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At the turn of the 20th century the world was facing a host of changes- industrialization, urbanization, mechanization, and a revolution in the role of women in society. And not everyone was on board with the changes. The conflict came to a head in January, 1908, when the New York City Board of Aldermen banned women smoking in public, sparking a debate that seems at once both remarkably anachronistic and shockingly familiar today.
During the civil war, the manufacture of powder and explosives was often handled by the most vulnerable, young women and children, whose labor was needed when so many men had been sent off to war. On March 13, 1863, the confederacy experienced a munitions disaster, in the confederate capitol of Richmond.
The appeal of one strange object, which achieved dizzying popularity in my lifetime, and today lives on mostly for nostalgia, is not so difficult to explain. All you need to do is turn one on and wait.
