Filing Cabinets

 by Shanna Hatfield

I have a large filing cabinet in my office that I use on a daily basis. I never gave much thought to it, other than the convenience it provides, until I was writing about a woman who runs a business in the 1880s and wondered what sort of filing system she might use. 

The need for a place to store documents has been around as long as documents have existed. 

It wasn't until the early part of the 1800s that something similar to today's filing cabinets came into existence. They were crafted from wood, quite often oak, and cabinet makers sometimes added a layer of insulation, often sawdust, inside the cabinets to make them "fireproof."

In 1868, Cameron Amberg & Co., was established. They produced their first cabinet letter files in 1875. They used metal in some of the drawers of their productions and have a patent date that goes back to 1878. By 1893, the name of the  company changed to Amberg Letter & File Co. Specifically, the company produced cabinets to hold letter files. 

This double letter cabinet is what I envision the heroine in my story using for her matchmaking business that involved an abundance of correspondence. 

During the 19th century, documents were often folded twice before being stored on edge with the flat part of the paper parallel to the fronts of the drawers. Document filing cabinets with narrow vertical drawers were quite popular with railroads, attorneys, and other business professionals.

There is some disagreement as to the true inventor of today's modern filing cabinet is, Edwin Grenville Seibels, or a Dr. Rosenenau. 

Edwin Seibels'  family owned an insurance firm in Columbia, South Carolina. He worked there as a teen. His family also owned a cotton plantation where he learned the cotton crop business as a child. He went on to hold a seat  in the South Carolina house of Representatives in 1909.

With his hands in cotton exports, insurance, and politics, he wanted to be an inventor. 

According to some sources, his interest in inventions drew him to design a revolutionary concept for organizing vertical files that became the filing cabinet we know today. 

The Globe Wernicke Company, known for stackable office bookcases, made the vertical cabinets and began selling them in the 1890s. One of the original filing boxes has been on display in the Smithsonian institute since the 1940s. 

To find out more about my heroine had her business, check out Grass Valley Brides.

Order your copy today!

What’s a matchmaker to do when the husband-to-be rejects the bride? 

Again . . .

Widowed as a young wife, Cara Cargill turned her head for business and love of romance into a successful mail-order bride enterprise. She’s never had a problem matching couples until one mule-headed man continues to refuse to wed the women she sends to meet him in Grass Valley, Oregon. In an effort to make a match he’ll keep and uphold her sterling reputation, Cara is desperate to find the perfect bride.

USA Today bestselling author Shanna Hatfield is a farm girl who loves to write. Her sweet historical and contemporary romances are filled with sarcasm, humor, hope, and hunky heroes. When Shanna isn’t dreaming up unforgettable characters, twisting plots, or covertly seeking dark, decadent chocolate, she hangs out with her beloved husband, Captain Cavedweller.

FREEBIE: 

Just for today, you can download Tad's Treasure free on Amazon! 

Weaving Songs and Games

 by Shanna Hatfield

Years ago, I was in a museum gift shop and picked up a little booklet that looked interesting.

Weaving Song and Games features exactly what the title implies: games and songs children enjoyed at the end of the 1800s and beginning of the twentieth century. 

The first known loom was developed by primitive man (or woman). Twisted root fibers were stretched between two trees with other fibers interlaced by hand. Later, a flat stick was used to weave under alternate threads and turned on its edge.

In colonial America, pioneers made looms of hand-hewn timbers. They wove the cloth they needed from flax and wool grown in their new country. The material was often dyed with roots, bark, and leaves. 

More complex looms were developed and weaving became widespread. 

Then, as industries grew to make cloth commercially, the need for a loom at home became something of the past, or a hobby. 

But when people were weaving, they often sang songs. And children turned the songs into games. There were games in which the children formed the "thread" of the warp, while the child who was the "weaver" ran in and out among other children with a long ribbon. 

Another game, called "Weaver in the Middle" featured one child as the "weaver" who sits in the center of a circle. The other children stand around the weaver, singing:

 

Weaver in the middle, 

Weaver go free,

Weaver in the middle,

Can't catch me.

The children tease the weaver by coming in close, tapping the weaver on the shoulder, or giving a light shove. If the weaver touches them, they take the weaver's place and the weaver joins the other children in the circle. 

When I was working on my soon-to-release sweet historical romance collection of three stories set in 1884 Grass Valley, Oregon, it seemed like a perfect time to work one of the weaving songs into the story. 

There is a fun scene where Birdie, the heroine from the second story in the collection, is at the school, showing the children how to play "Weaver in the Middle."

~*~

The sound of children laughing drew him in that direction. As he neared the schoolyard, he could see Birdie sitting in a circle of children as they danced around her while singing, “Weaver in the middle, weaver go free, weaver in the middle, can’t catch me.” He remembered the game from his school days. The person sitting in the middle was the weaver, and the other youngsters would try to taunt and tease the weaver, but if they got caught or even touched by the weaver, they had to take the weaver’s place, and the weaver got to join the other players.

Two of the bigger boys crept closer and closer to Birdie as the students all sang the song. Birdie had tied a blue ribbon in her hair that morning. He’d noticed it at breakfast and how well it matched her eyes. Rance watched as one of the boys gave it a tug and pulled it from her hair, waving it like a prize. The other boy gave him a shove, and the two of them tripped over Birdie as she sat on the grass, knocking her backward.

He didn’t stop, didn’t think, just charged into the ring of children, swept Birdie into his arms, and marched away from the startled students.

“Do you want your ribbon back?” the boy who’d captured it shouted in question.

“You can keep it, Thomas,” she called over Rance’s shoulder, then waved to the group before turning her attention to Rance. “Might I inquire as to what you are doing?”

“I could ask the same. Birdie, you’re woman grown. Aren’t you a little old to join in the playground tomfoolery?”

She tipped her head and studied him. “Maybe some tomfoolery would do you good, Rance Barlow.”

~*~

The Regional Romance Series written by Kari Trumbo, Kit Morgan, Peggy L. Henderson, and me, will all release September 14!

What's really neat about the series is that each book is a collection of three stories. If you buy all four books, you actually get twelve stories. 

What’s a matchmaker to do when the husband-to-be rejects the bride? 

Again . . .

Widowed as a young wife, Cara Cargill turned her head for business and love of romance into a successful mail-order bride enterprise. She’s never had a problem matching couples until one mule-headed man continues to refuse to wed the women she sends to meet him in Grass Valley, Oregon. In an effort to make a match he’ll keep and uphold her sterling reputation, Cara is desperate to find the perfect bride.

♥ Daisy – When her fiancé leaves her at the altar, Daisy Bancroft knows it is far past time for a change. Her dearest friend, Cara, offers to send her to a newly established town in Oregon, where possibilities abound and the grass is rumored to be as tall as a man’s head. Daisy arrives with plans to wed Tagg Thompson, only to find the obstinate rancher has foisted her off on his best friend.

♥ Birdie – Tired of waiting for her Mister Right to magically appear and whisk her away to a happily-ever-after, Bridget “Birdie” Byrne convinces her sister, a renowned matchmaker, to send her as the bride to Tagg Thompson. The man who greets her upon her arrival isn’t Tagg, but Birdie is certain she’s finally discovered the man she is meant to marry.  

♥ Cara – Fed up with Tagg Thompson and his refusals of every bride she’s sent to Grass Valley for him to wed, Cara decides to meet the exasperating man in person. Her feet are barely on the ground in the rustic town before she’s nearly bowled over by a herd of stampeding cattle and swept into the brawny arms of a cowboy with the bluest eyes she’s ever seen.

Will true love find its home in the hearts of these Grass Valley Brides?

Get all four books in the Regional Romance Series featuring scenic historic locations, exciting drama, and sweet (yet swoony) romance!

Each book is available for pre-order for only $2.99 on Amazon.

USA Today bestselling author Shanna Hatfield is a farm girl who loves to write. Her sweet historical and contemporary romances are filled with sarcasm, humor, hope, and hunky heroes. When Shanna isn’t dreaming up unforgettable characters, twisting plots, or covertly seeking dark, decadent chocolate, she hangs out with her beloved husband, Captain Cavedweller.


Shanna loves to hear from readers. Follow her online at:

Website | Facebook | Newsletter | BookBub | Pinterest | Goodreads

Regional Romances

by Shanna Hatfield

As an author, it's always an honor (and so much fun) to be asked to participate in a special project. I was thrilled when Author Kari Trumbo invited me to join in a new series called Regional Romance Series.

The books will release in September. In addition to me and Kari, Kit Morgan and Peggy L. Henderson are also participating.

The thing that's fun and unique about this series is that each author is writing three novellas which will be released under one cover. So if you purchase all four books in the series, you're actually getting twelve wonderful historical romances to read! 

And right now, the books are priced at just $2.99 each. You'll find them all on Amazon. 

My contribution to the series is Grass Valley Brides. Any of my readers who've enjoyed the Grass Valley Cowboys  contemporary sweet romance series will  be happy to know these three novellas go back to the beginning years of the town and the very first Thompson to settle there. 

In fact, Mr. Tagg Thompson makes an appearance in all three stories. 

What’s a matchmaker to do when the husband-to-be rejects the bride?

     Again . . .

Widowed as a young wife, Cara Cargill turned her head for business and love of romance into a successful mail-order bride enterprise. She’s never had a problem matching couples until one mule-headed man continues to refuse to wed the women she sends to meet him in Grass Valley, Oregon. In an effort to make a match he’ll keep and uphold her sterling reputation, Cara is desperate to find the perfect bride.

Daisy – When her fiancé leaves her at the altar, Daisy Bancroft knows it is far past time for a change. Her dearest friend, Cara, offers to send her to a newly established town in Oregon, where possibilities abound and the grass is rumored to be as tall as a man’s head. Daisy arrives with plans to wed Tagg Thompson, only to find the obstinate rancher has foisted her off on his best friend.

Birdie – Tired of waiting for her Mister Right to magically appear and whisk her away to a happily-ever-after, Bridget “Birdie” Byrne convinces her sister, a renowned matchmaker, to send her as the bride to Tagg Thompson. The man who greets her upon her arrival isn’t Tagg, but Birdie is certain she’s finally discovered the man she is meant to marry.  

Cara – Fed up with Tagg Thompson and his refusals of every bride she’s sent to Grass Valley for him to wed, Cara decides to meet the exasperating man in person. Her feet are barely on the ground in the rustic town before she’s nearly bowled over by a herd of stampeding cattle and swept into the brawny arms of a cowboy with the bluest eyes she’s ever seen.

Will true love find its home in the hearts of these Grass Valley Brides?

Get all four books in the Regional Romance Series featuring scenic historic locations, exciting drama, and sweet (yet swoony) romance!

After spending her formative years on a farm in eastern Oregon, hopeless romantic Shanna Hatfield turns her rural experiences into sweet historical and contemporary romances filled with sarcasm, humor, and hunky heroes.

When this USA Today bestselling author isn’t writing or covertly seeking dark, decadent chocolate, Shanna hangs out with her beloved husband, Captain Cavedweller.

Shanna loves to hear from readers. Follow her online at:

ShannaHatfield | Facebook | Newsletter | BookBub | Pinterest | Goodreads | You Tube | Twitter