Month: January 2014

National Wear A Hat Day

Published on by Isabella AldenLeave a comment

January 17 is National Wear A Hat Day. In honor of the occasion, here are sketches of lovely ladies wearing hats that were popular at the turn of the 20th Century. Now yellowed with age, these black and white drawings were often used in advertisements and on trade cards.

Isabella Alden’s first book was published in 1865 and she continued to publish fiction through the 1920s. Her stories spanned many decades and she saw fashion styles come and go throughout her long life. These stylish hats might have been worn by Isabella’s heroines in her books, Making Fate, Overruled, As In A Mirror, Four Mothers at Chautauqua and Ruth Erskine’s Son, which were all published between 1895 and 1905.

Which hat is your favorite?

Black and White Bonnet 02 Black and White Bonnet 03 Black and White Bonnet 04 Black and White Bonnet 05 Black and White Bonnet 07 Black and White Bonnet 08 Black and White Bonnet 10 Black and White Bonnet 11 Black and White Bonnet 12 Black and White Bonnet 13 Black and White Bonnet 14 Black and White Bonnet 15 Black and White Bonnet 16 Black and White Bonnet 17 Black and White Bonnet 18 Black and White Bonnet 19

Daisy Bryant’s New Doll

Published on by Isabella AldenLeave a comment

In Miss Dee Dunmore Bryant, little Daisy Bryant knows she won’t receive any Christmas gifts because her family is too poor. As much as Daisy would love to have a new doll of her own, she knows she won’t get one. But certainly, there are more fortunate little girls in the world who will get a new doll for Christmas and, perhaps, if one of those little girls names her new doll after Daisy, it just might take the sting out of a Christmas with no presents.

So Daisy writes a letter to the newspaper, and humbly asks that little girls who receive new dolls on Christmas morning consider naming their new doll Daisy Isabelle Bryant. When the newspaper prints Daisy’s letter, wonderful things begin to happen and soon Daisy has more beautiful new dolls than she knows what to do with.

Here is a collection of Victorian-era Christmas cards featuring little girls and their dolls. Perhaps one of these little girls could have been Daisy Bryant.

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