RomanceEverAfter
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People You Should Know A Conversation with Ross Howard, A Cure for Kirby, Meet Monica Davis and Geir Ness. The Beauty of Change Series Historical Romance Column and Book Reviewer: Kaye Hatfield NEW! Sam DeMarco Have you dreamed of starting your own business? Sam DeMarco, owner of Compliance Team, did and he tells us how he made his dream a reality! Photo Gallery Romance & You (Articles) Romantic Memoir
Quotes & Poetry Expand your quotes and poetic horizons by visiting our various Quotes & Poetry categories: Thought of the Week: Time for New Beginnings A series of 8 articles by Melissa Hamilton comprising a collection of principles that will allow you to make your vision for the future a reality. Read about the Amish, India, Philippines, Greece, & Rome.
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Special to The
Victorians February 6, 1896-- Revelations in a flea market stall The black oilcloth diaries lay half-buried beneath old books and pamphlets in the stall of a flea market vendor. It’s strange now that I reflect back on the whole affair. Why was I drawn to this booth? And what was it about the non-descript books that attracted my attention? I think it was fate; it was meant to be. Gently opening one of the diaries I began to read the spidery and sometimes faint handwriting that spilled across page after page. My heart beat faster as I read a Century-old description of an 1896 trip to Europe. The second diary revealed exciting secrets of an excursion to Germany in 1905, including a ride in the back of a Mercedes Benz and a humorous tale of too much luggage in a train car (women and their hatboxes!). Who were the authors? Mathilde Potter, age 16, of Philadelphia, who penned the 1896 diary and her older sister, Emily, who penned the 1905 diary. But why would anyone want to buy diaries written so long ago? The answer just might inspire you enough to get you started on a very rewarding hobby. Here Today Gone Tomorrow Old diaries, letters and journals are ephemera. The Ephemera Society (www.ephemerasociety.org) provides this description on their Web site: Ephemera is a term used to embrace a wide range of minor, everyday documents, most intended for one-time or short-term use, including postcards, broadsides and posters, baseball cards, tickets, bookmarks, photographs – and the list goes on. Collecting ephemera has been an ardent pursuit for centuries. In the Victorian era, especially, collecting trade cards, greeting cards, and chromolithographs for pasting into scrap albums was a popular pastime for both young and old. Today as in years past, items from earlier times that have somehow survived to delight our eyes, feed our minds, and offer unique windows into our ancestors’ lives, interest us as collectors. These very personal remembrances reveal the writer’s hopes, dreams, sorrows and life’s everyday occurrences. So when a substantial grouping belonging to one person is found, it is truly exciting. Such is the case with the personal papers belonging to Mathilde Potter. Along with the two travel diaries came 65 letters, most written to her spanning 30 years - 1890s through the 1920s; her U.S. Passport issued in 1922 when she was 42 years old; plus other miscellaneous papers, such as her 1930s driver’s license. The 1896 travel diary chronicles her family’s trip to Europe beginning with
the first entry dated January 29. I surmise that this diary was required for
school studies since the family was traveling abroad for the better part of one
year. In it, sightseeing trips to historical locations, including Pompeii, are
revealed. Here she describes (then) current conservation efforts: January 31, 1896 - "This morning at ten o’clock we took
a carriage and drove to Pompeii. It was quite a long drive and a very dirty one,
we had to go through the slums, it seemed, of all the small towns at the foot of
Vesuvius. Each family has one room to sleep in and they seem to do all their
work on the pavement so as to get warm in the sun. Our guide showed us the
different houses, stores, temples and theaters and also the great baths, of
course it was mostly in ruins but we could still see the paintings on the walls
and columns. The last house was the finest and one of the largest, it was just
lately discovered and they are taking better care of it than they have of the
others. The beautifully painted walls are protected by glass cases and also a
few pieces of furniture. The courtyard has been planted with grass and the old
pieces of marble statues make it look very picturesque." Many of her entries reflect personal observations and recall humorous
episodes. One such adventure describes how she and her sister, Emily, while
trying to find the golf links, had a rather queer experience: "Where at last we thought we had reached the top (of the
hill) we found a little old house with a large garden and orange groves around
it and some dear little Italian children staring at us. But to our dismay we
found that we had not yet reached the top." A Life Well Traveled -2 (Continued)
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