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This “voice-o-gram” was recorded in Brighton, Ontario in Canada in 1946 and features Doreen and Tom Howell singing to one another. 

Arthur Beaumont Boyce was a popular sight as he and his horse Bob delivered soft-drinks and soda syphons around town. This soda syphon was used by Boyce sometime between 1920 and 1945 for selling soda…

Until movies were popular in the 1900s, these lanterns were used in public halls or cinemas.  They were described as “magic” which is how people perceived them.  Although audiences today would find the entertainment basic,…

Published in 1938, this book is the memoir of a feisty grandmother born into extreme hardship in Victorian New Zealand. Author Susan McKearney, born Susan Hooey in 1870, lived through wars, epidemics and depressions both…

Before the invention of stainless steel in 1915, metal knives were made of iron or carbon steel.  They needed daily maintenance to prevent them from rusting, so these grinding machines were used regularly in Victorian…

Every town has its signature store, and for Cambridge it was Calvert’s.  Buttons, bows, material, menswear, frocks, furniture, curtains, carpets – it was all there.  If you were coming to Cambridge to shop, you almost…