Mother's Day usually celebrates all of the sweet and loving moms out there. But there's another breed of moms that aren't all fresh-baked cookies and warm milk. These historical moms wanted what's best for their kids (and themselves). Some took a tough but fair approach to getting things done -- and others were more than willing to crush rebellions and murder family members to make things happen.
Dedicated to the women who have graced the pages of history, from ancient to modern times.
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Warrior Moms in History
Qajar Women
Explore the lives of women during the Qajar era (1796-1925) through a wide array of materials from private family holdings and participating institutions. Women’s Worlds in Qajar Iran provides bilingual access to thousands of personal papers, manuscripts, photographs, publications, everyday objects, works of art and audio materials, making it a unique online resource for social and cultural histories of the Qajar world.
Friday, May 6, 2011
Famour Women in Hungary
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When one lists the outstanding personalities of Hungarian history, one tends to think of crowned kings, valiant commanders, renowned statesmen and legendary champions of freedom –representing, almost exclusively, the stronger sex. Yet, many woman bolstered the fame of Hungary over the centuries.
Read about: Ilona Zrínyi, Margit Schlachta and Anna Kéthly, Flóra Sass, Lilly Steinschneider, and not forgetting Elizabeth Báthory.
Fleet Street Editor: Rachel Beer
Until very recently if you Googled the name Rachel Beer you would not come up with anything very much, certainly nothing to suggest that she did what no woman has done before or since - edit both the Observer and the Sunday Times. Indeed, for eight years she was in editorial control of both papers.
Israeli writers Yehuda Koren and Eilat Negev, who have written a book, The First Lady of Fleet Street, about her life, only happened upon her by chance on a visit to London. The Jerusalem–based married couple discovered the story during a visit to Highgate Cemetery.
Koren recalls: "We took a guided tour of the cemetery five years ago and came across the grave of a man called Julius Beer. He had built a mausoleum to block the view of the Victorian aristocrats who had ostracised him. It was an act of revenge. The name sounded Jewish but if he was Jewish what was he doing in Highgate Cemetery? We started looking for information and one thing led to another - we unearthed the story of his daughter-in-law, Rachel."
Historic Women of Waukesha
History books about our area are replete with the men who made Waukesha famous, from spring prospectors like Col. Dunbar, musicians like Les Paul or politicians like Gov. William Barstow.
What is somewhat lacking, though, is information about Waukesha’s founding mothers, the women who helped make Waukesha what it is today.
In celebration of Mother’s Day, let’s consider a few women from different eras and walks of life who were important to our fair city.
Victorian Secrets
We tend to think of “discomfort” to describe women’s undergarments of the Victorian period. Yet there’s evidence that two other words – romantic and elegant – also come to mind when talking about the unmentionables in ladies’ wardrobes of that time period.
Members of the Centerville-Washington Township Historical Society found that to be so in preparing for their Victorian Luncheon fashion show, “Victorian Secrets,” held Saturday, April 30, at Normandy Church.
They didn’t have to look much further than their permanent collection of beautiful vintage petticoats, bloomers, nightwear and more donated by the community throughout the years. “We were amazed at the good condition of the lingerie items – some more than 100 years old,” says Ferne Reilich, society curator. “The Victorian women really knew how to make the most of their femininity.”
Those attending the show heard interesting bits of undergarment history.
The Woman in the Sunbonnet
If it weren't for the courageous, long suffering pioneer women who left their families to come West in the mid1800s, Nevada's earliest history, particularly around Dayton, might have been lost.
Although Abner Blackburn, a pack train guide for Mormon pioneers, documented his adventures in the 1840s, including finding Nevada's first gold at the mouth of a nondescript desert canyon (Gold Cañon) in 1849; it was the ladies who recorded daily life on a 2,000-plus mile journey from home.
Historians say Lucena Pfuffer Parsons's diary is one of the most geographically accurate, comprehensive histories of the Western migration.
The hand-written journal of her 1850-1851 journey from Wisconsin to Salt Lake City, Gold Cañon, Utah Territory, (Nevada), onto Oakland, California, is preserved in the Stanford University Special Collections Library.
Lucena's diary lay hidden until her oldest daughter Ellen Maria, the first white child born in Oakland, Calif., discovered it in 1928.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Closure: Joan of Arc Museum
A museum detailing the life and death of the French heroine Joan of Arc could close if nobody offers to buy it.
Opened when patriotism was at its highest in 1955 and regularly visited by the French, eager to learn more about their past.
But now, nearly 40 years later it is thought a lack of interest in history and Joan of Arc has meant the French have turned their back on one of their most famous heroines whose death became a defining moment in history.
Burned at the stake by the English in 1431 in Rouen, a Normandy town, the museum sits in the same square where she perished.
Alain Preaux, the owner of the Musee Jeanne D'Arc is now being forced to shut up shop after being at the helm since 1977 and says that he has more British visitors than French.
Celtic Princess Grave
German experts are carefully taking apart a complete Celtic grave in the hope of finding out more about the Celts' way of life, 2,600 years ago, in their Danube heartland.
It wasn't the most glorious final journey for an aristocratic Celtic lady who, in life, clearly had a bit of style.
Gold and amber jewellery found in the grave indicate the woman was of high rank She died just over 2,600 years ago and rested in peace until a few months ago when her grave was dug up in its entirety - all 80 tonnes of it - and transported on the back of a truck through countless German towns.
In the grave, too, was a child, presumed to be hers. Their last inglorious journey ended in the back yard of the offices of the archaeological service of the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg.
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