by Kate Dolan | Jan 20, 2019 | Articles, Colonial America, Kate Dolan, Latest Posts, Living History, Servants, Travel
The immense popularity of the British series Downton Abbey in the U.S. shows that despite our commitment to the concept of equality, many Americans are fascinated by the lifestyles of those living in a society where the accident of your birth could grant you a life of...
by Kate Dolan | Apr 15, 2016 | Articles, Colonial America, Kate Dolan, Latest Posts, Living History, Regency, Servants
“This country has reached a very alarming crisis. Torn by two parties…Congress enacting laws it is unable to enforce …only to substitute equally bad ones…” Sound familiar? I’m know I’m not alone in finding the factionalism in...
by Kate Dolan | Mar 1, 2016 | Articles, Kate Dolan, Latest Posts, Living History, Regency, Servants
Don’t we feel sorry for the poor troubled aristocratic family in Downton Abbey? Not so much, I think. Because even on their worst days, they never even have to think about taking out the trash or scrubbing crusted food off a dinner plate. They have servants to...
by Kate Dolan | Sep 8, 2015 | Articles, Kate Dolan, Latest Posts, Living History, Regency, Servants
Teachers are often put in a difficult position in today’s society, but I think the situation faced by their historical counterparts was often much worse. A governess brought into a home to teach girls and younger boys was expected to be everything but was treated as...
by Kate Dolan | Dec 5, 2014 | Articles, Kate Dolan, Latest Posts, Living History, Servants
Servants on Downton Abbey and Upstairs Downstairs may have hard lives, but they rarely seem to work hard. A real servant’s life had a lot less drama and a lot more work. On her first day as a maid in 1925, Rose Plummer did more than I do in a year. Just after her...
by Kate Dolan | Jun 21, 2013 | Food, Kate Dolan, Latest Posts, Living History, Servants
England actually had a warm enough climate to grow wine grapes during the middle ages. Whether the wine would have been drinkable by today’s standards is unknown, but as the climate cooled during the “Little Ice Age” (from about 1350 to 1850), the British could not...
