Detail of the stereo card. A sweet and endearing stereo card of three Edwardian little girls enjoying the flowers and sunshine. The view is overlooking the Willamette River from...Welcome!
A Victorian Passage has published 152 articles on a diverse range of subjects. Most of our growing archive of Victorian Era subjects are taken directly from 19th century sources to achieve a closer look into how our ancestors really lived. We have also been expanding our historical eras to include Early American from 1790-1839 and the Edwardian period of the early 20th century. Latest article added July 15, 2009
Listing all the 1830 Articles
Unfolding the Mysteries of Sealing Wax and Wafers
Introduction To Sealing Wax and Wafers In the 19th century, sealing wax was a material made by the melting of lac or rosin with turpentine and pigments. In it's earliest forms it would have been made of beeswax and resin. The sealing wax was used to "seal" the letters or envelopes, with or without a wafer. During the early to mid 19th century the...Continue Reading
In the Early Kitchen...Cooking Utensils
WOODEN WARES There was quite a variety of the kitchen items made from wood. A pretty good list includes wooden tubs, boxes, buckets, bowls, bread troughs, pans, sieves, sifters, potato mashing "beetles", meat "beetles", hickory egg-beaters, spaddles or round short hickory sticks flattened at one end, paste-boards, coffee-sticks, mush-sticks, clothes-sticks, spoons and ladles. Oak was considered a better choice over the cedar wood. Often...Continue Reading
If Walls Could Say, "I'm Clean!"
WALLS The methods of cleaning paint, wallpaper, and wainscoting varied only slightly throughout the early 19th century. Between 1800 and 1840 we see a few methods spoken of throughout the various cookbooks or servants companions that were being published. One such book called A New System of Domestic Cookery published in 1807 explains how to clean paint: Never use a cloth, but take off the...Continue Reading
Loaf Sugar
The old loaf sugar came from wooden molds that were conical shaped. Thus they themselves were cone shaped and a cook would have to pound the loaf to get loose sugar for cooking. They had to use special tongs/cutters to break of pieces of the loaf for consumption. The Frugal Housewife. from 1830 says this about its wrapping, "The purple paper, which comes on...Continue Reading