Features

Curated articles that explore the rich intersections of history, craftsmanship, and collecting culture. These long-form pieces are your gateway to learning something new, seeing the familiar in a fresh light, and connecting with the past meaningfully.

December 6, 2021 / Features

Title image: Carte-de-visite photograph of Queen Victoria (1819-1901) and Prince Albert, Prince Consort (1819-61) standing together, in outdoor clothes. The Queen wears a tartan dress, cape and bonnet and the Prince wears a morning suit, tartan waistcoat and top hat.

Styling the 19th Century Gentleman

By Maxine Carter-Lome, publisher In the 19th century, men, like women, literally wore their wealth on their sleeves. From the ...

November 22, 2021 / Features

Iron frame double-hinged spectacles with tear drop loops, ca. mid-18th century

Collecting Ophthalmic Antiques

Photos and information by Ron Harmic at www.medicalantiques.com, and www.CollegeofOptometrists.org The 19th-century customer had a wide choice of corrective visual ...

November 8, 2021 / Features

Prepared to Record History: Inkwells

By Melody Amsel-Arieli Writing systems have existed since ancient times. Sumerians, for example, used a stylus to create meaningful wedge-like ...

November 1, 2021 / Features

Twain working at his messy desk at his home.

The Writing Desks and Habits of Famous Authors

by Maxine Carter-Lome, publisher It is said that Kurt Vonnegut used his hardwood floor as his desk. He worked from ...

October 28, 2021 / Features

“John Deere Plows. The Gilpin Sulky,” Deere & Company, 1895

John Deere: Master Blacksmith & Innovator

By Judy Gonyeau, managing editor John was born into a family of six children on February 7, 1804. His father ...

October 28, 2021 / Concord MA, Concord Museum, Features, Thomas Dugan

Thomas Dugan’s Probate Inventory. Massachusetts Archives

Worldly Possessions: The Material World of a Black Farmer in New England

By Erica Lome, Ph.D. In 1827, an obituary posted in the Concord, Massachusetts, newspaper Yeoman’s Gazette noted the passing of ...

October 27, 2021 / Features, The Almanac, The Farmer's Almanac

These 14 various almanacs with wear and tear throughout recently sold at auction for $20. Photo:lofty.com

The Almanac: A Guide to the Future

By Kaitlin Servant Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.” This well-known piece ...

October 27, 2021 / Farming, Features, Heirloom Seeds

The cover of an 1896 catalog from the Robert Buist Co. in Philadelphia

The Tradition of Heirloom Seeds

With Rich Giordano If you travel back in time to 175 years ago, chances are you are a farmer. Your ...

October 4, 2021 / Alexander H. Kerr, Ball Brothers, Ball Canning, Canning the Harvest, Features, Home Canning, Jessica Kosinski, Louis Pasteur, Nicholas Appert, Peter Durand, Thomas Kensett

Canning the Harvest

by Jessica Kosinski Fall in New England is a beautiful time of year. It brings to mind images of crisp, ...

September 30, 2021 / Cyrus McCormick, Cyrus McCormick Farm, Features, reapers, The Father of Modern Agriculture

An early illustration of the McCormick Reaper, 1847

Cyrus McCormick: The Father of Modern Agriculture

by Maxine Carter-Lome, publisher At the age of 22, Cyrus McCormick created the first grain-harvesting machine in the United States: ...

September 13, 2021 / Features

Tokens of Service: Collecting Military Memorabilia

by Judy Gonyeau, managing editor Remembering and honoring the many who have served our country fills numerous museums, is written ...

September 6, 2021 / Eunice Kennedy Shriver, Features, Special Olympics

Eunice Kennedy Shriver engaging with athletes in Ireland

Eunice Kennedy Shriver: A Legacy of Advocacy

By Maxine Carter-Lome, publisher Born in Brookline, Massachusetts on July 10, 1921, Eunice was the fifth in a rapid succession ...

August 30, 2021 / Bruce C. Greenberg Ph.D, Features, Joshua Lionel Cowen, Lionel Standard Gauge: 1906 – 1940

Lionel Early Standard Gauge trolley No.1

Lionel Standard Gauge: 1906 – 1940

by Bruce C. Greenberg, Ph.D. Additional copy on Joshua Lionel Cowen provided by Judy Gonyeau, managing editor Joshua Lionel Cowen ...

August 16, 2021 / Features, Maxine Carter-Lome, Peter Cooper, Tom Thumb Locomotive

Peter Cooper: An American-Made Model of the 19th Century

by Maxine Carter-Lome, publisher The venerable Peter Cooper, whose philanthropic life endeared him to every citizen of New York, died ...

August 9, 2021 / Donald-Brian Johnson, Features, Railroads On Parade

Railroads On Parade

by Donald-Brian Johnson “Do you think that progress will be swayed By the tea-kettle that this man has made? This ...

August 2, 2021 / Features, George Mortimer Pullman, Maxine Carter-Lome, Pullman Collectibles, Pullman trains

Original vintage Pennsylvania Railroad poster - A luxury fleet featuring newest Pullman refinements at low travel cost! - showing smartly dressed passengers enjoying the inside of a Pullman train carriage with a waiter serving drinks to people seated at a booth table opposite a man smoking a cigar and holding a newspaper next to an elegant lady on the side and two fashionably dressed ladies talking in front of men at a bar at the end of the carriage, the stylized lettering above and below with details of the trains and their service routes. Selling for $1,349.89 at 1stdibs.com

Pullman: Riding the Rails in Luxury

by Maxine Carter-Lome, publisher George Mortimer Pullman was born on March 3, 1831, in Brocton, New York, just four years ...

July 19, 2021 / Boom Bindings, Care of leather bound books, Features, Jim Dawson

Book Bindings Bound For History

by Jim Dawson When discussing the housing of history, creating a safe and protective environment for the written word is ...

July 19, 2021 / Boba Fett, Boxing, Bruneau & Co. Auctioneers, Condition, factory sealed, Features, Packaging, Pokemon, Pop Culture Collectibles, Travis Landry

1983 Kenner Star Wars’ Return of the Jedi 65 Back-A Boba Fett sold April 20, 2019, for $875 photo: Bruneau & Co.

Boxed Perfection

by Travis Landry, Bruneau & Co. Auctioneers When it comes to the world of Pop Culture collectibles, whether it be ...

July 12, 2021 / Features, Kary Pardy, Secret Compartments in Antique Furniture

Example of one of many ways to create and access secret storage. photo: woodsmith.com

Secret Storage: Exploring the Hidden Side of Antique Furniture

by Kary Pardy Consider the humble blanket chest: a piece of furniture that might travel with its owners across an ...

July 2, 2021 / America's National Museum, Features, History of the Museum, P.T. Barnum, Peale’s American Museum and Cabinet of Curiosities, Scudder's American Museum, The Smithsonian

The original Smithsonian Institution Building, commonly known as the “Castle,” was designed by architect James Renwick and constructed between 1847 and 1855. The Castle houses the Smithsonian Visitor Center and administrative offices, as well as the James Smithson crypt.

Museums: Containing Collected History Over Time

by Maxine Carter-Lome, publisher Museums, in their many forms, are a universal experience shared by most people in this country, ...

June 14, 2021 / Features, Melody Amsel-Arieli, Miss America, Miss America History, Miss America Pageant

Pageant Poster from 1925 with the accompanying trophy and a photograph of Miss America 1925, Fay Lanphier, who came to the title by way of being Miss Santa Cruz 1924, the 1925 Rose Queen, and then Miss California 1925.

Celebrating Miss America

by Melody Amsel-Arieli In 1921, Atlantic City, New Jersey offered East Coast vacationers far more than sun, sand, and sea ...

June 8, 2021 / Features, History of Boardwalk, The Atlantic City Boardwalk

The Atlantic City Boardwalk: A Wooden Walkway to the Sea

by Maxine Carter-Lome, publisher Atlantic City, New Jersey is home to one of the most famous and oldest boardwalks in ...

May 31, 2021 / Donald-Brian Johnson, Features, souvenir collecting

Collectomania! Savoring Those Souvenirs

By Donald-Brian Johnson A lady of my acquaintance collects souvenirs with a vengeance. If she’s seen it, visited it, or ...

May 24, 2021 / Features, Guide to Vacationland, Here’s New England!, Works Projects Administration, WPA

Here’s New England! On the Road with the WPA

By Erica Lome, Ph.D. In the 1930s, no road trip across America was complete without a travel guide from the ...

May 17, 2021 / Features, postcard history, Postcards, vintage postcards

Above: Wallace News Stand in New Orleans in the summer of 1908

The Artful History of Vintage Travel Postcards

by Zoë Peate Who doesn’t love to find a postcard from somewhere far away, waiting for them inside their mailbox? ...