Lithographs

Lithographs made it possible for Salesmen to sell their products. What is a lithograph, you ask, originally printers found that with a grease pencil or crayon the printer could mark the limestone. The process then continued with rolling the ink on the stone and pressing the paper to it for a print. What was particularly helpful for these printers is that the stone could be used over and over again making as many prints as the printer wanted. It didn't take long before the stones were exchanged for metal plates.

What did this mean for the 19th century? Many things. As previously mentioned yesterday salesmen had copies of their product to sell in picture form. Currier & Ives begin in 1835 as did many other printers. It opened yet another business for mankind, one that only a handful of people had been able to do before. It allowed artists to get their work out. Illustrators were used in newspapers and on and on it went.

As the century developed so did the techniques. At first the lithographs were black and white and the artist would paint the color to the prints. By the 1880's advertising had blossomed and so did the printing base, allowing color to be printed. There were a lot of changes in the printing industry during the 19th century, just as there has been a lot in our own century.

What this all means for us who write historical fiction, think creatively, look at all the occupations that come just from the invention of the lithograph. There is the printer, the business man who owns the printing business, the artists who painted in the black and white prints and the artist who prepared the printing plates for the prints.

Traveling Salesmen - Nurserymen

I've already mentioned Tinmen who traveled to sell the wears of tin makers in the Northeast through out the country. I'd like to continue with a series of different types of Salesmen during the 19th century. Many of us have heard of those selling snake oil and such. But there were many legitimate salesmen.

Today I'd like to point out a salesman who would travel with a book/portfolio. A Plant Salesman, he would carry with him a book that would have colored plates of the various fruits and vegetables that his seeds would grow into. These colored plates were expensive and a cherished feature for a salesman to have. The use of the fruit plates helped with seed sales and more and more nurseries started using them. It was a Rochester New York Nursery that began making these prints. E. DARROW & BROTHER, ROCHESTER, NY in 1870.

Imagine the process of going west to sell seeds. Imagine the time it took. Imagine the hard work and salesmanship that it took to earn a living off of this.

The picture plates ranged in size from 9"x12" and 6"x9", they could be purchased as individual cars, as bound assortments or as a collection in a portfolio.

Soda

Hi all,

You might find this topic a little strange but the fact is that the soda we drink today had it's roots in the 19th century. It was actually at the tail of the previous century when the term "soda water" was coined. (1798)

And the first soda fountain was patented in 1819 by Samuel Fahnestock.

But the idea of adding flavoring to the soda water came from the Ingenuity of Eugene Roussel in Philadelphia in 1830 at his perfume shop. His customers could buy a glass of this soda water and had a choice of orange, cherry, lemon, teaberry, ginger, peach and root beer syrups. He did so well that in no time there were fifty other competitors in the city selling flavored soda water.

By the end of the Civil War soda fountains had become a mainstay. By the end of the century ice cream parlors and soda shops were popping up all over. In New York City by 1900 Soda Shops and Ice Cream Parlors out numbered saloons.

And the number one soda in America, Coke, was invented in 1886 by Dr. John Pemberton.

So for those of you who are writers of historical fiction who are following this blog, when your characters need something different to do, you might have them go out for a soda.

Thanksgiving

It was during the 19th century that Thanksgiving became a nationalized holiday. President Lincoln made a proclamation (Oct. 3, 1863) to that effect. Prior to 1863 states decided when or if they would celebrate thanksgiving. Setting the date as the last Thursday in Nov for all states to abide by.

Below is a link to the proclamation Lincoln wrote. Proclamation

This came up as I was researching the original thanksgiving with the Mayflower Pilgrims and thought some of you might enjoy this tidbit when writing your stories. You should research and see what some of the Southern states thought about Thanksgiving, very interesting.

Deed Box

Today we generally have safe deposit boxes or fireproof filing cabinets or safes in our homes where we put our deeds and titles. In the 19th century deed boxes ranged in sizes but most were slightly larger than a tri-fold paper. There were simple wooden boxes, tin boxes some had latches others didn't. I remember as a child finding one of these old boxes in the attic of my grandparents home. It was larger than most and contained a few treasures, that I cherished for many years growing up.

I've found on the internet auctions for Deed Boxes and some where quite large and filled with family letters, correspondence and receipts of all kinds. For a writer or a historian these are gems of history.

I mention them because today we generally don't even think in terms of deed boxes.

How to measure Corn in Crib, Hay in a Mow, etc.

This excerpt is taken from Houghtaling's Handbook of Useful Information ©1889

This rule will apply to a crib of any size or kind. Two cubic feet of good sound, dry corn in the ear will make a bushel of shelled corn. To get, then, the quantity of shelled corn in a crib of corn in the ear measure the length, breadth and height of the crib, inside of the rail; multiply by the length, by the breadth and the product by the height; then divide te product by two, and you have the number of bushels of shelled corn in the crib.

To find the number of bushels of apples, potatoes, etc., in a bin, multiply the length, breadth and thickness together, and this product by 8, and point off one figure in the product for decimals.

To find the amount of Hay in a Mow, allow 512 cubic feet for a ton, and it will come out very generally correct.

Blue Laws

Quite a while back I encouraged people to take a look at Blue laws and how they might affect your historical articles or novels. In google books I found a history of blue laws from 1861 titled "The Blue Laws of Connecticut"

It appears that the blue laws of Connecticut seemed to be the standard. Rev. John Cotton of New Haven, Ct. in 1655 and Gov. Eaton at the time found the need to write these laws. They were printed in England and distributed in New Haven in 1656.

Wikipedia has an interesting article about the blue laws and lists several. Wikiedia link.

With regard to the 19th century Blue laws were still in effect. However, they mostly pertained to the buying and selling on the Sabbath/Sunday.