America 1870-1900 - THE VICTORIANS in three parts!

Too Much is Not Enough

The spread is a plant and tea set strewn porch in Oakland, California that looks verdant and busy. E. L. Godkin is quoted as saying, “To be rich properly is indeed a fine art.” Yuck.

Apparently the age of affluent tackiness began when Diamond Jim Brady said, “Hell, I’m rich. It’s time I had some fun.” And in the photos of Victorian homes, inside and outside, there is just SO MUCH STUFF!! Marie Kondo would have a cow.  William Dean Howells describes it scathingly and it sounds dreadful. 

Everyone had a piano and decorated the hell out of it. Lady Char, my friend Choral-lyn and I are the only people I know who have pianos anymore. I should play it more often.

Monarch of His Domain

Hey, we’ve got some basic human rights for women! Men work like dogs to provide wealth and “leisure” for their families. But women get help from servants and now have time to read and start getting ideas about owning their own properly and voting.

Oh man, on the family portrait on page 187 some former library patron drew a mohawk on the baby and wrote something racist about Native Americans. I was able to erase it. 

Basically, being a woman was awful. Be pretty and good so that you can marry and do stuff for your husband. I hope he’s nice - because he is allowed to beat and rape you if he likes. And he owns all your stuff. 

The hairdos on page 190 are BONKERS! Because the Bible said long hair is a woman’s glory, it was rarely, if ever, cut. But because of primness, it wasn’t left “unfettered”. So some wild up-dos were invented. Give me a braid or a ponytail any day! 

There is a bustle picture that looks exhausting. The text says up to 20 yards of fabric could go into a gown. How could you function in that?

Pages 192-3 is a hipster smorgasbord of facial hair. These virile men are an inspiration to us all. 

The next section has three of the most resigned four-year-olds in the history of children. TL calls them “Reluctant Fontleroys” and it couldn’t be more apt. Their outfits are deadly uncomfortable and their moms and nannies should be spanked. There is a section that uses Burnett’s LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY and Twain’s TOM SAWYER and the gap between them to explain toxic masculinity. Without mentioning that toxic masculinity is a thing, because it hasn’t been defined yet. That being said LLF did kind of suck. Sara Crewe and Mary Lennox were both better men than he’ll ever be!

Next up is a double spread of some girls and their dolls and the chilling caption, “The personification of sugar and spice, 19 little girls in California treat their dolls to a tea party on a lawn in 1887. Such frolics were regarded as sound training for an era when most girls married young and spent the rest of their lives managing households that averaged five people.” And what is left unsaid is that there were very different economic, educational and cultural expectations and opportunities. 

Doing the Right Thing

Some ladies are taking tea in Michigan in the first picture. Perhaps this section will give us some of the ins and outs of “paying calls.”

Oh my gosh, this whole section is about etiquette. There is a question about “the propriety of an ‘elderly girl of 35’ visiting an artist’s studio alone.” I’d say go for it you deserving spinster! Go get some...art. It was argued at the time that “the ennobling and purifying” influences of art would protect her virtue. But she should bring a buddy just in case. Also, regarding men paying for theater tickets - if the gentleman pays, he might be expecting...things. So fraught!

There is a funny bit from Twain’s “The Adventures of Colonel Sellers” which is available at Project Gutenberg under the name THE GILDED AGE. There is also a double spread of a proper Atlanta couple about to take a Sunday drive like Laura and Manly. There is the first person of color I have seen in over 60 pages standing on the porch dressed very nattily in a vest and trousers. I believe he is an employee rather than a guest. 

Then there is a birthday party with 17 or 18 kids seated around the table in a “prosperous New York home” waiting for cake. This is from the Byron Collection at the Museum of the City of New York. You can tell by the amount of blurriness in their faces which kids know how to sit still for 3 seconds and which ones just can’t.

There is a men’s camping picture from the Bohemian Grove which takes me back to TALES OF THE CITY. it is juxtaposed with a picture of an “Old Ladies’ Home” - a campsite with some gals sewing and listening to a friend read aloud. Other than the very heavy dresses, it looks like my kind of party!

 Next up - Nostrums. Whatever they are when they’re at home. 

All quotes and photographs are from TL