Scrimshaw
From Whale Jaws to Corsets: How Sailors' Love Tokens Got Into Women's Underwear
By Lisa Hix — We like to think of people in the 1800s as fusty prudes who were scandalized by the sight of an ankle. So it might surprise you to learn that in the early 19th century—long before Frederick’s of Hollywood or Victoria’s Secret—a young man in Europe or America might give his sweetheart a token of love she could wear inside her corset. Known as a busk, this long, flat, rigid object would slide into a tall, narrow pocket in the front of a corset between a woman’s breasts, all the way down to her...
Homespun Beauty: Jim Linderman on Folk Art’s Authentic Appeal
By Maribeth Keane and Bonnie Monte — My interest in 20th-century American self-taught art came about after I had gone through a million other things—from stamps to bootleg records to books about who killed JFK. I had been at CBS News in New York City for about 8 or 10 years, and I was kind of burned out from working too hard and drinking too much. So I just stopped doing both for a while. It was 1981, and the art scene was exploding. The most entertaining thing to do in New York at the time was to go gallery hopping....