5 Photos From Greenwich Village in the 1960s

Folk musicians in NYC, 1961

Author Nicole Villeneuve

July 22, 2026

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In the 1960s, New York City’s Greenwich Village — the Manhattan neighborhood located roughly between Houston and 14th streets, from the Hudson River to Broadway — was a hub of American counterculture. Once an upscale residential area in the 1800s, the neighborhood had changed by the early 20th century as low-income tenement houses drove its wealthy residents to other parts of the city.

At the same time, the Village’s central location and low rents started attracting artists, writers, and bohemians from across the country. A community of creativity and political activism flourished in the local coffeehouses, and the neighborhood became a hub of the folk music, protests, and free-spirited style that came to define the 1960s counterculture. These photos are but a small glimpse into the people, places, and moments that made the Greenwich Village scene so iconic.

The Gaslight

MacDougal Street may well be the place that best captures the essence of 1960s Greenwich Village. Though just a few blocks long, the strip was home to a dense collection of coffeehouses and clubs that launched some of the best-known artists of the decade and beyond. Among its most revered venues was the Gaslight Cafe. Opened as the Village Gaslight in 1958, the low-ceilinged former coal cellar originally hosted readings by influential Beat poets including Allen Ginsberg and Diane di Prima before evolving into a cornerstone of the folk scene.

Getting a regular slot at the Gaslight meant earning the approval of insiders such as musician Dave Van Ronk, known as the “Mayor of MacDougal Street.” It also meant getting paid weekly. Though the space was far from glamorous, it was a launching pad for major talent, including Van Ronk, Len Chandler, and of course Bob Dylan, who, upon arriving in New York, said the Gaslight was the club he “wanted to play, needed to.” In 1966, the famed club even hosted Joni Mitchell’s first New York City performance.

Just steps away, Cafe Wha? built its own legacy as one of the first stages for artists such as Jimi Hendrix and Bruce Springsteen (and yes, Dylan, who performed there on his first day in NYC). Meanwhile, down the block, Gerde’s Folk City and the Cafe Au Go Go cemented the Village’s reputation as a hotbed of talent with regular performances from Pete Seeger, Emmylou Harris, Tim Buckley, Judy Collins, and many more.

Credit: Sigmund Goode/ Michael Ochs Archives via Getty Images

Bob Dylan at the Bitter End

Today, the Bitter End calls itself the oldest rock ’n’ roll club in New York City, and it was certainly an early staple of Greenwich Village’s music scene. Opened in 1961 by future Hollywood film producer Fred Weintraub, the unassuming Bleecker Street coffeehouse quickly gained a reputation for showcasing new talent. One of the earliest acts to play the Bitter End was a then-unknown trio called Peter, Paul, and Mary. In late 1961, the club placed ads in The New York Times urging people to catch the group before they outgrew the intimate room. By January 1962, Peter, Paul, and Mary had signed a record deal, and later that year, they used the club’s signature exposed brick walls as the backdrop for their debut album cover.

When Dylan arrived in the Village from Minnesota in early 1961, he became one of the up-and-coming performers who graced the Bitter End’s stage in its early years. Though he began as one of many young folk singers on the scene, Dylan quickly emerged as the voice of a generation; his songwriting helped to define the 1960s folk revival and position Greenwich Village as the center of a cultural shift. Later, in the 1970s, Dylan returned to the Bitter End not just as a performer but as a fan, dropping by to watch others play or to shoot pool with peers such as Kris Kristofferson. The club briefly changed its name to the Other End under new owner Paul Colby in the 1970s and ’80s, but eventually returned to its original moniker. It remains the Bitter End to this day.

Allen Ginsberg Protests Vietnam

Greenwich Village was a breeding ground for the countercultural energy of the 1960s. Though the neighborhood had been home to artists and freethinkers for much of the 20th century, by the mid-1960s, the folk revival was in full swing, and musicians such as Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, and Phil Ochs were increasingly vocal in the anti-war movement. In March 1966, Vietnam War protests swelled across the country; tens of thousands of people marched on Fifth Avenue in New York City in what was then the largest anti-war demonstration to date.

More than 20,000 protesters were joined by some of Greenwich Village’s leading counterculture figureheads. In this photo, legendary Beat poet and vocal Vietnam War critic Allen Ginsberg is pictured in an Uncle Sam hat. He’s joined by members of the underground psychedelic folk rock group the Fugs. Formed by poets Ed Sanders and Tuli Kupferberg, the Fugs and their irreverent critiques of mainstream American culture made them a cult favorite in the 1960s Village scene where they frequented live clubs such as Cafe Wha?.

Credit: Leo Vals/ Archive Photos via Getty Images

Washington Square Park

Even before the folk revival hit full swing, Washington Square Park was already a sanctuary for musicians and music lovers alike. Throughout the 1950s, people armed with guitars, banjos, bongos, and mandolins gathered every Sunday to sing and share folk, blues, and more music.

But in the spring of 1961, NYC Parks Commissioner Newbold Morris began enforcing a city law requiring permits for musical performances in the park. While the crackdown was said to be supported by nearby residents concerned about crowds, many suspected that authorities wanted to silence the voices of a growing youth movement.

On Sunday, April 9, 1961, musicians gathered in the park even though permits had been denied. The protest was led by Izzy Young, a pillar in the music scene as the owner of Greenwich Village’s iconic Folklore Center. Police responded with force and arrests in a clash that became known as the Beatnik Riot. That Sunday marked a cultural turning point: a new generation pushing back against authority. The city eventually relented, and throughout the rest of the decade, Washington Square Park remained a hub for protest, performance, and political expression.

Bohemian Style

Bohemianism took hold in New York long before the Beat Generation or hippie countercultures. In the mid-19th century, Greenwich Village was home to writers such as Henry Clapp Jr., known as the “King of Bohemia” and credited with introducing the Parisian ideal of bohemianism — an artistic and non-materialistic lifestyle — to the American literary scene. A century later, the Village attracted a new wave of dreamers. Through the 1950s, the literary rebels known as the Beats inspired a subsequent beatnik subculture, and in the 1960s, hippies adapted similar ideals into a movement centered on personal freedom and social justice. Their shared bohemian sensibilities helped keep the Village a haven for free spirits and artistic freedom.

The fashion seen around the Village in the 1960s was both eclectic and deliberate, as well as comfortable and carefree. This 1967 snapshot captures the vibe: A young woman in a gingham dress and beads has her face painted by a fellow hippie in a bold-patterned headband and shirt, as both of them audition as extras for the Sidney Poitier film For Love of Ivy. By the end of the 1960s, the bohemian spirit that shaped Greenwich Village had spread far beyond it, reaching its peak just 100 miles upstate at the Woodstock Music Festival, where upwards of 500,000 people gathered in the name of peace, love, and music.

5 Toxic Foods People Used To Eat

Victorian-era restaurant

Author Timothy Ott

July 22, 2026

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From our modern vantage point, the culinary options of bygone cultures are sometimes difficult to comprehend. It seems that hungry people gobbled down anything they could get their hands on, including dormice (rodents), beaver tails, and fish bladder jam.

But while some of the choices seem unusual in hindsight, we can at least grasp their nutritional value. Other foods, however, were just downright dangerous to the human digestive system, and certainly wouldn’t have been on the menu had the consumer been aware of the consequences. Here are five toxic foods that people unwittingly used to eat.

Credit: Universal History Archive/ Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Stone Age Fish

Offering a rich source of vitamins, protein, and fatty acids, seafood is generally considered among the healthiest cuisine to eat — unless, of course, the specimens being consumed contain sky-high concentrations of heavy metals. Such was the case with the Atlantic cod and harp seals that comprised the meals of Stone Age settlers in northern Norway’s Varanger Peninsula around 5000 to 1800 BCE.

According to a recent study, cod bones from the settlement contained levels of cadmium up to 22 times higher than contemporary recommended limits, while seal bones showed similar dangerously elevated levels of lead. While it might seem strange that wildlife came with the risk of carcinogens in an era well before industrialization, the study authors suggest this was the result of climate change. It’s possible the thaw from the last ice age (between about 120,000 and 11,500 years ago) produced rising sea levels that carried soil containing the potent minerals into the water.

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Roman Defrutum

It’s well known that the ancient Romans enjoyed their wine, but it’s possible a component of the winemaking process fueled ill health in a manner that went beyond the typical hangover. The Romans made a sweet, syrupy substance called defrutum, which was prepared by boiling unfermented grape juice. This syrup was used as a preservative for wine and fruit, as well as in sauces for dishes of pork, veal, and lentils, as described in the famed Roman cookbook De Re Coquinaria.

The problem was in the sweetener’s preparation: Ancient scholars including Cato and Pliny the Elder called for the syrup to be boiled in a lead-lined pot, inevitably resulting in the syrup’s absorption of lead. Although the hazards of lead poisoning were known to the Romans, it apparently never occurred to these great minds that they were endangering the public with their instructions.

Tansies

Nowadays, a typical Easter meal might include a ham and a sampling of the chocolate left by the Easter Bunny, but for Christians in medieval England, the holiday was incomplete without the serving of the tansy. The dish was named for its primary ingredient, the yellow-flowered tansy plant, which was mixed with herbs and a hearty helping of eggs to produce what was essentially a large, sweet omelet.

Coming on the heels of Lent, the tansy not only provided a welcome change from the strict diet of lentils and fish consumed over the previous 40 days, but also was said to provide relief from the gas-inducing Lenten meals. Despite its purported medicinal qualities, the plant is actually mildly toxic, its pyrrolizidine alkaloids dangerous to humans in high doses. Although the poison didn’t hinder the long-standing popularity of the tansy on dinner tables, people are generally dissuaded from eating the plant today.

Victorian Bread

You could highlight an array of foods in Victorian England that would fail to pass muster under any food safety laws, from the lead chromate found in mustard to the arsenic compounds used to color confectionery. However, given its ubiquity in households of the era, the most egregious example may well be bread.

Seeking to create thick loaves of an appealing white hue, Victorian bakers mixed in such ingredients as ground-up bones, chalk, and plaster of Paris. Another common additive was alum, an aluminum-based compound that inhibited digestion and contributed to the malnutrition rampant among the poorer population. Although the dangers of adulterated edibles were known among the more educated members of the public, there was little stopping the food producers and distributors who ignored these health risks in favor of profits.

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Rhubarb Leaves

Known for its reddish stalk and tart flavor, rhubarb in the hands of a capable chef can be used to create delicious pies, sauces, and jams. That is, the stalks can be turned into such kitchen delights — the thick green leaves are chock-full of toxic oxalic acid and therefore not meant for ingestion. Unfortunately, this fact was not well known a century ago, as rhubarb leaves were recommended as a source of vegetation during the food shortages of World War I.

Consumed in small but regular doses, the leaves inhibit the beneficial effects of calcium and trigger the buildup of calcium oxalate, leading to kidney stones. While a human would normally have to eat something like 6 pounds of the stuff to experience the more acute effects (including vomiting, diarrhea, and kidney failure), there was at least one reported case of oxalic acid poisoning during the rhubarb leaf’s brief run as a lettuce substitute.

How Did Victorian Women Get Dressed?

Dresses with crinolines, 1850

Author Nicole Villeneuve

July 22, 2026

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Victorian fashion, like many aspects of British society during Queen Victoria’s reign, was defined by order, structure, and formality. Though styles evolved throughout the decades, from the voluminous bell skirts of the 1850s to the bustle-heavy silhouettes of the 1880s, some fundamentals remained consistent — namely, the numerous layers that made up a women’s daily garb. It makes you wonder: Just how long did it take Victorian women to get dressed? And how were they able to manage the various tasks of daily life — to say nothing of simply sitting down — while wearing such cumbersome attire?

The dressing process typically began with undergarments. These included drawers, which in the 19th century consisted of two entirely separate legs joined only at the waistband; a chemise (also known as a shift), a loose underdress typically made of cotton or linen to protect the outer garments from sweat and protect the skin from the corset; and stockings held up by ribbon garters or, later in the 19th century, clips. Shoes — often boots — were also put on at this stage of getting dressed, because once the corset and other garments went on, it became a trickier task.

Corsets were, of course, central to the Victorian silhouette, cinching the waist to emphasize the bust and hips. Early corsets laced up the back using a single long lace threaded through hand-stitched holes, which wore out easily and had to be completely unlaced and re-laced each time. That began to change in 1828 with the invention of metal eyelets, which allowed tighter lacing without damaging the fabric.

Then in the 1850s, the slot-and-stud front-opening busk became more common. With studs on one side and matching slots on the other, women could fasten the corset while keeping the back lacing mostly in place, loosening it enough just to fasten it in the front. The corset could then be slipped on, hooked closed in the front, and then tightened by reaching behind and pulling — no need to step into it or rethread the laces daily.

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Next came a petticoat — or, more typically, several petticoats. Early Victorian-era skirts relied on multiple layers of heavy, hot petticoats, sometimes stiffened with horsehair, to create the full, bell-shaped silhouette favored at the time. By the mid-1850s, however, skirt volume was supported by a new innovation: the cage crinoline, a lightweight, steel-hooped frame worn under the skirt. By the 1870s, emphasis moved to the back of the skirt, and padded belts or cage bustles provided structure at the rear.

After all this architectural groundwork, a woman could finally step into her actual dress. It might consist of a separate bodice and skirt, or, for a more formal occasion, a full gown with buttons, hooks, and decorative trimmings. Most women also accessorized with gloves and bonnets.

It’s certainly a far cry from today’s jeans and a T-shirt, yet getting dressed for the day wasn’t as laborious a process as it may seem, according to Izabela Pitcher. She runs the U.K.-based historical costuming business Prior Attire, specializing in handcrafted, historically accurate garments for reenactors, museums, and interpreters. As she explained on Prior Attire’s YouTube channel, dressing herself in an 1860s day dress with crinoline took her just under 10 minutes. An 1883 day dress, complete with a side-buttoning back-bustle cage, took a little more than 10 minutes.

It’s certainly a far cry from today’s jeans and a T-shirt, yet getting dressed for the day wasn’t always the ordeal we might imagine. The time it took varied depending on the period, the outfit, and the wearer’s social status. For example, the historic interpretation YouTube channel Historic Royal Palaces’ recreation of dressing Queen Victoria in an 1840s day dress claims it took about 20 minutes just to get her corset properly fitted. But by the latter half of the century, innovations such as front clasps on the corset made it easier and faster for women to dress themselves.

Izabela Pitcher, who runs the U.K.-based historical costuming business Prior Attire, demonstrates on her YouTube channel, dressing herself in an 1860s day dress with crinoline in just under 10 minutes. An 1883 ensemble, complete with a side-buttoning bustle cage, takes slightly longer, but still clocks in at a little more than 10 minutes. While some elaborate court or evening gowns would certainly have required assistance, for many Victorian women, dressing solo was expected and achievable.

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Still, getting dressed in the Victorian era required a certain level of choreography — as did moving around through the day. Before cage crinolines, sitting down meant carefully managing layers of bulky petticoats. The introduction of the steel-hooped crinoline made skirts lighter but brought its own complications. Though surprisingly flexible and collapsible, cage crinolines were wide enough to make passing through doorways or fitting into carriages an awkward affair — they needed to be gathered and turned. Sitting required women to gather a few hoops behind them and lower themselves down between the rings. Bustles were similar: Though the simpler, padded versions sat higher on the rear and compressed more easily when sitting, the more elaborate wired bustles had collapsible frames that folded inward and required easing into a seat mindfully.

Of course, women still had to heed nature’s call in the Victorian era, which was no small task in such elaborate garb. While many wealthier homes featured indoor water closets by the late 19th century, most people still relied on more rudimentary options. Women typically relieved themselves while in their layers of dress using a handheld chamber pot. Commode chairs were also common, and could be approached frontward or backward. Regardless, women didn’t usually need to undress to use the bathroom: Drawers had an open-front design that allowed women to use the toilet by lifting up their dress or skirt, a practical feature that left the elegance of the era up to the rest of the attire.

What Was the Bronze Age Like?

Bronze Age metalwork

Author Nicole Villeneuve

July 22, 2026

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The Bronze Age was a period of extraordinary transformation that unfolded across many parts of the world between roughly 3300 and 1200 BCE. During this time, people mastered the process of smelting copper and tin into bronze, a durable metal that reshaped how humans farmed, fought, and built.

Like the Stone Age that came before it and the Iron Age that followed, the Bronze Age marked a major stage in the evolution of civilization. But it wasn’t defined by metallurgy alone: It was also a time of urbanization and cultural advancements. Civilizations in Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley, Egypt, and the area around the Aegean Sea built cities, formed governments, and established trade networks. This interconnection led to an exchange of ideas that laid the foundation for the ancient world and beyond. Here’s a glimpse at how the Bronze Age shaped human society.

There Were Groundbreaking Innovations

The development of bronze was so impactful it gave the era its name. Indeed the newly smelted metal tools and weapons were stronger and more durable than stone, and they could be cast, hammered, and sharpened as needed. But the period saw a wave of other inventions that changed how people lived, worked, and traveled. The groundbreaking discovery of the wheel came into widespread use during the Bronze Age, particularly after the invention of the spoked wheel around 2000 BCE, which allowed for smoother and more reliable transportation.

The first complex writing systems also emerged in several regions during this era. In Mesopotamia, beginning around 3500 BCE, Sumerian scribes used cuneiform script on clay tablets to track trade, property, and taxes; it remains the world’s oldest known writing system. Around the same time, in Egypt, hieroglyphs recorded religious and royal texts. Other innovations that appeared during the Bronze Age include swords, rope, and early forms of soap.

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Art and Storytelling Flourished

The Bronze Age saw an explosion of creativity that, like most aspects of the era, varied by region as civilizations developed at different speeds and with their own styles and techniques. In Mesopotamia (around modern-day Iraq), sculptors carved detailed figures from stone and bronze, while in the Aegean world, particularly among the Minoans on the island of Crete (in modern-day Greece), pottery was a canvas as much as it was a vessel. Even everyday items such as frying pans were detailed with elegant nature scenes and designs. Bronze bells, meanwhile, were a staple of musical rituals in late Bronze Age China, around 1050 BCE, believed to symbolize virtue.

It was also, despite limited writing systems, a significant time for literature. The most famous work to survive from the Bronze Age — and one of the oldest surviving works of literature — is The Epic of Gilgamesh. First written on clay tablets in cuneiform in ancient Sumer around 2100 BCE, the story follows the tale of Gilgamesh, the king of the city of Uruk. The story and its themes of mortality, Mesopotamian religious beliefs, and societal values are considered foundational aspects of the heroic epic genre.

Civilizations Rose

Permanent settlements and early cities existed long before the Bronze Age, but the era saw the rise of the first organized and complex urban societies. These were densely populated, politically organized, and connected through trade, communication, and technologies such as the mastery of bronze metallurgy and irrigation systems.

In Mesopotamia — often called the cradle of civilization — the Sumerian city-state Uruk flourished in 3500 BCE. Estimates of its population vary, but at its peak, it’s thought to have been home to between 50,000 and 80,000 people. It introduced key features of urban life: monumental temples that doubled as religious and administrative centers, a centralized government led by priests and kings, and the invention of cuneiform writing for managing trade and resources. The cities of Babylon and Nineveh later expanded these innovations, developing vast trade networks and astronomical records. The Babylonians also pioneered a comprehensive legal system with the Code of Hammurabi, established around 1750 BCE.

In South Asia, the Indus Valley Civilization (modern-day Pakistan and North India) planned cities such as Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro with remarkable precision, with uniform brickwork, public baths, and complex drainage that set the standard for urban sanitation. In the Aegean, the Minoans on Crete built a 150,000-square-foot palace complex in the city of Knossos, and were pioneers of maritime trade and early syllabic writing systems.

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Religion and Ritual Shaped Everyday Life

In the Bronze Age, religion was often observed at temples, but it certainly wasn’t confined to them. Religion and its accompanying rituals were woven throughout much of daily life, as most people believed their fates were influenced by supernatural forces. In regions such as ancient Britain, where the Bronze Age started around 2500 BCE, communities such as the Beaker people held sacrifices to the gods at stone circles. In Egypt, meanwhile, religious life centered around the afterlife: Massive tombs and ornate burial customs demonstrated a belief in a world after death. Bronze Age religious spaces were often natural sites, too: The River Thames, for instance, served as a sacred place where people left thousands of objects, believed to be offerings to its spirit.

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It Collapsed Fairly Quickly

After thriving for centuries, the advanced and interconnected civilizations of the Bronze Age began a collapse sometime around 1200 BCE that took just a few decades, ending in about 1150 BCE. Cities across the eastern Mediterranean were abandoned or destroyed and trade routes crumbled. In Mycenaean Greece, palace complexes were destroyed. The Hittite Empire in Anatolia (modern-day Turkey) vanished. Even Egypt, though it partially survived, was badly weakened and never regained its former power.

Historians have pointed to a variety of potential and overlapping causes, including drought, famine, earthquakes, and invasion, but the scale and suddenness of the collapse is difficult to fully account for. Though the Bronze Age collapse was sudden in the timeline of history, its impact was long-lasting. Many regions entered a so-called “dark age,” with fewer historical records — writing systems such as the Aegeans’ Linear B vanished — and simpler societies. The shadow lingered until the Iron Age was well established in many regions by around 1000 BCE. Iron was more accessible than copper, and using it to make steel meant tools and weapons were stronger. A boost in agriculture helped population growth, fueling the rise of new states and the gradual return of urban life, trade, and culture.

Why Do Old Towns Have Clock Towers?

Big Ben, London, circa 1928

Author Kristina Wright

July 22, 2026

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Strolling through an old European city or colonial American village, one structure often draws the eye before anything else: the clock tower. Often reaching high above rooftops and marketplaces, these architectural timekeepers have marked the passage of hours for centuries. While we no longer rely on them to schedule our days, their presence is more than nostalgic — it’s deeply symbolic.

Clock towers connect us to an era when time was a shared resource, when clocks were heard on the hour (and sometimes on the half-hour and quarter-hour) and seen from nearly every corner of a town center. Today, they stand as reminders of our shared past and of the beauty in building something meant to last.

From the animated figures of Munich’s Rathaus-Glockenspiel to the precision of Kyoto’s Seiko House Ginza clock tower to the somber chimes of Big Ben echoing through Parliament Square, these landmarks remind us that time isn’t just about minutes and hours, but also about memory, identity, and connection.

Clock Towers Were Built To Showcase Civic Pride

Having a clock tower was once a mark of prestige for towns and cities. In the Middle Ages and Renaissance era, public clocks symbolized a town’s wealth, technological abilities, and political status. These structures weren’t just functional — they were an architectural flex, built to impress both residents and visitors. The Zytglogge in Bern, Switzerland, is a good example. Originally constructed in the 13th century as a guard tower, it later became a grand astronomical clock, with rotating figures and intricate dials that still attract tourists to marvel at its construction.

Meanwhile, Venice’s Torre dell’Orologio, built in the 15th century, has a blue and gold astronomical face and two bronze figures striking the bell to reflect Venetian wealth and creativity. In the Middle East, the Ottoman-era Jaffa Clock Tower in modern-day Tel Aviv was one of several clock towers built to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Sultan Abdul Hamid II’s reign. Completed in 1903, it combined European clockmaking with local limestone and became a symbol of modernization in the region.

Before Watches, Clock Towers Were How People Kept Time

Before we could glance at a watch or unlock a phone screen, time was a communal experience. Most people didn’t own personal timepieces until the late 19th century, so towns relied on a clock tower to keep track of the minutes and hours. Positioned in market squares, atop town halls, or on church steeples, clock towers helped everyone from farmers and merchants to schoolchildren and their teachers stay on schedule.

In towns where personal timepieces were rare or unavailable, the clock tower served as the central, public authority on time. Its bell signaled the community’s schedule, helping people coordinate their activities. Markets opened, laborers began their work, and life flowed according to the bell's toll. This communal timekeeping was a reflection of the collective daily rhythm — time was not a personal concept but something shared by everyone in the town.

In medieval Europe, monastic communities initially set the pace of the day, following canonical hours with the aid of sundials and water clocks. But as secular life and commerce expanded, towns needed a visible — and audible — way to regulate daily activities. That’s when mechanical clock towers began to appear. One early example is the Salisbury Cathedral clock in England, believed to date back to 1386. It’s one of the oldest working mechanical clocks in the world and still runs today without a face because its purpose was simply to chime the hour.

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Bells Kept Towns Running on Time — and in Tune

The sound of clock tower bells became a constant in the lives of townspeople, creating a synchronized community rhythm. The bell’s toll, heard across the town, marked not only the hour but also the moments of the day. Whether it was indicating the start of work, a midday break, or the time to gather for prayer, the bell provided structure to the day. For agricultural or working-class communities, this auditory cue transformed time into a shared experience, where every day was divided by the same familiar toll, uniting people through a common schedule.

The bells weren’t interchangeable, either. Many were custom-cast, precisely tuned, and designed to carry across hills or cut through noisy streets. Their unique tones became part of a town’s identity. In Boston, the Old North Church still rings the same set of bells cast in 1744 — making them among the oldest in North America. These historic chimes continue to connect the modern city to its colonial history.

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Clock Towers Were Built To Last

Clock towers were not only timekeepers but also public monuments, engineered to impress and endure. Early towers relied on intricate mechanisms of weights, gears, and escapements and were maintained by full-time clock keepers who wound the clocks and kept the bells running on schedule. Over time, technological innovations such as pendulums and electric motors improved precision, but many towns resisted modernization in favor of preserving the timepieces’ original craftsmanship.

This commitment to preservation says as much about the cultural role of clock towers as it does about their practical one. In Auxerre, France, the Tour de l’Horloge still operates with a 15th-century mechanism — a living link to a time when keeping time was a hands-on task. In Japan, the Shinkorō Clock Tower in Izushi, originally built in 1871, blends traditional castle architecture with Western clockwork and is the oldest Japanese-style clock tower in the world. In Prague, the medieval astronomical clock on the Old Town Hall has been carefully maintained since 1410, drawing crowds daily as its animated figures still mark the hour. And at Fort Monroe in Hampton, Virginia, two clock towers that are more than a century old still operate with their original mechanical systems, maintained by volunteers who wind them weekly. Though no longer essential for timekeeping, these clock towers — and the care they require — preserve a sense of continuity, tradition, and shared memory.

What a Typical Day Was Like in Ancient Egypt

Making papyrus in ancient Egypt

Author Kristina Wright

July 16, 2026

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Ancient Egypt has fascinated people for centuries — its towering pyramids, mysterious mummies, and richly decorated tombs have inspired everything from Hollywood blockbusters to bestselling novels. But beyond the legends and larger-than-life stories, historians now know more than ever about what everyday life was really like for the people who lived along the Nile thousands of years ago.

Thanks to archaeological finds, new technology, and ongoing research, we can piece together a surprisingly detailed picture of how ancient Egyptians worked, worshipped, and went about their daily routines. From the powerful pharaoh to the educated scribe to the hardworking laborer, every member of society had a role to play in keeping this remarkable civilization running.

So what did a typical day look like? Let’s look at three very different types of people — a ruler, a writer, and a farmer — to see what life was like in this ancient civilization.

Morning

Life in ancient Egypt started early. For a farmer, the cooler hours of the early morning were the best time to get work done. After a quick breakfast — usually some coarse bread, onions, and beer — they headed to the fields. Depending on the season, they planted wheat, chickpeas, lentils, sesame, or flax; checked on their crops; or worked hard to bring in the harvest before the midday heat set in. While women might work alongside the men during harvesting, they were more likely to be in the home, tending to the household chores and caring for young children.

Things looked pretty different in the royal palace. The pharaoh’s morning was all about ceremony. Surrounded by priests and attendants, the king or queen took part in prayers and rituals to honor the gods — especially Ra, the sun god, whose rising was seen as a sign that all was right in the universe. The pharaoh didn’t exactly dress themself, either; they were bathed, perfumed, and dressed by their attendants in fine linen and gold, ready to represent divine power throughout the day.

In the city, the scribe started their day with a light breakfast of bread, dates, and beer. Then they headed to work — maybe at a temple, government office, or even a granary where they documented grain quantities. Scribes were part of a small, educated group of women and men in Egyptian society, and their writing skills were essential for keeping records, managing resources, and making sure everything ran smoothly.

Midday

By late morning, the farmer was busy in the fields. Whether plowing, sowing, or harvesting, they often sang songs or worked alongside the rest of the family, making the long hours a bit more bearable. Animals were fed, irrigation channels were checked, and grain was carefully stored for the future. The work was physically demanding, with little time for breaks, except perhaps a short midday rest and a quick snack.

Meanwhile, the pharaoh’s day was generally filled with matters of state. They met with high-ranking officials, reviewed reports from distant provinces, and made important decisions about military strategies, construction projects, or new decrees — decisions that scribes quickly recorded. The pharaoh was seen as a living god, and as such their duties were deeply connected to religion. They often visited temples or oversaw grand state ceremonies, all designed to maintain ma’at — the divine balance that kept the universe in harmony.

The scribe’s midday looked a bit different. Sitting cross-legged with a papyrus scroll on their lap, they might have copied tax records, written land deeds, or transcribed religious texts, using reed pens and ink. In addition to their writing tasks, they might have overseen operations at a grain warehouse, checked inventories, or accompanied inspectors to ensure tax compliance in the nearby villages.

Afternoon

As the afternoon sun climbed higher, the farmer pressed on with their work. They might have reinforced irrigation dikes, tended to livestock, or gathered reeds (to make baskets or mats) or papyrus (to make paper) along the Nile. The river shaped every part of their world — its annual flooding, known as inundation, could wash away homes, but it also left behind rich, fertile soil that made farming possible. During the months when fields were underwater, many farmers were called to help with state projects such as digging canals or even working on temple construction.

The scribe’s afternoon sometimes took them away from their writing board and out into the field. They often accompanied officials to survey land, checked on tax records, and delivered documents between government offices. Scribes were responsible for various administrative tasks, including recording census data, managing tax records, and drafting legal documents.

Scribes didn’t live in luxury, but their education offered them a level of stability and social status that few others had. Even with long hours and modest pay, the role came with opportunity — scribes could ascend the ranks of bureaucracy, with some rising to prominent positions such as vizier (a high-ranking political official) or even pharaoh, such as Horemheb in the 14th century BCE.

Meanwhile, the pharaoh’s duties extended into the afternoon with ceremonies, council meetings, or visits to key sites. Their duties included touring construction projects, presiding over temple rituals, and meeting with diplomats bearing gifts and tributes. Even when they weren’t issuing decrees or overseeing matters of state, their presence carried symbolic weight — every move reinforcing their divine role in maintaining harmony across the land.

Evening

As evening settled over Egypt, the pace of daily life slowed. The farmer returned to their mud-brick home, tired from the day’s labor, and often sat down to a simple meal with the family — lentils, flatbread, vegetables, and, if they were fortunate, some fish or duck. The evening hours were quiet, filled with conversation, stories, and a bit of rest before the cycle began again at dawn.

The scribe’s work came with some comforts, but their schedule was still shaped by the responsibilities of recordkeeping and administration. They ended their long work day by cleaning their tools and putting away scrolls. At home in their apartment complex near the mortuary or temple, they might have dined on a dinner of vegetables, bread, meat, and beer and then spend time reading, writing, or relaxing with music and family.

Even with the privileges of royalty, the pharaoh’s day often followed a similar rhythm of tradition, ceremony, and decision-making. At the vibrantly decorated palace, the ruler’s dinner was an elaborate affair, prepared by a team of cooks and often served alongside music and entertainment. Afterward, they sometimes meet with priests or advisers, or simply wound down in private quarters for the night.

What Grocery Stores Used To Look Like

1890s general store

Author Timothy Ott

July 16, 2026

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Since most of us walk into a grocery store with our minds fixated on the items needed to fill up the fridge and pantry, it’s rare that we take the time to marvel at the wonders of modern food shopping. Whether it’s a small neighborhood mart, a chain supermarket, or a gargantuan superstore, today’s grocery stores offer a dizzying range of brands for any given product, allowing discerning shoppers to make a choice based on price, ingredients, or even packaging. All necessary (and unnecessary items) can be wheeled in a cart to a checkout line, where a friendly employee will happily tabulate the items and accept various forms of payment. There are also self-checkout stations, where you can scan your items yourself and be on your way even faster.

Of course, such a process would have been completely alien to early humans who relied on hunting and gathering their food. And it likely would be fairly shocking even to the people accustomed to earlier forms of food shopping. Here’s a look at what grocery stores were like before the rise of Publix, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, and the other popular stores we frequent today.

Credit: Heritage Image Partnership Ltd/ Alamy Stock Photo

Country and General Stores

According to Michael Ruhlman’s book Grocery: The Buying and Selling of Food in America, the earliest grocery depots in the U.S. were the country stores that surfaced in the 17th century. Along with offering a limited supply of culinary staples such as sugar, flour, and molasses, these markets provided a smorgasbord of other necessities of colonial America, including hardware, soap, dishes, pots, saddles, harnesses, shoes, and medicine. By the early 19th century, these stores — originally constructed from logs and mud — were largely replaced by newer frame buildings, which contained cellars that were large enough to house casks of whale oil and also cool enough to store eggs, butter, and cheese.

By the middle of the 19th century, the general store was a common sight across the small towns of the expanding United States. Similar to the country store, general stores stocked goods that both satiated hunger and catered to other crucial needs of paying customers. Food items included coffee beans, spices, honey, oatmeal, and dried beans, many of which were kept in barrels and required measuring the desired amount on (often inaccurate) scales. The stores also offered nonedible wares, including cloth, buttons, undergarments, hats, lamps, rifles, and ammunition.

Normally featuring at least one large display window, these stores were typically packed with goods piled high on shelves and tables amid the boxes and barrels stuffed into available spaces. A front counter displayed smaller items as well as such contraptions as a coffee grinder, scales, and the cash register. As general stores typically doubled as community centers, they were usually fitted with a stove to warm inhabitants during cold-weather months and often featured chairs for those who planned to stay and chat.

Even so, general stores were neither the most comfortable nor the most sanitary places. Customers often dragged in dirt and animal waste from the unpaved roads outside, while cast-iron stoves could produce a layer of soot over the displayed wares.

Early Grocery Stores

Although the term "grocery" referred to a tavern or a saloon through much of America's early history, it came to signify the emporiums that were appearing in more densely populated urban centers by the late 19th century.

These grocery stores typically carried around 200 products, and occupied 500 to 600 square feet of floor space. As with general stores, these shops featured items piled high on shelves, with clerks reaching for everything presented to them on a list and continuing to measure out both liquid and solid goods from barrels.

Although most proprietors were willing to offer a line of credit, a precursor to today’s credit cards, unlike today they provided limited choices by stocking only one type of each product. Also unlike most modern grocery stores, these early shops largely sold dry goods, meaning customers typically needed to make separate trips to a butcher, bakery, and produce peddler to round out the full array of dining needs.

Credit: Library of Congress/ Corbis Historical via Getty Images

A&P, Piggly Wiggly, and the Rise of Chain Stores

The grocery model began to change when the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, owners of the A&P grocery chain, opened the first of its "economy stores" in 1912. Along with eliminating the credit lines and free delivery offered by independent retailers, A&P stores became known for offering popular brands such as Eight O'Clock Coffee.

The Tennessee-based Piggly Wiggly chain introduced additional innovations to the model with the opening of its first store in 1916. Most groundbreaking was its procedure of "self service." While goods still lined the lone aisle that snaked through the store, they were now within reach of customers who picked out the price-marked items themselves instead of delegating the responsibility to a clerk. The customers then placed the item in a wood basket — also a novel feature — before bringing everything to a checkout counter.

The streamlined processes resulted in lower costs for customers, and in turn produced an explosion in sales for retailers. The number of grocery chain stores increased from 24,000 to around 200,000 between 1914 and 1930, with the biggest, A&P, accounting for 16,000 of those outlets.

Credit: University of Southern California/ Corbis Historical via Getty Images

The First Supermarkets Appeared in the 1930s

Although the 1920s saw the rise of "combination stores" that provided a wider range of meats, produce, and dairy products under one roof, the first true supermarket arrived with the opening of New York City's King Kullen in 1930.

A former employee of the Kroger chain stores, Matt Cullen decided to launch his new enterprise in a slightly more remote section of Jamaica, Queens. The location allowed for cheaper real estate, which meant that Cullen could open a larger store and provide space for the machines that were transforming American lives: automobiles.

The first King Kullen covered 6,000 square feet and offered 10 times the amount of food products as most existing markets, much of which was sold out of packing crates. It was soon surpassed by New Jersey's Big Bear, which featured a 15,000-square-foot grocery surrounded by areas leased to vendors selling tobacco, cosmetics, and auto parts.

Although other features of the contemporary shopping experience had yet to be invented — shopping carts arrived in the late 1930s, the barcode system in the 1970s — the blueprint for the modern grocery store was in place, with supermarkets eventually expanding to stock 50,000 items, and colossal chains swelling to a footprint of more than 200,000 square feet.

Nowadays, as we casually stroll down the block-length aisles of superstores beneath towering shelves of colorful boxes, examine the fine print on packages in the organic section, or nibble on the free samples of cheese and dumplings, we can spare a thought for the evolution of this essential part of everyday life.

Why Do We Mostly Eat Chicken Eggs?

Eggs

Author Kristina Wright

July 16, 2026

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When we say we’re buying eggs at the grocery store or having eggs for breakfast, we’re almost always talking about one specific kind: chicken eggs. The average American eats more than 270 chicken eggs each year, making them one of the most common foods in the modern diet. They’re so familiar that it’s easy to forget they represent just one option.

Chickens aren’t the only birds that lay edible eggs. Ducks, geese, quail, turkeys, and even ostriches produce eggs that people eat regularly in parts of the world, albeit on a much smaller scale. So why do chickens dominate the global egg market?

Credit: © Jim Heimann Collection—Archive Photos/Getty Images

Eggs Were Always on the Menu

For most of human history, people weren’t especially selective about where their eggs came from. Ancient Romans consumed eggs from ducks, geese, partridges, pheasants, and even peacocks, while coastal communities around the world harvested eggs from nesting seabirds such as gulls, puffins, murres, and terns. If an egg was nutritious, accessible, and safe to collect, it usually ended up on the menu.

That diversity hasn’t entirely disappeared. Duck eggs remain popular throughout much of Asia, particularly in Chinese and Vietnamese cuisine, where they are valued for their richer flavor and larger yolks. Quail eggs appear in dishes across Europe, Latin America, and East Asia, while goose eggs are still enjoyed seasonally in parts of Northern and Eastern Europe.

For thousands of years, people generally ate whatever eggs were locally available, but the rise of the chicken gradually changed that equation. And, compared with almost every other domesticated bird, chickens have an unusually favorable combination of traits for large-scale egg production.

Credit: © Sepia Times—Universal Images Group/Getty Images

Why Chickens Stood Out

Humans first domesticated chickens at least 3,500 years ago from wild red junglefowl in Southeast Asia. Many researchers believe those junglefowl were initially attracted to early rice and millet fields, where spilled grain and insects created an easy food source near human settlements. Over time, that close association evolved into domestication. Archaeological evidence suggests chickens spread westward through trade routes into India, the Middle East, Europe, and eventually Africa, long before reaching the Americas with European explorers.

Selective breeding transformed the species dramatically. Wild junglefowl typically lay only around 10 to 15 eggs per year during a short breeding season, primarily in spring. But over centuries, farmers consistently favored birds that laid eggs more frequently, matured earlier, and tolerated living near humans. The result was a gradual but dramatic increase in productivity.

By the early 20th century, advances in genetics, nutrition, and animal husbandry accelerated that process even further. Annual egg production per hen in the United States rose dramatically over the following decades as farmers bred birds specifically for productivity and efficiency. Other domesticated birds never received the same level of investment or specialization for egg production, leaving chickens with an enormous head start before industrial farming even began.

Credit: © Charles CICCIONE–Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images

The Economics of Eggs

Modern laying hens are extraordinarily productive animals, with commercial breeds commonly producing around 280 to 320 eggs per year. By comparison, geese typically lay only around 30 to 50 eggs annually and turkeys generally produce between 70 and 100 eggs a year. Ducks come closest to competing with chickens in productivity, but even they usually require more feed, more water, and more space to maintain consistent laying rates.

Chicken eggs also occupy a useful middle ground in size. Quail eggs are so small that it takes four or five to equal a single chicken egg, while goose eggs are often two to three times larger and less practical for everyday cooking and baking.

Meanwhile, chickens are relatively inexpensive to raise. They adapt well to a wide range of climates, require less space and feed than larger birds, and mature quickly, with many hens beginning to lay at around 5 months of age. From a farmer’s perspective, chickens deliver an unusually high number of eggs for relatively modest inputs — a combination that few other domesticated birds can match.

Credit: © Irving Browning—The New York Historical/Getty Images

The Supermarket Standard

By the early 20th century, the chicken had become the dominant commercial egg-laying bird across much of the industrialized world. The rise of supermarkets and large-scale food distribution only reinforced that advantage. Retailers favored products that could be graded, packaged, shipped long distances, and sold with consistent expectations about size, appearance, and shelf life. Chicken eggs were particularly well suited to that system.

Recipes standardized around chicken eggs as well. Cookbooks, commercial bakeries, and food manufacturers all assumed a particular egg size and a predictable balance of yolk and white. Other eggs could certainly be substituted, but they often required adjustments that made them less convenient for large-scale production and recipes.

Alternative eggs never disappeared. Duck eggs remain popular for baking, quail eggs appear in cuisines around the world, and goose eggs are still enjoyed seasonally in some regions. But for everyday breakfasts, omelets, and baking projects, chicken eggs became the default, so much so that they’re practically synonymous with eating “eggs” today.

The Rise and Fall of Tupperware Parties

Tupperware party ad, 1960s

Author Kristina Wright

July 16, 2026

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You might remember your mother or grandmother hosting a Tupperware party in the living room, with neighbors gathered around, sipping coffee and nibbling on dessert while someone demonstrated the magic of an airtight seal. Or maybe you still have a few pastel bowls of your own tucked away in a kitchen cabinet — gathering dust, and in some cases, vintage value.

For several decades in the mid-20th century, Tupperware parties were a cultural phenomenon that successfully blended shopping and socializing. Today, the idea of gathering friends to watch demonstrations of plastic bowls and storage containers feels like a relic from another time. Yet Tupperware parties remain a powerful symbol of postwar suburban life, when neighborhood gatherings and face-to-face connections were simply part of everyday life.

Credit: © John Greim—LightRocket/Getty Images

An Airtight Invention

The history of Tupperware begins in the 1940s with inventor Earl Tupper, who developed lightweight, durable plastic containers using leftover polyethylene from wartime manufacturing. At a time when leftovers were typically stored in glass containers, wrapped in wax paper, or covered with aluminum foil, his products offered something genuinely new. They were reusable, relatively unbreakable, and featured flexible airtight seals that kept food fresher for longer.

There was just one problem: People didn’t understand how to use them. The famous burping seal that made Tupperware so effective required a specific technique to close properly. When the products appeared on department store shelves, shoppers often overlooked them or failed to appreciate their advantages. Some consumers who took a chance on them ultimately returned them to the store because they didn’t think the lids fit. Sales lagged despite the innovation behind the design.

Credit: Archives Center at the National Museum of American History

The Tupperware Party Is Born

Everything changed when saleswoman Brownie Wise entered the picture. Wise and her mother had already found success selling household products through their direct-selling venture Patio Parties and recognized that home demonstrations were the most effective way to market Tupperware. Instead of sitting on store shelves, the containers were brought directly into people’s homes, where customers could watch demonstrations, ask questions, and handle the products themselves.

The format made the products far easier to understand and more appealing — guests could see the containers in use rather than read about them on packaging. Wise’s success led Earl Tupper to appoint her vice president of Tupperware Home Parties, where she scaled the hostess-party model into a nationwide sales network.

The approach proved extraordinarily effective. By 1954, roughly 20,000 people were involved in Tupperware’s sales system as dealers, distributors, and managers, all supporting its rapidly growing direct-sales operation. That same year, Tupperware sales reached $25 million — equivalent to roughly $310 million in 2026 dollars.

Credit: © Hulton Archive—Archive Photos/Getty Images

Where Shopping Met Socializing

For many suburban homemakers in the 1950s and 1960s, Tupperware parties were as much social events as sales presentations. A host would invite friends, neighbors, and relatives into their home for refreshments and a product demonstration, and a Tupperware representative would showcase the latest containers, kitchen tools, and serving pieces, using games and giveaways to keep the atmosphere lively. At a time when many women were home managing households, these gatherings offered a regular chance to connect outside church groups or school activities — blending shopping and socializing long before social media existed.

The model also came with financial incentives. Hosts earned free products based on sales, encouraging them to invite more guests, while independent consultants earned income by hosting parties and building networks of additional sellers. For some women, this created one of the few flexible ways to earn money while balancing family responsibilities. Brownie Wise herself became one of the first female business executives to gain national recognition in postwar America.

Peak Tupperware

By the 1960s and 1970s, Tupperware parties were firmly embedded in suburban American life. Kitchens filled with pastel pinks, mint greens, and baby blues gave way to the bold earth tones of the 1970s, such as avocado green, harvest gold, and burnt orange.

After being spun off as an independent public company in 1996, following decades under its corporate parent Premark, Tupperware actively expanded overseas. By then, its direct-selling system — built entirely around independent consultants rather than retail stores — had reached almost 100 countries worldwide.

The company’s financial peak came in 2013, when sales revenue hit $2.67 billion. By then, the party-plan model it popularized had already reshaped retail culture, inspiring a wave of home-based selling across categories from clothing to cookware, and turning Tupperware parties into one of the most recognizable symbols of consumer life.

Credit: © James Gilmour—Fairfax Media Archives/Getty Images

The Party Ends

Several cultural shifts gradually eroded the model that had made Tupperware parties so successful. As more women entered the full-time workforce, it became harder to host or attend sales parties, and the social role these gatherings once filled diminished as workplaces and other activities expanded social networks.

At the same time, shopping habits shifted toward convenience. Big-box stores, shopping malls, and eventually online retailers made it easier to buy similar products quickly and directly, without spending an evening at a sales demonstration. Competition also intensified after Tupperware’s patents expired in the 1980s. Food storage containers from multiple manufacturers soon filled retail shelves as airtight plastic storage became a standard household item rather than a novelty.

Although the classic home party has largely faded, Tupperware itself did not disappear. From the 1990s onward, the company gradually supplemented its traditional party-plan model with catalog and direct-mail marketing before moving into digital catalogs and early online ordering in the late 1990s and 2000s. By the 2010s, social media and virtual parties had become a growing part of its sales approach, even as physical gatherings declined.

After years of declining sales and mounting debt, Tupperware Brands filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States in 2024 as part of a restructuring effort aimed at stabilizing its operations. Despite its financial difficulties, the brand remains deeply embedded in consumer culture — many people still use “Tupperware” as a generic term for any plastic food container, regardless of who made it.

Why Are Men’s and Women’s Buttons on Opposite Sides?

Classic button-up shirt

Author Tony Dunnell

July 16, 2026

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If you’ve ever tried putting on a shirt that was designed for someone of the opposite gender, you may have noticed something peculiar: The buttons are on the “wrong” side. Men’s shirts button left over right, with buttons running down the right side and buttonholes on the left. Women’s shirts do the opposite, buttoning right over left.

Before the rise of buttons, garments were typically laced together or fastened with brooches or clasps. Buttoned closures for garments became prevalent in the 13th century with the advent of the reinforced buttonhole — and the two opposing button configurations for men and women have existed for centuries. But why? Here’s a look at some of the theories behind this long-standing design choice.

Buttons and Battle

Historians don’t know for sure why men’s and women’s buttons are on opposite sides, but some of the most common explanations involve military considerations. According to the authors of The Art of Chivalry: European Arms and Armor From the Metropolitan Museum of Art, medieval breastplates were formed of two separate and overlapping plates. To ensure that an enemy’s lance point would not slip between the plates, they were pieced together with the left plate overlapping the right, “since it was standard fighting practice that the left side, protected by the shield, was turned toward the enemy,” the authors point out. For this reason, they argue, “men’s jackets button left to right even to the present day.”

Others have made similar observations. Due to the predominance of right-handedness (about 90% of humans are right-handed), swords were typically worn on the left side, so they could be drawn with the dominant right hand. According to Paul Keers in A Gentleman’s Wardrobe, men’s shirts and jackets were deliberately designed to button left over right “to avoid catching the pommel of one’s sword in the opening, when drawing it right-handed.”

From avoiding the piercing blows of lance tips to smoothly drawing weapons, there is some logic to the soldierly need for buttoning left over right. But there’s no definitive evidence to support these military theories — and while they might explain the need for buttons on the right, they don’t supply any answers as to why women’s buttons are on the opposite side.

Medieval Clothing

Arguably the most plausible explanation goes back to when buttons first became fashionable in Europe during the 13th and 14th centuries. At that time, they were often made from expensive materials such as gold, silver, and ivory, and were an indicator of status and wealth. Women’s clothing in particular could be highly elaborate, consisting of multiple garments such as petticoats, bloomers, gowns, corsets, and bustles.

Wealthy women with complex clothes often didn’t dress themselves and instead relied on the help of maids. So, when it came to buttons, the angle of attack was reversed. Men benefited from having buttons on the right side because they typically dressed themselves and people are predominantly right-handed. But when someone is dressing another person who’s facing them, the orientation is reversed. Clothing designers, therefore, crafted their outfits to be buttoned up by the hired help, with their high-society clients in mind. The trend then filtered down, becoming standard in women’s fashion and establishing a convention that persists today.

Credit: incamerastock/ Alamy Stock Photo

Breastfeeding, Horses, and Napoleon

Other theories exist, albeit of varying levels of plausibility. One involves the act of breastfeeding. Due to right-hand dominance, women tend to hold their infants in their left arm to keep their right arm relatively free. So, the theory posits, a shirt with the buttons on the left makes it easier for mothers to unbutton using their right hand, while providing slightly easier access. A second theory involves horseback riding and the once-common practice of women riding sidesaddle, which typically involved having both legs on the horse’s left side. By putting women’s shirt and dress buttons on the left, the amount of breeze entering their clothing would be reduced while the rider was trotting along.

Neither theory is particularly convincing, but both are more plausible than blaming the whole thing on Napoleon Bonaparte. Portraits of Napoleon often show the French general and later emperor with one hand tucked into his shirt or waistcoat. This pose was strangely common during the 18th and 19th centuries, when it was considered to demonstrate a kind of calm boldness. According to one button theory, women used to mock the emperor by mimicking his hand-in-waistcoat pose. In response, Napoleon ordered that all women’s shirts be buttoned on the opposite side of men’s to end any mockery at his expense. This fanciful theory seems to have gained at least some traction but is almost certainly apocryphal, as there is seemingly no supporting evidence and button placement conventions predate Napoleon’s era.

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