Alternative Courtship: Matrimonial Advertisements in the 19th Century(mimimatthews.com)
mimimatthews.com
Alternative Courtship: Matrimonial Advertisements in the 19th Century
https://mimimatthews.com/2016/01/04/alternative-courtship-matrimonial-advertisements-in-the-19th-century/
6 comments
I second this. It's been a hobby of mine for a few years and there are many instances when I've caught myself losing track of time while doing it. The only difference is I do it with foreign 'Hemerotecas' (news libraries). In fact, I'm keen to write a book about my findings.
In India, these forms of advertisements are still a primary way by which millions of couples meet each other. The parents are often involved in pre-filtering alliances.
The electronic version of this (e.g. http://www.bharatmatrimony.com/ and the like) are the original e-commerce successes on the Indian Web, and are still going really strong.
The electronic version of this (e.g. http://www.bharatmatrimony.com/ and the like) are the original e-commerce successes on the Indian Web, and are still going really strong.
It is interesting how up front they were about income. That seems much more efficient than trying to advertise wealth by buying "middle age crisis" style sports cars :)
This still happens in India. Parents of daughters are direct about income requirements. Women want men who earn more than them, down to the rupee. Men want women who are young, beautiful and homely. All this is blatantly specified in the ads in newspapers.
Can someone explain what "exchange of miniatures" means in this context?
Miniatures were small painted portraits. It would be like exchanging photographs today.
Ah that makes sense! Thank you.
19th century Snapchat, then?
(All the more reason to read old newspapers: to see what social constructs are timeless (and therefore possibly more fundamentally sound).
(All the more reason to read old newspapers: to see what social constructs are timeless (and therefore possibly more fundamentally sound).
It is fascinating to read accounts from 120-150 years ago. These kind of "classifieds" are cool too--"situation wanted" ads where single women are seeking domestic employment, and cases where men are looking for odd jobs. And then reading about the accidents--deaths from train incidents, boiler explosions, freak deaths. It's easy to get lost in a different time while seeing connections to media and what interested people then and now.