Author Archives: visnow77

New-York Tribune reports on the influenza epidemic of 1918

Posted on March 14, 2020

As U.S. women were struggling toward the vote, and World War I was nearing its end, an influenza pandemic broke out in 1918. The disease had hit earlier in the year and then passed, but in the fall, a more … Continue reading →

Posted in health, history, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Suffrage advertising gimmicks, plus civil disobedience

Posted on December 31, 2019

“Although the proposition that women should vote is seriously and profoundly true, it will at first be established…much as the virtues of a breakfast cereal are established, by affirmation.”–suffrage leader Harriot Stanton Blatch, daughter of Elizabeth Cady Stanton Picture a … Continue reading →

Posted in history, women's rights | Tagged , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

Women’s clubs go mainstream

Posted on October 24, 2019

  In addition to ads for baking powder, shoe polish, cloth (flannels, draperies, worsteds, gabardines), and other household products, The Register of Women’s Clubs contained advertising for educational offerings aimed at clubwomen. For instance, not every club had access to … Continue reading →

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Women who didn’t want the vote

Posted on September 12, 2019

It’s hard for us to imagine, in the modern world, that there were women who were aware of the suffrage movement in the 1800s and early 1900s and yet were not interested in gaining the right to vote. In fact, … Continue reading →

Posted in history, women's rights | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Clubwomen and the environment

Posted on August 16, 2019

In 1910, the official proceedings of the convention of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs reported: We read in the papers that every time one of the great Sunday journals of New York City is issued, thirteen acres of timberland are … Continue reading →

Posted in genealogy, history, Uncategorized, women's rights | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Clubs and women’s moral superiority

Posted on August 1, 2019

When the New York City Press Club gave a reception welcoming Charles Dickens to the U.S. in 1868, journalist Jane Cunningham Croly applied for a ticket. The all-male club treated her request as a joke. The invitation they eventually extended … Continue reading →

Posted in genealogy, history, women's rights | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

I hope my great-grandmother isn’t mad at me

Posted on July 22, 2019

Dear Great-grandmother Mary, I hope you’re not upset. You might actually be flattered that I used you as the model for Abbie Bergholtz, one of the protagonists in my historical novel, To March or to Marry. In 1911, Abbie joins … Continue reading →

Posted in genealogy, history | Tagged , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Election Day romance

Posted on October 26, 2016

Before the commercialization of Christmas took hold, before the Easter bunny was born, and before Thanksgiving became a pig-out, Election Day was America’s big, festive holiday. Amid the Election Day celebration of 1899, my great-grandparents’ courtship began. The history of … Continue reading →

Posted in genealogy, history | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Halfway Café

Posted on October 11, 2016

Here is a podcast of my short story, “The Halfway Café,” narrated by a dead woman and examining such questions as: Do our ancestors watch us? Why would they care if we mourn? An outtake from my mystery novel, Stone’s House, it … Continue reading →

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What’s a pandy? Who’s the tucker?

Posted on September 7, 2016

Wed. May 25th [1892]   ….After tea we took a walk to the coal pit from which place we could see the Pandy & Alltiago farm. We got a glass of fresh milk at the Alltiago farm….Continuing our walk we went … Continue reading →

Posted in genealogy, history | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments