December 25, 2008
Museum Photographic Collections on Flickr
It looks like venerable institutions like the Smithsonian and Eastman collection are putting their photo archives up on Flickr. I haven't been able to find a proper "portal" that links to all of them, but here's what I have found:
Nationaal Archief Netherlands
State Library of New South Wales Australia
Posted by Walter at 06:20 AM
June 28, 2008
Web Sources for Historical Sheet Music
In the business of putting on historical events, with appropriate music, one frequently encounters the need to find appropriate sheet music. Further, when one has been doing historical events for many years, one can get a bit tired of the same tunes all the time, and want to dig up something new--that everyone hasn't heard yet.
Fortunately, there seem to be a growing collection of sites on the web that can be tapped for historical sheet music. Of course, with copyright laws being what they are, you aren't going to find much past 1920, but if your interests lie in the Victorian or Ragtime eras (and occasionally earlier) there's some good stuff out there free of charge.
Here are the ones I know about. If you know some more, please add them via "comments".
Continue reading "Web Sources for Historical Sheet Music"
Posted by Walter at 05:21 PM
August 16, 2007
Listing of Southern California Historic Houses and Outdoor Museums
I have recently finished moving my long-standing listing of house museums and outdoor museums from the lahacal.org domain to the historicparks.org domain, where it seems far more appropriate.
http://historicparks.org/parks.html
Continue reading "Listing of Southern California Historic Houses and Outdoor Museums"
Posted by Walter at 09:09 AM
August 13, 2007
Just Launched - The Lanterman House Website
I have been working a lot with the Lanterman House lately, partly out of an appreciation for this wonderful local treasure, and partly out of a desire to ensure that the Lanteman Ragtime Tea Dance continues indefinitely.
In aid of this, I have just completed a website for the Lanterman House. It can be found at http://lantermanfoundation.org/
Continue reading "Just Launched - The Lanterman House Website"
Posted by Walter at 07:53 AM
April 12, 2007
The Merry Gamester Web Friendly Edition
Last year, I posted my self-published book on the history of games, the "Merry Gamester", on the web. This was just a PDF version of my old paper book.
I am taking a class in desktop publising, and I made it my class project for inDesign to remake it in a more web-friendly version.
Continue reading "The Merry Gamester Web Friendly Edition"
Posted by Walter at 05:17 PM | Comments (1)
September 15, 2006
The Merry Gamester Online
Back in the early '90s, I looked with dismay on my fellow Renaissance Faire participants and Civil War re-enactors inventing card and dice games because they lacked the energy or research skills to find the rules to actual, historical games. To address this, I wrote and self-published "The Merry Gamester: A Practical Guide to the English Speaking World's Most Popular Card Games, Dice Games and Divers Amusements from Ancient TImes to 1900".
Continue reading "The Merry Gamester Online"
Posted by Walter at 08:38 AM | Comments (4)
July 22, 2006
American Textile History Museum Launches Online Catalog
The American Textile History Museum has announced the Chace Catalogue, an online collection of items from the museum. The catalog is currently in its "pilot" phase, but there are still over 500 items to view online (the eventual goal is to make all the Museum's collections available online--over 15,000 items. You can visit the catalog at http://www.athm.org/online_catalogue.htm.
Posted by Walter at 07:09 AM
April 16, 2006
Places to Buy Vintage Recordings On Line
Here are a few places I know about where you can find vintage recordings from the first half of the 20th Century.
Continue reading "Places to Buy Vintage Recordings On Line"
Posted by Walter at 10:02 AM
April 14, 2006
Finding Historic Recordings Free Online
There are currently thousands of recordings, dating from the 1890s through the 1940s, which are available for free online.
Here are good vintage recording sites I know about. These are all "legit" sites, and do not include any sites where questionable filesharing might be taking place.
I will address where to buy vintage recordings in a later post.
Continue reading "Finding Historic Recordings Free Online"
Posted by Walter at 11:57 AM | Comments (1)
April 02, 2006
Places to get Victorian Dance Music Recordings
If any of you have ever purchased a CD with a title like "Strauss Waltzes" by, say, the Berlin Philharmonic, you may have discovered that bands focusing on the concert performance of dances don't really play in a way that is congenial for actual dancing. They are too slow or too fast or have muddy unclear tempi, or the tempi change suddenly.
While I am a firm believer in live music, no matter how humble, for your ball--if you are running a dance class, practising at home or listening for pleasure, you need a good recording.
Take heart! There is hope. There are a few bands out there whose CDs are made with dancers in mind.
Continue reading "Places to get Victorian Dance Music Recordings"
Posted by Walter at 03:51 PM | Comments (5)
March 22, 2006
Vintage Dance Costume Suggestions
The Commonwealth Vintage Dancers have put together a helpful guide to what to wear at Vintage Dances.
It can be found at http://vintagedancers.org/costume.html
Posted by Walter at 07:25 PM