History

“If, instead of charging Salem with dullness, Mr. James had accused it of brilliant wickedness, he would have come nearer the mark… Imagine a community in which abound young men, rich, well educated, having free run whether for business or pleasure among all the savage tribes and oriental nations of…

“I had rather sit under my own “vine and fig tree” in Salem, than in the most stately edifice in Washington.” – Nathaniel Silsbee, 1817 (Massachusetts Representative to United States Congress)

Today in Salem History: On April 24, 1792, Abraham Solis advertised “Haerlaemer Oil” with “Dutch explanations of its use” in the Salem Gazette. This was probably Haarlem Oil, a diuretic made in Holland since 1672 and still in demand in the early 20th century. So popular was this remedy, practically…

Scarily enough, there really was a time when people truly believed that too much education would drive a female insane.

Say you’re on a jury in 1801 Massachusetts. On trial is a young man accused of killing his sweetheart. Her family did not approve of their connection. On the day in question, he had told two witnesses he passed on the road that he was on his way to her…

From American State Trials: “A Southern lady (Margaret Douglass) living with a daughter in Norfolk, Virginia sixty-six years ago (1853) and being greatly interested in the religious and moral instruction of colored children and finding that the Sunday school where they were allowed to attend was not sufficient, invited them…

Here is another interesting historical document. Again with a feminist theme. Or anti-feminist. Also anti-romance. Mamas don’t let your babies grow up to read Sappho. Who actually wrote poems, not a novel. Unless they mean this…. They probably meant this.  (It was first published in 1888.) Yet again, romance will…

This is an interesting historical document – it’s using Sisterhood to forward the abolitionist cause.  Not surprising in the North, since abolition was taken up by many churches and church work was one of the few acceptable public spheres in which women could participate. And, of course, Uncle Tom’s Cabin…

This is the bedroom where Lizzie Borden allegedly took a hatchet to her step-mother. (And you can actually stay here in this room – the house is a bed & breakfast now.) I’ve long known about the infamous axe murder of her parents and the fact that Lizzie was generally…