“We are the cheapest book house in the United States,” declared an 1896 ad for the firm of I. & M. Ottenheimer. “You don’t need a stepladder to reach our prices.” The newsletter was “The Bookseller and Newsman,” a trade journal of publishers and bookstores. News of the publishing firm appeared throughout, from a front…
Marietta Gibson dedicated an entire section to “Ices” in her irritatingly repetitive 1894 cookbook, “Mrs. Charles H. Gibson’s Maryland And Virginia Cookbook.” In it, you will find recipes for grape sherbet; coffee ice cream; a ‘bisque’ ice cream filled with crushed meringues; several recipes for chocolate ice cream; a frozen punch spiked with champagne, rum,…
A few years ago I had the privilege of doing an event with Chefs John Shields and Gwyn Novak at Gwyn’s unique space on Solomon’s Island, No Thyme to Cook. It was basically a cooking demonstration and we created Broiled Chicken Deluxe, Deviled Crab, Mrs. Tawes Seven-Layer Cake, and some other seasonally-inspired choices. I talked…
June 24th was the last day of the 1940-1941 school year. Students received report cards and were dismissed for the summer. The Evening Sun noted that “except for the studious or unlucky few who will attend summer school, there’ll be no more teachers and no more books for twelve weeks.” For the seventh year in…
A 1948 article in the journal “Economic Botany” referred to the coconut palm as “Mankind’s Greatest Provider in the Tropics.” The article discussed the uses not only of coconut flesh but of the oil and fiber and sap. “The palm provides almost every want except clothing,” concluded author Oscar K Moore. This was far from…