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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 November 16, 2009

Listing all the 1860 Articles

What Is Bluing?

If you open any cookbook or other domestic book for house keepers you will usually find instructions on how to do laundry. Inevitably you will come upon the rinsing of clothes to be done by putting into bluing. This is what was commonly used to brighten whites. In it's earliest forms it was used by having indigo tied in a thin muslin bag and...Continue Reading

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

Civil War Era Kitchen Utensils

A kitchen should always be well furnished; there is no necessity that it should be profusely so, but there should be a sufficiency of every thing which can aid in producing the dishes preparing, with the success which is so essential to the gratification of the palate. In furnishing a kitchen there should be everything likely to be required, but not one article more than...Continue Reading

Time Line of the Sand Box.

Baby's Sand Pile {1904} In a great wooden box, Nice and smooth to save her frocks, Is the baby's sand-pile, where all day she plays; And the things she thinks and makes, From a house and barn to cakes, Would keep, I think, her family all their days. Once she said she'd make a pie, - Or, at least, she'd like to try, -...Continue Reading

How to Plan a Convenient Dwelling.

Click on image to enlarge “WHEN we do mean to build a domicil, We first survey the plot, then draw the model; And when we see the figure of the house, We then compute the cost of the erection, Which, if we find outweighs ability, What do we then but draw again the model ?“ SHAKESPEARE. WHY is our country so full of large,...Continue Reading

Interior Decoration - Management of Colors.

PAINTERS, as a general rule, acknowledge but three primary colors—blue, red, and yellow; and whatever exception ninny be taken to such a statement on scientific grounds, there is no question that such a view of the subject does afford certain practical advantages. It is further assumed, that all other tints are mere mixtures of these three colors. For instance, green is made up of...Continue Reading

Cleaning House Fronts

IN Paris, a municipal regulation requires the periodical cleaning of the house-fronts; and a due regard to the appearance of the buildings, from the street would suggest a similar practice in many cities on this side of the water. The plan most approved in Paris, where it has been in use for the past two years, is to throw against the house-front a jet...Continue Reading

The Manufacture of Cloth Buttons.

The Manufacture of Cloth Buttons. THE history of this manufacture is a subject of sufficient interest to claim a place in our pages, although we can hardly agree with the writer of the following, when he says that iron of the required character can not be manufactured in this country. We lately gave an account of sheets of iron so thin that they were used...Continue Reading

Julius Ives & Co [Lamps]

You can order a reprint of this company's catalogue atSirlampsalot Publications . The reprint includes 5 catalogues between the years 1868 to 1883. - Taken from Manufacturer and Builder Jan 1869...Continue Reading

Black-Walnut Polish.

TAKE asphaltum, pulverize it, place it in a jar or bottle, pour over it about twice its bulk of turpentine or benzole, put it in a warm place, and shake it from time to time. When dissolved, strain it and apply it to time wood with a cloth or stiff brush. If it should make too dark a stain, thin it with turpentine or benzole....Continue Reading

Interior Decorations.

IT is a singular fact that amid all that is being constantly written upon matters of art but little is said in reference to the interior decoration of ordinary country or city dwellings. By ordinary we mean dwellings that cost 4000 dollars or there-abouts. The art of internal decoration has received very little attention at the hands of men calling themselves practical decorators, intending thereby...Continue Reading

Old and New Fire Grates.

THERE is a constant tendency toward the revival of old fashions, old styles, and old methods. These are improved, it is true, just as the crinoline of modern belle is a very different affair from the hoops which encased the fair ones of the court of Queen Anne. When our forefathers landed on these shores, they found that the grates and fire-places of Britain...Continue Reading

French Sash Windows.

These windows, so very elegant in appearance, and convenient in domestic architecture, have long labored under the disadvantage of not being weather-tight; and, as the same form of window properly prevails in English Gothic and Italian styles, it has been a source of much trouble to builders. The difficulty arising from shrinkage was deemed insurmountable; and architects were forced to insert casings in the...Continue Reading

The Selection of Wall-Paper.

ONE of the most important features in the decoration of the interior of dwelling-houses is undoubtedly the adorning of rooms by means of wall-paper. In this respect people do not always exhibit good taste. It is therefore proposed to make some suggestions in regard to the proper selection of colors. In the first place, it ought to be remembered that here can never be an...Continue Reading

The History of Windows.

THE origin of the word window is suggestive of the primary intention of that very essential feature in building. It is derived from the Welsh wyntdor, which means a passage for the wind; showing clearly that time first office of the window was ventilation, and not lighting, although it is used for both purposes in these latter days. Its early history is one of curious...Continue Reading

Children's Toys.

IT is by no means a matter of indifference what toys are put into the hands of children, since their young minds receive permanent impressions from the objects with which they are surrounded in early years. We think a few hints, addressed to parents, on this subject, will not be out of place. 1. At the present day, when the dignity of labor is...Continue Reading

Portable Wainscoting.

Click Image for a Larger View IT is always a peculiarity of all valuable inventions that no sooner are they once explained than every body wonders why nobody ever thought of a thing so very simple before; and to this law very few exceptions are ever presented in its application to the common matters of every-day life. An invention has been recently brought before...Continue Reading

Plank Walls for Cottages.

In localities where lumber is plenty and saw-mills conveniently near, the strongest, most weather-tight walls, as well as those most easy of construction, are formed of plank of any thickness, and three and four inches wide, laid alternately on their sides, every other plank to project on the inside, and all to be flush on the outside. Thus the projecting courses on the inside will...Continue Reading

A Cabinet Refrigerator.

A FEW days ago, while passing up Sixth avenue, we saw at the store of Mr. Lesley?No. 605?a very neat and useful little article with which the readers of our home department can hardly fail to be pleased. It is nothing more or less than a small, portable refrigerator, which can be carried from room to room as circumstances may require. It has a...Continue Reading

Designs for Brackets.

CHASTE yet neat ornaments add much to the appearance of any building, while nakedness on the one hand, and meretricious display on the other are equally displeasing. In very few of the brackets which are seen attached to houses are elegance and simplicity so combined as to produce a pleasing result, and we therefore submit, with great pleasure, the following designs which are from...Continue Reading

Wooden Floors - How to Cleanse them.

This is a very important matter in a country like the United States, where there is so much change of domicile, and that particularly in a city like New York on the first of May. Floors dirty enough to make housekeepers desperate when they think of the bare possibility of being able to clean them, are first scrubbed with sand, then rubbed with the aid...Continue Reading