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 roadsmith
 
posted on March 7, 2007 09:42:43 PM new
Sheesh. Why did the title get cut off before I could write "tidy"?
Hi, all. This week my husband and I have begun the task of deciphering tough handwriting in a relative's 1880 diary. This was a woman whose family, named Folsom, founded a town, Tekamah, in Nebraska and had a good amount of money. In January 1880 she talks about beginning a tidy, working on a tidy, and then working on it more, calling it a black tidy. My hunch is that a tidy was something you put on furniture to keep it clean, like a doily or antimacassar, but do you have other ideas? I tried googling it but there are about 3 billion references to tidy, as you can imagine.
_____________________
People who want to share their religious views with you almost
never want you to share yours with them.
[ edited by roadsmith on Mar 7, 2007 09:43 PM ]
 
 fluffythewondercat
 
posted on March 7, 2007 10:01:29 PM new
http://www.dictionary.com

fLufF
--

 
 pixiamom
 
posted on March 7, 2007 10:36:58 PM new
Thanks, Fluff. Have never heard the term before. Would guess it is referring to the couch/chair doilies rather than the box with small compartments.

 
 roadsmith
 
posted on March 7, 2007 10:37:30 PM new
Thanks, Fluffy. I don't have a dictionary in my software and rarely consult one. This site is good. Appreciate your help!
_____________________
People who want to share their religious views with you almost
never want you to share yours with them.
 
 pmelcher
 
posted on March 8, 2007 03:14:56 AM new
and the word tidy is a whole lot easier to spell than an antimacassar!
[ edited by pmelcher on Mar 8, 2007 03:15 AM ]
 
 profe51
 
posted on March 8, 2007 04:50:29 AM new
So were macassars so bad that somebody had to invent antimacassars?

 
 pixiamom
 
posted on March 8, 2007 05:04:54 AM new
In my young years - I can remember when the cleanest folks washed their hair once a week - UGH - no wonder they needed doilies to protect the furniture!

 
 photosensitive
 
posted on March 8, 2007 05:05:07 AM new
Indeed. Not sure of the spelling but they were "anti hair oil" which is what the "macassar" refers to. Men wore so much oil on their hair that it made a grease spot on the back of chairs.
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“The illiterate of the future will be the person ignorant of the use of the camera as well as of the pen.”
Maholy-Nagy, Vision in Motion, 1947
 
 vintageads4u
 
posted on March 8, 2007 05:27:25 AM new
How about crude oil for a hair tonic. That would leave a stain:

Beth
VintageAds4U

http://stores.ebay.com/vintageads4uonline?refid=store
 
 
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