Denim has become a fabric so popular and current in contemporary fashion that in its ubiquity we may forget it has a history too. The origins of the denim fabric are somewhat disputed but some historians trace its production to centers in Italy and France during the sixteenth century where mention is made of fabrics ‘de Nimes’ (from a region in France) or ‘jean’ from production centers in Italy that were made of various threads including wool, silk, cotton. By the 18th and 19th centuries the production of denim had transmitted successfully to England and the United States and had begun to detach itself from association with ‘jean’, becoming a durable, entirely cotton weave fabric, akin to the denim we are familiar with now. 
Jean and denim remained different in their categorization through the 19th century- with ‘jean’ fabric being designated for slightly more refined clothing and the sturdier denim weave being used for work-clothes and considered a much simpler, unpretentious textile. The first textile mills in the United States arose in New England and that is where in the mid 1800’s the production of denim in the weave and color we are familiar with began as well.
People have always had to relieve themselves whether it was the Roman use of running water to carry off waste or the Middle Age use of chamber pots that would be emptied out a window in the morning. Sir John Harrington invented a type of flushing toilet for his Godmother, Queen Elizabeth I, in 1596 as a way to get back in her good graces after a falling out. It took the 1832 epidemic of cholera in Europe which killed millions to make people realize that poor sanitation was responsible for the spread of disease. It led to sewers being cleaned and rebuilt in France and the British passing of laws that required houses to have some sort of flushing toilet.
In 1872 British plumber Thomas Crapper developed a flushing toilet but his main achievement was the refinement of the tank that held the water and made flushing quieter. American soldiers returning from England during World War I referred the toilet as the Crapper. The toilet was a status symbol for Victorian age and was frequently decorated with hand paintings or sculpture.
Isaiah Rogers designed Boston’s Tremont Hotel in 1829 which was the first hotel to have indoor plumbing and boasted 8 toilets on the first floor. By the decade of the 1860s many flushing toilets had been imported from England by wealthy Americans. These units had tanks mounted well above the bowl and were operated by pulling a chain. The water tank moved closer to the bowls and by about 1920 the tank and bowl became a single unit and took on the design of the toilets we are familiar with today.
The effort to conserve water has led to low flow toilets that only use 1.6 gallons of water or units that recycle water from the sink into the toilet tank. We are all familiar with the rural outhouse and the half moon shape on the door or images of people dashing across their yard in urgency. Indoor flushing toilets have become a ubiquitous part of society and are taken for granted but the next time you flush a toilet be thankful for the development of indoor plumbing.
| The evolution of society invariably altered the customs and cultures of our ancestors while leaving a multitude of relics in its wake. We offer our patrons a grand selection of museum quality replicas that we hope will awaken a interest in those bygone eras. Choose from reenactment gear, historical display items, functional technology reproductions, replica ships and many more items! |
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Forty years after the decline and fall of a publishing empire that once sold millions of magazines each month for more than three decades, former Popular Publications, Inc. President Henry Steeger reflected:
By the 1920s, dozens of imitators and competitors had picked up on that highly lucrative business model, creating magazines like Black Mask, Amazing Stories, Marvel Tales (the forbearer of Marvel Comics) and, most importantly, Weird Tales, in the process. Though the content of the pulps covered every genre imaginable - adventure, western, fantasy, crime, mystery, war, aviation and more – the stories featured in Weird Tales introduced pre-Word War II America to literary titans whose work is still admired (and imitated) today: Robert E. Howard (creator of Conan and Solomon Kane), Ray Bradbury (Fahrenheit 151, The Martian Chronicles), Isaac Asimov (I, Robot), Richard Matheson (I Am Legend) and Robert Bloch (Psycho), to name but a few of their innumerable contributors.
According to Bloch, the fictional worlds produced by that formidable stable of talent was “the work of writers inspired by the opportunity to create stories on a more literate level than was commonly accepted of the period and transcend the taboos and challenge the smugness of a Norman Rockwell view of America.” And, in truth, the secret cults, blood wielding maniacs and far-flung cosmic utopias of the best pulp stories were most definitely some of the most subversive material available during FDR-era (barring the underground pornography pamphlets known as “Tijuana Bibles,” that is).
The Stars and Stripes, Old Glory, the Red, White and Blue. A symbol of strength and courage. A mark of tolerance and diversity. The indication of democracy and freedom. However you see it and whatever you call it, the American flag is the image behind a nation. Reflecting the history of a people, the flag has a rich history of its own. 
It took, according to Ross’ own account, just a few weeks to make the flag and it was ready in time for the celebration of the first Fourth of July. America was celebrating its own birth. The early government of the country made a flag resolution among one of its earliest priorities. On June 14, 1777, 13 white stars in a circle on a blue background next to a field of 13 red and white stripes became the official composition of the United States flag. It was a “new constellation” to represent the cosmic inception of a new nation. 
Mary Pickersgill received the flag commission from Fort Henry in Maryland. She was asked two make two flags one for bad weather and one for good weather. With the help of her daughters and servant, Pickersgill completed the two flags in seven weeks. The good weather flag was 30 feet by 42 feet and hung above the garrison of the fort. The flag flew high throughout the Battle of Baltimore that took place during the War of 1812. 
The novelty of Mosby’s mode of warfare consisted chiefly in the manner of subsisting, quartering and protecting his men. The upper portion of Loudon and Fauquier counties, embracing a circuit of about thirty miles in diameter, was then known as “Mosby’s Confederacy.” By a glance at the map it will be observed that it bordered upon the Blue Ridge Mountains on the west, and the Bull Run Mountains on the east. The valley between is one of the richest, most beautiful, and highly cultivated in the State of Virginia. It was thickly inhabited with old Virginia families, who were loyal and true to the Southern cause. These people received Mosby’s men into their houses as their guests, and neither danger nor want could tempt their betrayal. Robin Hood’s band sought safety in the solitudes of Sherwood Forest, Marion’s men secreted themselves “in the pleasant wilds of Snow’s Island” and other South Carolina swamps, but the Partizan Rangers of Virginia protected themselves by dispersing in an open country among a sympathizing people. They never established a camp; to have done so would have invited capture. Each soldier had his boarding-house, where he lived when off duty, as a member of the family. From these they would come, singly or in groups, bringing their rations with them to some designated rendezvous, march rapidly to and from the point of attack, send their prisoners under guard to the nearest Confederate post, divide the spoil, and disperse. If they were pursued by an overwhelming force as was frequently the case, the evening found them scattered to the four winds, where each man, mounted upon his own fleet steed, could protect himself from capture. If the Federals attempted to follow the chase in small parties, the Rangers, from behind every hill and grove, would concentrate and dash upon them. If they marched in solid column, the Rangers would hang upon their flanks, firing upon them from behind trees, fences, and hilltops. In this way, General Julius Stahel, who had invaded Mosby’s Confederacy with two brigades of cavalry and four pieces of artillery for the avowed purpose of utterly demolishing the Rangers, was so annoyed that he retired, thoroughly disgusted with an enemy “who only fought when they got their foe at a disadvantage.”
As there were no civil officers commissioned by either party in all that section of Virginia, the people naturally turned to Mosby as their only representative of law and order. It was not unusual for them to submit their property controversies to him for decision. In this way he acquired a civil jurisdiction in connection with his military dictatorship. Being a lawyer by profession, educated at the University of Virginia, his civil administration became as remarkable for its prudence and justice as his military leadership was for magnanimity and dash. I heard an old citizen remark, “For two years Mosby was our ruler, and the country never was better governed.” He protected the people from stragglers and deserters, who pillaged friend and foe alike. Every captured horse-thief was promptly executed. He required his own men to treat the citizens with fairness and courtesy, and any violation of this rule was punished by sending the offender to the regular service. Its observance was more easily enforced than would appear possible at first glance. The men were scarcely ever off duty, except for necessary rest. The officers were then distributed among them, and by their example and authority controlled, when necessary, the deportment of their men. The citizens with whom they lived also exercised a healthy influence over them. These relations engendered many attachments that ran like golden threads through the soldier’s life and outlived the rough usages of war.
It thus became no easy matter to drive the Rangers from a territory so dear to them, and in which they were befriended by all. On two occasions the entire Federal army operating against General Lee passed through Mosby’s Confederacy, and yet his men did not abandon it. They hid themselves in the mountains during the day, and descended upon the enemy at night. They thus observed every movement of the Federal army, and all valuable information was promptly sent to the Confederate general. On one of these occasions, June 17, 1863, Mosby found himself at ten o’clock at night between the infantry and cavalry commands of General Hooker’s army. Observing three horses hitched near a house, with an orderly standing by, he left his command with the prisoners already captured, and taking with him three men, rode up to the orderly and was informed by him that the horses belonged to Major William E. Sterling and another officer. In a whisper he said to the orderly:
