Images and photos from the 1800s.
Here are two Civil War era photos that came in small embossed leather covered wooden cases. They look like the size that could easily fit in your pocket, and one has glass on the cover, to show the woman’s portrait thru it. The interior is velvet and elaborately floral embossed metal. I wonder who these people were?
This first article about the history of women in sports seems to claim that women are 2 inches taller (in 1953) than they were in 1850 because they’re free to exercise and play sports!
Wow. What a cool series of pinup and burlesque star history!
I’m not sure if there’s much of a point to the words in these pages, but the pictures show the history of fashion and burlesque with pictures including
I almost forgot that I took these 1800s styled photos, back in 2012. The first dress is an 1880s-ish tea gown, and it was fun enough to take pictures of… but the second dress, with the attached note saying that it was Miss Meroe’s “Going Away Dress”… was just incredible! I wish we’d had a proper corset, but luckily my model Tiffany was petite enough to fit into it….
The World’s Columbian Exposition was a world’s fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ arrival in the New World in 1492. The centerpiece of the Fair, held in Jackson Park, was a large water pool representing Columbus’ voyage to the New World. These scans are Volume 8 of the pamphlet series, The Dream City: A Portfolio of Photographic Views of the World’s Columbian Exposition. I also bought Volume 10, thinking that this was the St. Louis World’s Fair (the Louisiana Purchase Exposition), but that’s what I get for being on eBay too late at night.
The article covers women’s baseball with interesting pictures showing women’s baseball teams from World War I and the 1950s (including pictures of Ruth Engle and Doris Sams), and also pictures of figure skaters and golfers to contrast fashion trends of the first part of the 20th century.
Here’s an interesting history of pinups in advertising! Showing pictures of billboards from the 1800s-1950s, with a focus on pretty girls in beer advertisements.
The next page shows samples of pretty women used to advertise books and, the latest thing, record album covers. Even classical music “moves off the shelves” faster when an attractive woman is pictured on it!
Here are shown some lingerie and shapewear ads from the 1800s-1950s. The chemise replaced the corset cover by 1918, although shape wear was still worn in the 1920s to achieve that stylish “boyish” form. The inflatable bra of the 1950s replaced the “Victoria” bosom pad of 1879… such changes in lingerie styles and advertisements!
