treasures have the added benefit of letting you hear how people spoke, and wrote, in that time.

Today we are so fortunate to have the internet. Through it, a whole world of resources have been opened.

A favorite site of mine, one I've shared before with Hearts Through History readers, is the Food Timeline, a record of foods and when they were introduced from the beginning of man’s recorded history.

There’s a huge amount of information on World’s Fairs from the first one held in 1851 London to the present. Go to Expo Museum.com.

Victorian era fashion information can be found at Harpers Bazaar.

I’ve found a wealth of material on the Lone Star College - Kingwood American Cultural History site. It gives links, decade by decade and topic by topic, for 19th Century America. It also has a link which will take you to the 20th Century.

~ What are your favorite books, or websites of interest for learning about cultural history and how your characters lived?

From the comments received for this post, I’ll hold a drawing for a lovely hand-crocheted bookmark. Drawing to be held Friday evening, April 29^th. Be sure to leave a link with an e-mail address where you can be reached.

AND THE WINNER OF THE BOOKMARK IS...Anna Kathryn Lanier! Thanks so much to all who read and commented. Enjoy the links!

Posted by Debra Maher.

Please visit my blog at debmaher.com.

Quotes by Women

by Anna Kathryn lanier

To celebrate Women’s History Month, I’m listing quotes by famous (and maybe not so famous) women. I also have links to a websites or articles page about the women. So, check them out.  And read all the way through to discover information about my contest.


It is not easy to be a pioneer -- but oh, it is fascinating! I would not trade one moment, even the worst moment, for all the riches in the world. – Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell, first woman in the United States to earn a medical degree, (1821-1910)

We are not what we know but what we are willing to learn. - Mary Catherine Bateson, writer and cultural anthropologist


Instead of getting hard ourselves and trying to compete, women should try and give their best qualities to men - bring them softness, teach them how to cry. – Joan Baez, American folksinger, (1941- )


One should hate very little, because it's extremely fatiguing. One should despise much, forgive often, and never forget. Pardon does not bring with it forgetfulness; at least not for me. - Sarah Bernhardt, actress (1845-1923)


It will not do to say that it is out of woman's sphere to assist in making laws, for if that were so, then it should be also out of her sphere to submit to them. - Amelia Jenks Bloomer, suffragist (1818 - 1894)


The ability of writers to imagine what is not the self, to familiarize the strange and mystify the familiar, is the test of their power. - Toni Morrison, writer (1931 - )


Women are supposed to be very calm generally: but women feel just as men feel; they need exercise for their faculties, and a field for their efforts as much as their brothers do; they suffer from too rigid a restraint, too absolute a stagnation, precisely as men would suffer...it is thoughtless to condemn them, or laugh at them, if they seek to do more than custom has pronounced necessary for their sex. - Charlotte Brontë, writer (1816-1854)


I think the key is for women not to set any limits. - Martina Navratilova, tennis star (October 18, 1956 - )


I know I have the body but of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England, too. - Queen Elizabeth I, ruler of England (1533-1603)


The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. - Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady of the United States (1884-1962)

Contest – What is your favorite quote by a woman? All those who comment will be eligible for a drawing for Ladies First by Lynn Santa Lucia. I’ll draw for a winner on Monday, March 21.

Anna Kathryn Lanier
http://www.aklanier.com/
http://www.annakathrynlanier.blogspot.com/
http://www.thewildrosepress.com/  

Isabella Bird ….Victorian Lady; World Traveler

(1831-1904)
by Anna Kathryn Lanier


Isbella Bird

 Isabella Bird was born in Yorkshire England in 1831 to a devout evangelical father and a gentlewoman mother. Isabella grew up learning to be the quintessential Victorian English woman. During the summer on her grandparents farm, however, she learned to shake off the boundaries of expected female behavior and spent a great deal time in the out of doors, traipsing about, learning to row and becoming an accomplished horsewoman. Her childhood wasn’t pain free, though. She was plagued with back pain, headaches and fatigue

After having a fibroid tumor removed from near her spine in 1849, the doctor suggested “a change of air” to speed recovery. Her father took the family to the Scottish Highlands for a vacation. Hours spent in the outdoors, “scrambling up steep hills for hours” improved Isabella’s health.

Back home, she was stifled by the Victorian expectations of the era. Bored with the pointless activities women participated in, Isabella wrote an article about the family’s trip to Scotland for a family magazine. After its acceptance, she went on to write human interest stories for several different magazines.

Her health problems continued and once again, she was advised to find “a change of air.” Following her doctor’s advice, she travelled to Nova Scotia, Canada with several visiting cousins. From there, she embarked on her first solo travel—a 6,000 mile trip from Halifax to Portland, Maine via a boat, then to Ohio via train, then on to Chicago, across Lake Erie to Niagara Falls and finally back to Halifax. She never felt better in her life.

Using her the notes she’d jotted on the journey, Isabella wrote a book “The Englishwoman in America,” released in 1856. It was a success, but the money from the royalties made her uneasy. She’d been brought up in world where women didn’t earn money, instead they did good works.

With this as her influence, Isabella used her royalties to help those in need. In this case, she bought boats for impoverished Scottish fisherman. It was the first of many acts during her lifetime “to do what she believed most fitting for the role of a genteel woman.”

After her father died in 1858, Isabella stayed home with her mother and younger sister, Henrietta. For more than a decade, Isabella wrote articles and did charity projects. Eventually, the lure of travel and her body told her what she must do—travel. In 1872, six years after her mother’s death, Isabella embarked on an around the world tour, going to New Zealand, Australia, Hawaii (where she stayed for six months) and finally to her destination—Colorado in America.

Her adventures continued in the Rocky Mountains. She rode horseback over snow-covered fields, climbed mountain peaks and most likely fell in love with a genuine Mountain Man, Jim Nuget. Jim, however was “a man any woman might love, but no sane woman would marry." Her love for her sister and her own feelings that she was too old for such a reckless step prevented her from staying in Colorado.

Returning home to Scotland, she spent the next few years writing books of her adventures and traveling to create new ones. Her travels took her to Japan, China and the Malay States, with frequent returns to Scotland, Henrietta and a suitor, Dr. John Bishop, “Who, in Isabella’s mind, had fantastic notions of his own if he thought she would marry him.”

After the death of her dear sister, a heartbroken Isabella did marry Dr. Bishop in 1880. The marriage wasn’t the romantic bliss one might hope for and Isabella’s health suffered for it. When her husband died six years later, she noted “henceforth I must live my own life.”



Isbella in Tibet

 In 1889, she arrived in India as not only a world traveler, but as a missionary. Within months she’d purchased land and started building two hospitals in the memory of her sister and husband. During this time she also visited Kashmir, the Himalayas, Tibet and accompanied a military reconnaissance, who used escorting her as a cover for their mission from Simla through Persia to Tehran.

In 1892 The Royal Geographical Society in London invited Isabella to speak. She turned them down, as they did not accept women as members. Instead, she agreed to speak to the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, who did allow women into their ranks. Embarrassed by this turn of events, The Royal Geographical Society promptly voted to accept women and invited Isabella to be the first woman Fellow. Five years later, she was asked again to speak, specifically on her travels to China.

Isabella continued her travels right up until her death in 1904 at the age of 72.

Resource:
LADIES FIRST: History’s greatest female trailblazers, winners and mavericks by Lynn Santa Lucia

Further research:

Spartacus Schoolnet
Bookrags
Unitproj Library UCLA


Visit my website for information on this month's contest....win four romance books!  http://www.aklanier.com/ and click on the contest page.
Anna Kathryn Lanier
Where Tumbleweeds Hang Their Hats
http://www.aklanier.com/
http://annakathrynlanier.blogspot.com/