1. That it IS the past. That it is not now. There's something magical about that.
2. I can put as much of my magical, fantastical daydreaming on it and it doesn't change. The past conforms to my imaginings more than the present ... or the future.
3. Spencerian handwriting
4. Fountain pens
5. Lovely little inkwells, like those made of glass or pottery
6. Quill pens - the thought of Keats or Thomas Jefferson having to create their own writing utensils from feathers and pen-knives
7. Chunky hand-knit mittens, especially in muted colors like colonial blue, gray, and old red
8. Cameo necklaces
9. Grand olde Steinway and Chickering pianos
10. A fireplace in each room
11. Weathered wooden kitchen utensils, like huge spoons that have stirred countless stews
12. How the Victorians called them 'receipts,' not recipes
13. Beeton's Household Book of Management - it's the chunkiest, most wonderful book
14. Love letters
15. The penny post and penny postcards. Too cute!
16. Delicate gorgeous china, like antique Spode or Johnson's Brothers. Transferware in lovely shades of blue, crimson, and black
17. Natural Christmas decorations, like real pine boughs, oranges and apples, pine cones, and dried fruits
18. Damask tablecloths and napkins
19. Beeswax candles
20. Pewter and brass candlesticks
21. Gas-light globe chandeliers, especially the ones with swooping arms
22. Corsets
23. Walking sticks
24. Godey's Lady's Book and the gorgeous illustrations of ladies walking about
25. Daguerreotype and ambrotype photographs, with everyone looking slightly haloed and fuzzy, like antique angels
26. The smell of old books
27. Crinkly old paper, how silky smooth it is in the hand
28. Down mattresses and pillows
29. Winding curving staircases, with carved balusters and thick stair treads
30. Charming Victorian paintings of puppies, kittens, and puppies
31. Sparkly brooches
32. Curved-heel Victorian boots in black or brown
33. Old-fashioned calico patterns
34. The general store, with its wooden barrels of pickles, glass apothecary jars, and penny candy
35. Plum pudding
36. Dickens' Christmas tales
37. Top hats
38. Sailor shell valentines and shell pictures
39. Those funny striped long bathing suits
40. Button hooks for doing up your buttoned shoes and buttoned gloves
41. Stone barns
42. The old-fashioned horse and plow
43. Lemon drops
44. The milkman leaving glass bottles of milk on your doorstep
45. The comforting clack-clack-clack of typewriter keys
46. Huge feathered and decorated Edwardian hats
47. Capes, made of wool or velvet or satin
48. Open-air brougham carriages, and going for a drive in the country
49. Elaborate Edwardian picnics, with a huge basket, wine bottles, gorgeous linen tablecloth, and the men in their straw boater hats
50. Fingerless crochet mitts
51. Stagecoach and six team
52. Men's waistcoast, how they came in different patterns and styles
53. Pocket-watches and fobs
54. The monocle!
55. Impressionist artists like Monet
56. Swirly Art Nouveau lamps and paintings
57. Chunky hand-thrown stoneware and pottery
58. Cast-iron footed stoves
59. Horses' hooves clip-clopping in the streets
60. Foggy Victorian London streets
61. Jack the Ripper!
62. Elaborate patterned wallpaper
63. Antique Persian rugs
64. Queen Anne Victorian homes with turrets, corbels, enormous porches, and varying roof heights
65. Old vanilla-hued real pearls
66. Hat pins
67. Shining your shoes
68. All-in-one homesteads, with the huge farm house, big wooden barn, enormous kitchen garden, and pasturelands
69. Old farm tools, like sickles, scythes, and plows
70. One-room pioneer cabins
71. Gramophones
72. Gorgeous Stradivarius violins
73. Civil War military music, with fife and drums
74. 19th-century desks, with the tooled leather tops, multi-compartments, and drop front
75. The lack of plastic!
76. Polished silverware
77. Calling cards
78. Waltzes and old-fashioned Regency and Victorian dances
79. Graniteware dishes, pots and pans
80. Mourning jewelry, with jet beads and draped strands
81. Alphonse Mucha posters
82. McGuffey School books
83. Old-fashioned children's games, like marbles, jacks, stick and hoop
84. Voluptuous, curvy sofas and chairs, with sensual upholstery and carvings
85. The different rooms in the Victorian home, like the parlor, the hall, the dining room, the nursery
86. Period occupations, like chimney sweep, flower-seller, etc.
87. Claw-foot bath tubs
88. Edwardian children's literature: Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz
89. Wild West taverns
90. How even the homes in the city kept farm animals, like horses, cows, pigs, sheep, goats, ducks, and geese
91. Old fonts, like the Wild West pioneer font, scrolled Victorian fonts, and typewriter fonts
92. After dinner, folks used to read to each other around the fire, play games, chat, or read
93. Monogrammed handkerchiefs
94. The language of flowers
95. Hand-stitched quilts
96. The first Singer sewing machines
97. Classic novels - Dickens, Mark Twain, the Brontes, Jane Austen, Alcott, etc.
98. All the poets - Keats, Byron, Shelley, Dickinson, Whitman, Longfellow, Poe, Tennyson, the Brownings
99. The composers - Mozart, Beethoven, Wagner, Schumann, Bach, etc.
100. The Titanic
101. Old-fashioned white clapboard New England churches
Oh, there are so many more! I may do a second post!
