A valuable and compelling portrait of the daily life of Americans during the Victorian era--the fourth volume in the Everyday Life in America series

Reprinted from a rare 1878 offering from a leading Northeastern architectural firm: front and side elevations, floor plans and descriptions of 50 "practical designs of low and medium priced houses," ranging from 2- to 11-room dwellings, most in the cottage style. With complete specifications for two, a sample contract, advertisements, and price estimates.

Gift local 05-25-2003 $19.95.

The contributors cover such seminal topics as modernization, American intellectuals, the origins of the reform movement, the beginnings of the voluntary hospital, literature, and, ultimately, the attack on Victorianism that took place in the early years of the twentieth-century.

Over 280 rare photographs document "Sunday best" clothing from the 1840s to the 1890s. Bustles, pantalets, top hats, waistcoats, bowlers, other attire, as well as hairdressing and tonsorial styles.

Anne Rose examines the relationship between American Victorian culture and the Civil War, arguing that Romanticism was at the heart of Victorian culture.