Tina Jordan
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tinajordan.bsky.social
Tina Jordan
@tinajordan.bsky.social
10K followers 790 following 200 posts
Deputy editor, New York Times Book Review. Reader, writer, archives fiend.
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tinajordan.bsky.social
I get a lot of yellow-bellied sapsuckers in the yard, too, though they would never come to a feeder.
April 16, 2025 at 11:32 PM
tinajordan.bsky.social
In the winter I have a suction-cup suet feeder attached to one of my kitchen windows, and the downy and hairy woodpeckers love it.
This is a small, angry looking black and white bird perched on a birdfeeder.
April 16, 2025 at 9:10 PM
tinajordan.bsky.social
Yep, still snowing.
This is a photo of a snowy yard and street at night, lit by a single porch light. The snowflakes are so thick and large it is hard to see anything besides snow.
January 20, 2025 at 1:43 AM
tinajordan.bsky.social
We're just about at the anniversary of one of my all-time favorites from the Times, a 1943 piece describing what happened when "picknickers" broke into Upton Sinclair's house.
This is a vintage newspaper clipping. The headline reads, UPTON SINCLAIR'S LARDER RAIDED. The text of the article is, "A bare larder and a mud-tracked kitchen greeted Upton Sinclair today on his return after a few days' absence. Uninvited "picknickers" had eaten his food, smoked his cigarettes and used his kitchen for a bath house after swimming in his swimming pool.. "I don't think," he said, "that they read any of my books."
December 16, 2024 at 1:41 PM
tinajordan.bsky.social
"Motorist fume" in 1934.
This is a Times clipping from 1934. The headline is Inflationist Mob in Holiday Parade: Mickey Mouse, Blown Up to 4-Story Stature, Dominates Macy's Broadway March. 500,000 Watch in Drizzle. Children Laugh and Motorists Fume as Unbroken Line Takes 25 Minutes to Pass"
November 28, 2024 at 5:02 PM
tinajordan.bsky.social
And this, 1931.
This is a clipping from the New York Times in 1931. The Headline is Toy Cat Expires in Blaze: Felix, the Macy Balloon, Floats Into High-Tension Wire.
November 28, 2024 at 5:00 PM
tinajordan.bsky.social
Then there's this, from 1938
This is a black-and-white clipping from the New York Times in 1938. It reads, UNCLE SAM SKITTISH IN FIRST PARADE: 75-Foot Monster's Conduct in Macy's Spectacle Starts Hint He Had More Than Helium.
November 28, 2024 at 4:58 PM
tinajordan.bsky.social
The "world's largest ice cream cone" passes through Times Square during the Thanksgiving Day Parade in 1945.
This is a black-and-white clipping from The New York Times in 1945. It shows the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade passing through Times Square. The float which is most clearly seen is a giant ice cream cone (which the caption bills as "the world's largest ice cream cone").
November 28, 2024 at 4:56 PM
tinajordan.bsky.social
Fresh Direct, I'm sure this roasted branzino is tasty, but I'm gonna need you to stop recommending it to me.
This is a photo of a roasted fish, elegantly plated on a china dish next to a linen napkin and gold fork. Oozing out of the fish is what is clearly a tomato-based stuffing, but which looks like fish guts and blood.
November 13, 2024 at 1:05 PM
tinajordan.bsky.social
Also, LOL, Sinclair Lewis in 1936
February 3, 2024 at 11:33 PM
tinajordan.bsky.social
1903 from the Times
February 3, 2024 at 11:31 PM
tinajordan.bsky.social
Meet Mary Augusta Ward, the Colleen Hoover of her day. In 1903 and early 1904, her novel "Lady Rose's Daughter" was selling 1,000 copies a week (which would be good even now). www.nytimes.com/2023/12/28/b...
This is a Victorian-era black-and-white photo of a young, dark-haired woman, formally dressed in a sprigged dress and embroidered coat with a feather boa. She is sitting in a small chair with nailhead trim.
December 30, 2023 at 6:10 PM
tinajordan.bsky.social
I put one of those suction-cup birdfeeders on my kitchen window. Took a couple of weeks for the woodpeckers to notice it, but now they have.
This is a close up photo of a tiny black and white woodpecker clinging to a box holding a cake of suet.
October 25, 2023 at 2:08 PM
tinajordan.bsky.social
Every year when my (grown) kids ask to go the the Blaze, a nighttime pumpkin spectacle in our town, I groan a little. And then every year I go, and it's amazing. (Yes, this is a sculpture made of intricately carved and lit pumpkins.)
This is a picture, taken at night, of a sculpture made entirely of intricately carved pumpkins. It is a man on a galloping horse, his head turned back as if in fear, his coat billowing out behind him.
October 18, 2023 at 3:09 PM
tinajordan.bsky.social
We were not fans. "You may care for one detective story, but when there is a round dozen you may get a fit of indigestion. … Sherlock Holmes ... has a little too much of premeditation about him. You get a little weary of his perspicacity."
This is a vintage newspaper clipping from the New York Times on Oct. 16, 1992 that reads: Appreciation of Dr. Doyle’s “Adventures of Sherlock Holmes” has to do with one’s personal zest for the marvelous. You may care for one detective story, but when there is a round dozen you may get a fit of indigestion. … Sherlock Holmes, with all his mise en scene, has a little too much of premeditation about him. You get a little weary of his perspicacity. A person has mud spots on his sleeve. “You have been driving in a dog cart,” says Sherlock Holmes. “You have a scratch on your boot. You have a careless servant who has cut the leather of your boot scraping off the dirt on the uppers.”
October 16, 2023 at 8:10 PM
tinajordan.bsky.social
Today in literary history, The Times's review of "Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" from Oct. 16, 1892.
This is a vintage newspaper headline of a book review that reads ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES. By A. Conan-Doyle. New York: Harper & Brothers.
October 16, 2023 at 8:09 PM
tinajordan.bsky.social
"When a husband nags and irritates out of pure devilry he should be dealt with with whatever is handy."
If nervous exhaustion superinduced by business worries or other troubles makes the husband irritable, the wife instead of attempting to ‘cure’ him by direct action should call in a nerve specialist. In other words, she should be sympathetic. Perhaps indigestion has contributed to the deplorable condition, in which case the remedy is simple. Mrs. Housewife should spend more time in her kitchen and brush up on her cooking. When a husband nags and irritates out of pure devilry he should be dealt with with whatever is handy.
September 15, 2023 at 11:21 AM
tinajordan.bsky.social
This is an archival newspaper story that begins: There are times, according to experts, when an exasperated wife should hesitate and weigh the evidence before administering corporal punishment to a husband who seems to be bidding for trouble. On the other hand, when a husband is nagging, irritating and irritable for no cause whatsoever, except “pure cussedness,”the remedy for him is quick action — a rolling pin, a pan of dishwater or a flatiron.
September 15, 2023 at 11:20 AM
tinajordan.bsky.social
Just going to add this to my huge file called "the things you find in the NYT archives." It's from 1921.
This is a vintage headline from The New York Times that reads, PETTING VS. ROLLING PINS IN CALMING HUSBANDS.
September 15, 2023 at 11:19 AM
tinajordan.bsky.social
I was rushing to cross Madison Avenue to get to Grand Central when I saw the Chrysler Building in front of me, illuminated by the setting sun.
This is a photograph looking across a New York City street toward the iconic art deco Chrysler building, which glows in the afternoon sun.
September 13, 2023 at 11:13 PM
tinajordan.bsky.social
What book ads looked like, 1903.
This is a full-page ad from the NYT Book Review in 1903. It is an illustration of four sets of hands, each holding a book: "The Fortunes of FIfi," "The Grey Cloak," "The Main Chance" and "The Filigree Ball."
September 5, 2023 at 12:41 PM
tinajordan.bsky.social
First plum torte of the season.
This is a close-up color photo of a freshly baked plum torte in a round springform pan. The plums were cut in half and arranged, skin side up, in concentric circles, and the batter rose around them, baking a deep golden brown. There is red plum juice oozing from some of the fruit.
September 4, 2023 at 6:33 PM
tinajordan.bsky.social
Visit from a neighbor's puppy early on this dreary, rainy Monday morning.
This is a close-up photo of a ginger-colored puppy resting in a woman's arms. The puppy is tiny but has an enormous mop of tousled hair, and she is looking soulfully at the camera with big dark eyes. The woman's face is mostly obscured by the puppy, but she has gray hair and glasses, and she too is looking at the camera.
September 4, 2023 at 11:47 AM
tinajordan.bsky.social
A vacation typewriter, just four inches high, was all the rage in 1921. "It travels with you, an intimate, personal friend, like your pet fishing rod or your golf clubs."
This is a 1921 newspaper ad for a Remington portable typewriter. There is an illustration of a man in a tent sitting at a small typewriter. The headline is "When writing vacation letters is a pleasure," and the text continues: "Instead of thinking 'I must write,' you will find yourself welcoming the hour when you can sit down before your Remington Portable Typewriter and keep in touch with your business and personal friends. Writing is fun on a Remington Portable."
August 29, 2023 at 11:47 AM
tinajordan.bsky.social
Then they asked the driver to take them to a hotel, where they told the manager, "We'd like to rent a room for our kittens and turtles."
The story continues: The night manager of the Dixie Hotel, 250 West 43rd Street, was startled when the two children approached the hotel desk and said, “We’d like to rent a room for our turtles and kittens.” The manager called Patrolman Alexander Morgan, on duty outside, and the policeman took them to the West 54th Street police station. The girls’ mother, Mrs. Jean Lackey, 34, a typist whose husband is in the Army, called for them last night. She said the money was from a jar in the room of a boarder. The girls still had all but $8.
August 27, 2023 at 12:29 PM