Chocolate Cake
Valuable “windows to the past,” diaries provide fascinating comparisons to life today, offering a slice of someone’s thoughts, activities and other memories from a particular period in time. Since cooking…
Memorial Day on Tulpehocken Street in 1879
Intro by J.M Duffin and Mark Lloyd The diaries of Philadelphia banker and Germantown resident Cornelius Nolan Weygandt provide an valuable insight into life in Philadelphia at the final decades…
Lemon Pie
Lemon pie is often considered a Southern confection, conjuring up images of plantation parties with lovely slices of the sky-high pie served on fancy china. Others may think of it…
Victorian Theatre: Behind The Curtain #1
VICTORIAN THEATRE IN MODERN TIMES The theater program began with the interactive Murder Mystery held in the Mansion’s rooms every October, like a game of clue come to life. Our…
Victorian Theatre: Behind the Curtain #2
THE TRUTH BEHIND “A DOLL’S HOUSE” “A woman cannot be herself in modern society. It is an exclusively male society, with laws made by men and with prosecutors and judges…
Servants in the Weygandt Household – 1900
From the Diaries of Cornelius N. Weygandt Like most upper middle class Philadelphians in the last half of the nineteenth century, Cornelius N. and Lucy E. (Thomas) Weygandt took advantage…
A Day in the Life of a Banker
This entry describes a fairly typical Saturday in Cornelius N. Weygandt’s life. By the 1890s people generally did not work a full day on Saturdays. One of the things that…
Victorian Theater: Behind the Curtain #3
A VERY VICTORIAN MURDER I’ve loved the board game Clue ever since I was a child. When I played it, I always imagined myself as Professor Plum (usually) moving through…
Thanksgiving on Tulpehocken Street in 1886
Cornelius and Lucy Weygandt hosted the Weygandt family for Thanksgiving Day in 1886. The families of Cornelius’ brother George and sisters Sophie, Bessie and Tilda were all there as well…
Plum Pudding
Cookies, cakes and pies are the desserts most Americans associate with Christmas today, but back in the Victorian era, plum pudding was the highlight of the holiday feast. Even the…
