Textory - The Podcast

Over a hundred years ago parents were also looking to parenting books for advice. What does this one, "The Best Method for Raising Children" from 1924, has to say about caring for newborns, corporal punishment or regulating your emotions? You'll be surprised.

Located at the edge of the Baltic sea, 17th century Gdańsk was a multicultural merchant city. Peter Mundy, a British traveller, lived there for around a decade, and left a fascinating memoir of his time in the town located in modern-day northern Poland that we're reading in this episode.  _________________  Check out my Patreon!  https://patreon.com/textory  

What was a typical day like for a teacher in a small town in 1890s Illinois? Today we’re reading diaries of Emma Wormwood and reflecting on the lifestyle, duties and leisure a woman faced in a 19th century rural setting.  _________________  Check out my Patreon!  https://patreon.com/textory

What if I told you first popular advice column was published in the 1690s? “The Athenian Mercury” followed a Q&A format, which dealt with issues from the fields of philosophy, physics, religion, and interpersonal relationships, which are the focus of today’s episode.  _________________  Check out my Patreon!  https://patreon.com/textory  

Should a potential 1920s candidate for a wife be "untouched”? Not at all, let her use life! At least that was the opinion of Clement Wood, the author of today’s text - “The Art of Courtship” from 1926. Surprisingly bold for the era, Wood’s tips and tricks on “wooing” the opposite sex are the focus of today’s episode. Enjoy!  _________________ Check out my Patreon!  https://patreon.com/textory  

Are women good at poetry? Can they even write it? These were probably serious questions people in the past were asking. In today’s episode we have an answer that is a loud and clear “YES”, as we read works of female English, Scotch and Irish women throughout 17th-19th centuries.  _________________ Check out my Patreon!  https://patreon.com/textory  

We might imagine Renaissance Italy as a place of innovation and art, but the day to day reality was plagued by disgusting behaviors. Today we're reading a surprisingly foul 16th century manual on being a well-behaved person.  _________________  Check out my Patreon!  https://patreon.com/textory

Tom Lefroy is often pictured as Jane Austen’s true love that forever ruined her views on marriage. But do her own writings suggest it was mostly... well, a situationship? Find out in today’s episode!  _________________  Check out my Patreon!  https://patreon.com/textory

Rotting flesh, deformed bones, disappearing noses... Old medicine didn’t have much to offer for those suffering from the most horrific diseases - like syphilis - but some attempted ailing the sick. In today’s episode we’re reading “Observations on the Venereal Disease” from 1686.  _________________  Check out my Patreon!  https://patreon.com/textory  

From never-ending list of tasks and duties to possibly being mistreated, domestic service in the Victorian era sounds like absolute hell. And yet, for many women, it was a dream job. Today we’re reading “Instructions in household matters: or, The young girl's guide to domestic service” from 1845, which details how to best prepare for that sort of work.  Also, welcome to season 3 of Textory The Pod...

Working nights? Working from home? Lunch breaks? These were some of the very modern-sounding questions working women were asking during WW1. In today's episode we're talking women's labour and reading "The Garment Worker" magazine from April 1918. _______ Check out my Patreon! https://patreon.com/textory

Gloves or no gloves? How did you get introduced to eligible gentleman? Could he buy you a drink? Today we're reading “Routledge’s Ballroom Companion” from 1866. ________________  If you enjoy the podcast and want to support what I’m doing, check out my Patreon!  https://www.patreon.com/textory  

It's winter season in 1839 and you're trying to survive. What would be your reading of choice? Probably "How To Prevent Consumption", with bleakly useless advice and wild theories.

Famous for his dead-pan comedy style, Buster Keaton was one the kings of slapstick comedy. But behind his success hid battles with production studios, his wife, and his addiction. In today’s episode, we’re reading Keaton’s memoir “My Wonderful World of Slapstick”.  ________________  If you enjoy the podcast and want to support what I’m doing, check out my Patreon!  https://www.patreon.com/textory...

There is so much myth and speculation around who Marie Antoinette was as a person, that it’s really helpful to have historical texts from the era – like today’s “Memoirs of Madame Campan” - of people that really knew her. But how reliable are her observations?  ________________  If you enjoy the podcast and want to support what I’m doing, check out my Patreon!  https://www.patreon.com/textory  

Probably the farthest we’ve ever gone in our podcast time machine – today we’re in ancient Rome, in a crowd of very upset women, as described by Livy in “History of Rome”.  ________________  If you enjoy the podcast and want to support what I’m doing, check out my Patreon!  https://www.patreon.com/textory  

A feminist – bordering on misandrist – text from 1592? Written by a woman? Count me in! In today’s episode, we’re reading Moderata Fonte’s “The Merits of Women”, translated and edited by Virginia Cox.  ________________  If you enjoy the podcast and want to support what I’m doing, check out my Patreon!  https://www.patreon.com/textory  

While owning cats as pets goes back to antiquity and beyond, the existence of self-proclaimed “cat people” is a result of the popularization of the hobby in the 19th and 20th centuries. Today we’re reading Francis Simpson’s “Cats and All About Them” from 1902 to see what Edwardian cat ownership looked like.  ________________  If you enjoy the podcast and want to support what I’m doing, check out m...

In today’s episode we’re reading a rulebook on how to be an absolutely insufferable Victorian f*ckboy, by none other than the courtesan and dancer Lola Montez. Her “The Art of Fascinating” from 1858 should be a guide to anyone setting up a Tinder profile.  ________________  If you enjoy the podcast and want to support what I’m doing, check out my Patreon!  https://www.patreon.com/textory  

Not all women involved with the feminist movement were necessarily radical. Today we’re reading “Woman’s Thoughts on Women” by Dinah Craik, a British writer with an unusual life story, and discovering her views on female work, female friendships, and old women’s clothes.  ________________  If you enjoy the podcast and want to support what I’m doing, check out my Patreon!  https://www.patreon.com/t...

Ever wondered what decisions were behind Victorian home decorating? No? Well now you are! “Handbook of Housekeeping on a Small Income” from 1897 guides the reader through comfortably arranging your own house while keeping things (relatively) budget friendly.  ________________  If you enjoy the podcast and want to support what I’m doing, check out my Patreon!  https://www.patreon.com/textory  

We all know about Victorian obsession with ankles. But they didn’t just leave things to take their own course – as documented in this 1858 manual by Lola Montez on keeping your ankles (and other body parts) fresh and sexy.  ________________  If you enjoy the podcast and want to support what I’m doing, check out my Patreon!  https://www.patreon.com/textory  

In the modern dating climate, we sometimes wish relationships came with a manual. In the 1920s, ladies could use one, written by the author of the previous episode’s “A Woman You Should Not Marry”. How does it compare? Is Reinhold Gerling, to quote Mr Darcy, equally “severe upon his own sex”?  ________________  If you enjoy the podcast and want to support what I’m doing, check out my Patreon!  htt...

At the end of the 18th century, it was not easy to restore one’s reputation as a seduced woman and a single mother. But the author of the “Advice To Unmarried Women” from 1791, the text we’re focusing on in this episode, believed it’s possible.  ________________  If you enjoy the podcast and want to support what I’m doing, check out my Patreon!  https://www.patreon.com/textory  

The infamous Hays code changed cinema history forever – but what were the actual rules? This episode dissects the 1929 document that made movie kisses short and innuendos nearly extinct.   ________________  If you enjoy the podcast and want to support what I’m doing, check out my Patreon!  https://www.patreon.com/textory