It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a woman in possession of a love of history, must be in want of a blog.
Recently I came across two curious 1840s lithographs from the Library of Congress online image collection. Titled "Stages of Woman's life from the cradle to the grave", both lithographs portray the ideal trajectory of a woman's life according to the prevailing European and North American social norms. The principal feminine virtues depicted are chastity, religion, …
Continue reading Stages of Woman’s life from the cradle to the grave
Exactly one year ago, on 25th May 2013, I posted my first article, writing about my inspiration and aspirations for this blog. 18,888 page views later, "Dance's Historical Miscellany" has been more successful than I could have ever hoped. When I started, I imagined that it would remain very small scale, perhaps read mainly …
Continue reading “Dance’s Historical Miscellany” is one year old today!
In her 1771 novel Geschichte des Fräuleins von Sternheim, Sophie von La Roche, writing no doubt for an audience of genteel ladies, portrayed the waltz as a "shameless, indecent whirling-dance [which] broke all the bounds of good breeding". The early version of the German waltz which she was describing was a variant of the Ländler, a …