Ellis Island photographs

NYPL Digital Gallery selections from the collection of William Williams, Commissioner of Immigration, 1902-1913.

Everyone loves ice cream

All via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. (The kid in the suit! And hat!)

"Pound and sift one dozen stale macaroons and three lady fingers, blanch, chop fine and pound to a paste twenty-five almonds (or three ounces of almond paste); scald one pint of milk (cream is better) in double boiler, add one cupful of sugar and stir until dissolved. Take from fire and add one pint of cream and set aside to cool, then add one tablespoon of orange flower water, two tablespoons of maraschino. Freeze the cream first, then take out dasher and stir in macaroons and nuts, pack until ready to serve." Laura Thornton Knowles, Southern Recipes Tested by Myself, 1913

"Pop corn without butter or salt is more suitable to serve with ice cream than cake."Evora Bucknum Perkins, The Laurel Health Cookery, 1911

"This cream was originated by a famous New Orleans conflsseur in honor of "Rex," the King of the world- famed New Orleans Carnivals. It was first served at a Carnival luncheon in St. Charles avenue. The King's colors are purple, green and gold...Make a Plain Ice Cream. Divide into three distinct and equal portions. Color one with Spinach Greenery, to obtain the green effect; flavor another with Essence of Vanilla, and color with orange juice or a bit of saffron, to obtain the golden yellow: and tint the third with a deep Crème de Violette, for the royal purple... Molds now come made in the shape of tiny flags, and the effect suggests at once Rex and his merry reign." The Picayune Creole Cookbook, 1922

"I do not know of any good ice-cream recipe unless it is expensive. When I see the faces people make up while trying to swallow cheap ice-cream, I think to myself if I cannot have good ice-cream I will not have any." -- Arthur's Home Magazine, July-December 1897

all via Google Book Search.

So, guess what I got for my birthday?

"I really don't know why red. It could've been blue, I suppose" (Nantucket Reds, part 2)

Hey, Nantucket Reds fans (I know you're out there, because Google Analytics tells me). Here's a video just for you:




Complete with schmaltzy strings, slow pans of salmon pink sailcloth, and references to "summer families."

For the record, I've thus far failed to acquire my own Nantucket Reds this summer.

More Malia

A few weeks ago I promised a sequel to my post on Hawaiian resort label Malia.

Malia International was founded in the early 1960s by Bill and Mary Foster, a husband-and-wife team who met at Stanford University, then moved to Bill's native Hawaii. The company began in as a textile concern, but Bill soon suggested that Mary try her hand at designing garments. Their early forays into fashion design were somewhat rocky, but by 1970 the company was a leading resortwear manufacturer. They also kept the textile printing and distribution side going, as well as a uniform division that supplied hotels, restaurants and airlines. Later, the Fosters attempted to expand Malia International beyond the islands, and even opened a West Coast office.

The design process at Malia began with the development of fabrics. Take a look at any Malia piece, and you'll see how the garment was designed around both the print and the structure of the fabric.

As we speak, Malia season is in full swing on eBay !

Martin van Butchell, kook dentist

British, 1735-1814.

"All the remarkable eccentricities which have yet been the characteristic of any man, however celebrated, may all hide their diminished heads before Martin Van Butchell."


"He humorously paints [his] poney, some times all purple, often with purple spots, and with streaks and circles upon his face and hinder parts...His bridle is also exceedingly curious; to the head of it is fixed a blind, which, in case of taking fright or starting, can be dropped over the horse's eyes, and be drawn up again at pleasure.

"After embalming [his wife's] body, he kept her in her wedding clothes a considerable time, in the parlour of his own house, which occasioned the visits of a great number of the nobility and gentry. It has been reported, that the resolution of his keeping his wife unburied, was occasioned by a clause in the marriage settlement, disposing of certain property, while she remained above ground: we cannot decide how far this may be true, but she has been since buried." -- The Lives and Portraits of Curious and Odd Characters: Compiled from Authentic Sources, T. Drew, 1852 via Google Book Search.

"Nevertheless, he was considered a good dentist for his time, and he was extremely popular with his patients."

Seersucker Thursday is June 18!

I can't seem to find a press release or anything else substantial, but several other bloggers have gotten word that Seersucker Thursday is on for this week, June 18th. Incessant thunderstorms and mid-60s temps are cramping Chicagoans' summer style, but I still plan to contribute to this fine summer tradition by sporting my seersucker trousers, which I'm pretty sure I got from the sale rack at TJ Maxx.

Swatch via good ol' fabric.com. Whatever you do, don't get that slimy poly/cotton blend seersucker they sell at Jo-Ann.

Fleur Cowles, 1908ish-2009