Becky FifieldJan 5, 20162 minApple of My Eye: Lead Pesticide Use in 1920s OrchardsOrchard workers at Mt. Pleasant Orchard, near Havre de Grace, Maryland, c. 1915. Over the Christmas holiday, I unearthed a small journal...
Becky FifieldAug 5, 20131 minMuseum Monday – Chester County Historical SocietyChester County Historical Society. In addition to Swarthmore College’s Friends Historical Library, Wednesday also took me to the Chester...
Becky FifieldDec 1, 20122 minShould We Feel Sorry for Twinkies?Mourning miniature, 1788. Brooklyn Museum. 21.474. Twinkies. I’ve had a few. I’ve had more pink Snowballs and Suzy-Q’s than Twinkies. I...
Becky FifieldNov 9, 20121 minA Visit to the Drugstore, 1786Halloween’s passed us by, but here’s a tale of horror from the late eighteenth century: a visit to the drugstore. This advertisement...
Becky FifieldOct 24, 20122 minWanderlust Wednesday: The Johnstown Inclined PlanePeople generally know one thing about Johnstown, PA: the flood. The Johnstown Flood National Memorial is located on the rim of the former...
Becky FifieldSep 11, 20121 minTransportation Tuesday: A Moment on the Baltimore and OhioI was inspired by this salted paper print from the 1850s of people posing for a photograph on a Baltimore and Ohio engine. I thought...
Becky FifieldAug 7, 20121 minTransportation Tuesday: Runaway!This post is not about servants. So much of the time when I refer to runaways, it’s in relation to indentured and enslaved women....
Becky FifieldJul 28, 20121 minEadweard Muybridge – Gridded on my mindI wrote those words “gridded on my mind” years ago in a short story, the protagonist describing herself as the antagonist’s Eadweard...
Becky FifieldJun 19, 20122 minTransit Tuesday – The New York Transit MuseumTransit and Museums? Two of my loves rolled up into one. Visitors to New York want to see the Empire State Building, Times Square, and...
Becky FifieldMay 24, 20122 minTenement Treatment for Tuberculosis – The Cherokee Apartments, New York CityBalconies of Gustavino tile at The Cherokee Apartments. RL Fifield, 2005. Others have blogged about the Cherokee Apartments before, and I...
Becky FifieldMay 6, 20122 minRational Chit Chat About Birth Control, from 1855Reproductive Control. View the whole text at the U.S. National Library of Medicine website. http://collections.nlm.nih.gov/muradora/objec...
Becky FifieldMay 6, 20122 minRational Chit Chat About Birth Control, from 1855Reproductive Control. View the whole text at the U.S. National Library of Medicine website. http://collections.nlm.nih.gov/muradora/objec...
Becky FifieldApr 28, 20122 minDigging Up My Ancestors – InbredThis post is a continuation of a series chronicling the relocation of my family cemetery, including my 4th Great Grandparents James Cole...
Becky FifieldApr 28, 20122 minDigging Up My Ancestors – InbredThis post is a continuation of a series chronicling the relocation of my family cemetery, including my 4th Great Grandparents James Cole...
Becky FifieldApr 7, 20122 minVaccination – for one, for everyoneBaron Jean Louis Alibert performing the vaccination against smallpox in the Chateau of Liancourt, Constant Desbordes, c. 1820. Musee de...
Becky FifieldApr 7, 20122 minVaccination – for one, for everyoneBaron Jean Louis Alibert performing the vaccination against smallpox in the Chateau of Liancourt, Constant Desbordes, c. 1820. Musee de...