An Early Tennis Shoe
(Magazine Ad, 1913)
The above link will display a very different sort of tennis shoe than the sort that we see today; it was not made by Chinese prison labor nor could it be fastened with Velcro…
1913
Articles from 1913
Sensible Rules for Men’s Evening Clothes
(Vanity Fair Magazine, 1913)
This is a well-illustrated article in which the fashion journalist recalled a dinner party where the men in attendance were knowledgeable on which forks to use but cared little about the proper etiquette 
Tango Fashions
(Vanity Fair Magazine, 1913)
The urgent word from Belle Époque Paris on the matter of proper Tango gowns was published in this 1913 article and accompanied by seven illustrations.
What shall you wear to the Tango Teas? Let me whisper to you a secret, only to be revealed when it is found out, my dear, there is no Tango in America, or, at least in New York. But it is quite different in Paris and it is for Paris and the Tango that the French dance frocks are made.
Click here to read about feminine conversations overheard in the best New York nightclubs of 1937.
Grant at Shiloh
(Famous Events Magazine, 1913)
A summation of the 1862 Battle of Shiloh:
Bull Run, the first Southern victory of the war, was followed by others. Nor did the tide of battle turn in favor of the North until General Ulysses S. Grant won in Tennessee the hard fought struggle of Shiloh. This was in April of 1862. Grant first besieged and captured Fort Donelson, then advanced until he was suddenly assailed at Shiloh by the entire army which the Confederates had gathered in the West…
One of the First Reviews of ‘Sons and Lovers’
(Vanity Fair, 1913)
Later in the century there would be many ink-slingers to gush over the talents of D.H. Lawrence (1885 – 1930); but in 1913, the writer would simply have to bide his time and suffer the reviews that were printed in the society pages.
It emphatically is not a book for the ‘young person’, and it is certainly a book that will make the older conservative wince a bit…nevertheless it is a study that was worth doing, and D.H. Lawrence has done it well. He has dealt with very real things in a way that leaves a distinctness of impression unequaled by nine books out of ten one picks up nowadays.
‘Cupid to Seal the Balkan Peace”
(Vanity Fair, 1913)
By the time this item appeared in print, the Balkan War (1912-1913), was over however some of the swells of Europe put their crowned heads together and collectively came up with the best Medeival plan they could think of in order to insure the promise of peace. The plan was to have:
• the Czar’s daughter, Grand Duchess Olga (1895 – 1918), would wed Serbia’s Crown Prince Alexander
• the Czar’s second daughter, Grand Duchess Tatiana (1897 – 1918), was promised to Rumania’s Crown Prince Charles (1893 – 1959)
• All concerned agreed that Rumania’s Pricess Elizabeth (1894 – 1956) and Crown Prince George of Greece (1890 – 1947) would make a simply splendid couple (they divorced in 1935).
Violent Women
(The Literary Digest, 1913)
With the number violent acts committed by destructive Suffragettes quickly growing, the British patriarchs considered deporting them to Australia and other dominions as a just punishment for such a class of women.
Read about an attack on President Wilson that was launched by the suffragettes in 1918…
Paris Fashion, 1913
(Vanity Fair Magazine, 1913)
The unknown author of this article believed deeply that the Paris fashions of 1913 were very much in keeping with the grand traditions established and maintained by that city since the eighteenth century. This critic was very impressed with the recent work of Paul Poiret
Shoe Illustrations
(1913 Advertisement)
Heartlessly ripped from the binding of an ancient issue of VANITY FAIR was this page of shoe illustrations in which a smart pair of womens leather boots are the centerpiece, accompanied by Russian dancing shoes, a splendid pair of gold brocade slippers, white buckskin tennis oxfords and a pair of walking boots.
Legendary fashion designer Christian Dior had a good deal of trouble with people who would illegally copy his designs; click here to read about that part of fashion history.
The British View of Religious America
(Literary Digest, 1913)
…Christianity in America is divided into two camps. The one is orthodox. It’s orthodoxy is apt to degenerate into the senile attachment to the letter of Scripture…There is a lack of mental breadth, of intellectual enlightenment, about the members of this school which is a little disheartening to one who is in agreement with them on the central matters…The other school seems to have sacrificed almost everything which makes Christianity distinct from a temporary philosophy. It’s members have the bad habit of preaching eugenics or sociology in place of the Gospel. They appear to be afraid of the great epistles and the nobler passages of the Gospels, and are apt to speak in terms which would suggest that there was nothing distinctive in Christianity which can make it an absolute and universal faith.
A Humane Act at Gettysburg’s Bloody Angle
(Literary Digest, 1913)
During the 1913 Battle of Gettysburg’s fiftieth anniversary commemoration, a surviving member of Picket’s Charge encountered the Federal soldier who had saved his life at the Bloody Angle; this is the moving story of their encounter.
(Due to the broken title link above, you must Click here to read the article)
The German Threat to Russia
(Literary Digest, 1913)
The German military maneuvers have aroused the attention of Europe to the splendid equipment and administration of the Army, not only in the fighting spirit, but in the commissariat and its medical service.
-so begins the attached article which referenced the overall sense of intimidation and uneasiness that was triggered by the display of bristling military might that was recently witnessed. The journalist mused about just what the Franco-Russian Alliance would mean in the face of such an advanced military force, touching upon the size of the German Army compared with other forces in Europe -openly stating that France could never stand up to an attack.