About

Occasional observations—scholarly, impressionistic and materialistic—-of a history professor fortunate to live in one of  America’s oldest and (I think) most interesting little cities:  Salem, Massachusetts.  Somehow, I’d like to tie all of my favorite things together:  history and historic preservation, architecture, design and decoration, gardening, shopping and everyday curiosities.  Feel free to email me with your comments and suggestions at daseger@comcast.net.

53 Responses to “About”

  • Carol Hedstrom
    January 4th, 2011 at 4:07 pm

    Donna, this is fabulous. How did you find the time????

    Reply
  • Steve
    January 7th, 2011 at 6:13 pm

    Donna,
    I just wanted to stop by and say hi. I’ve seen via my traffic feed that people were visiting me from your website so I thought I would check it out. I’ve really wanted to get up to explore the houses of Salem a little more but I’ll probably wait until spring. Best of luck with “Streets of Salem.” I’m looking forward to seeing more. Best, Steve

    Reply
  • John Goff
    January 8th, 2011 at 11:22 am

    Donna–this is great! Happy New Year and THANK YOU for posting all you post. I especially like your mixture of fun (and historic) visuals with the text and thoughts…you’ve caught the “tease” quality of historic artifacts that challenge and entice us to want to know MORE! :D

    Reply
  • Stacia Conklin Kraft
    January 19th, 2011 at 8:46 am

    Oh, just read your bit on cards. I love it. You have to come see my second floor bath which I decoupaged with antique cards. What do you do with your cards?

    Reply
    • daseger
      January 19th, 2011 at 9:39 am

      Hey Stacia, Happy New Year! Unfortunately I do nothing with my cards and all the scraps of paper I collect because I can’t get past my historian’s urge to preserve—to they just sit in a folder, probably deteriorating….

      Reply
  • Debra Glabeau
    January 29th, 2011 at 4:17 pm

    Donna,
    What a rich and beautiful tribute to the city. It’s great.
    Debra

    Reply
  • Dave
    February 28th, 2011 at 9:29 pm

    What a fantastic and interesting website. Thanks for bringing it to life.

    Reply
    • daseger
      February 28th, 2011 at 9:40 pm

      Thank you, Dave. And thanks also for all the work you’ve done on your beautiful house. I remember seeing it before you bought it, and thinking “that house has potential!!!” You’ve certainly realized it. I’d love to do a post on it sometime.

      Reply
  • julia
    March 8th, 2011 at 9:54 am

    Interesting site Donna – I shall return! and thanks for comment on my blog.

    Reply
  • Jeanne
    April 30th, 2011 at 6:16 pm

    You have a picture on your site of the first/front page of the Inventory of George Corwin. Will you please tell me how I can get permission to use this picture? It is for historical study purposes. I will not be selling it or copying it for anyone else. I will use it as a point of reference when speaking about George Corwin. Please send your message to my email address as stated above. Thank you.

    Reply
  • Katie Hutchison
    May 9th, 2011 at 3:19 pm

    Hi Donna, I just discovered your delightful blog. I’m a Salem neighbor, residential architect, design writer and fine-art photographer. I produce House Enthusiast an online magazine exploring house, garden and related creative arts in New England. Here’s the link http://www.katiehutchison.com/house-enthusiast/. Our online ventures share some common themes. It would be fun to grab a coffee some time to discuss our related interests. Hope to hear from you. Cheers!

    Reply
  • Nina Anderson
    June 2nd, 2011 at 12:39 pm

    I am tagging “The King of Cats” as Elwe. He was named after a Tolkien character, (I believe he was an Elven king),during our son’s obsession with all things Lord of the Rings. :) N

    Reply
  • LF
    June 8th, 2011 at 10:48 am

    Hi — the 1710 letter from William Good reproduced in your blog is owned by the Cornell Witchcraft Collection, #4612, box 3, folder 4. Thanks for mentioning it, and congratulations for your excellent web site! LF, Curator, Kroch Library.

    Reply
  • aappathachchiya
    June 8th, 2011 at 10:57 am

    what a wonderful blog you have. loved the medieval maps and cats especially

    Reply
  • Nelson Dionne
    July 26th, 2011 at 5:20 am

    Good Day Donna; I’ve been collecting Salem “junque” for 40 years now. The more Salem history I see, the more I am convinced we live in a very special place! I now specialize in Salem’s “Industrial Century”. ( roughly Civil War to the Viet Nam War ). This period has been overlooked by historians, yet the material& stories I have found are fantastic. It says something about the depth of the city’s history that it’s possible to have a hundred historians researching the city,and they will rarely overlap each other. I ave an estimated 10K pages of Salem history & photos in my files & I feel I have just begun to scratch the surface !

    Reply
  • daseger
    July 26th, 2011 at 5:48 am

    Nelson, I am familiar with your work and I totally agree with you! Thanks for stopping by. If you have any suggestions or corrections, please shout out–and also if you ever would like to write a guest post.

    Reply
  • Anyes Kadowaki Busby
    October 11th, 2011 at 12:23 pm

    Hello Donna,
    Thank you for stopping by the Dusty Victorian. Your blog looks like its right up my alley. I will return soon.
    Au plaisir,
    Anyes
    XX

    Reply
  • Secret Gardener
    October 18th, 2011 at 3:30 pm

    Hi.
    I think this blog is lovely, and because I don’t see a way to contact you privately -I’ll ask you here: May I put a link to it on mine [secretgardening.wordpress]?

    Thank you for it.
    Cassandra

    Reply
  • Christopher Moore
    December 31st, 2011 at 5:44 am

    So glad you liked my tea towels! Lots more coming soon, as well as lots of other exciting products…… The new much more comprehensive website will be up by the end of January 2012, and I will also be starting a blog in the New Year. Look forward to visting yours regularly?!
    Happy New Year.
    Kindest regards
    Christopher Moore

    Reply
  • Leanne 'Baumgarten' Schild
    January 30th, 2012 at 11:05 pm

    I saw your presentation today for the “Woman’s Friend Society” luncheon and was completely fascinated. You gave a wonderful presentation. And I’m so glad you mentioned this blog because I love Salem history and am thrilled to now know about it. Can’t wait to read more! Thank you!

    Reply
  • aalid
    February 15th, 2012 at 5:45 am

    I stumbled upon you because of your map post and stayed a while – a long while – your blog is wonderfully absorbing.

    Reply
  • The Heart Duality Part 1 « Academic Orchid
    February 15th, 2012 at 8:37 pm

    [...] browsing the WordPress’ recently pressed sections and came across this awesome blog called Streets Of Salem. They posted two heart map pictures one of a woman’s and one of a man’s. I had to add [...]

    Reply
  • BlanketandBone
    February 17th, 2012 at 5:35 pm

    Have had a lovely time reading through your blog today – really interesting and well written and full of great images too! I hope you don’t mind but I have taken inspiration from you and also posted the heart maps, as I thought they were so beautiful and interesting – have linked to your blog :) Thanks for cheering up a rather grey day!

    Reply
  • amonikabyanyuvva
    March 13th, 2012 at 5:10 am

    Hello there, I nominated you for the Versatile Blogger Award! Find out more here
    http://amonikabyanyuvva.wordpress.com/2012/03/13/a-basket-of-thanks/
    I hope you keep inspiring me with your blog, thanks for brightening my days!

    Reply
  • Secret Gardener
    March 20th, 2012 at 7:00 pm

    Hi –I’ve slowly wound my way backward from some visitors who were referred to my blog from yours–to find that you’ve mentioned SG to your readers. Thank you. I’m grateful. and I’m genuinely honored–
    (I think a portion of my visitors are taking the advice of wordpress & visiting a little arbitrarily in hopes of drumming up some traffic [in my case--fairly meager traffic, I'm afraid.] When I visit theirs to see whether we have anything in common–I can imagine that perhaps we share a tag or two.)
    (Whereas) I’m kind of stunned by the blogs I’ve linked to –yours, gardenhistory, bibliodyssey, bobandmary’s journal … The knowledgeability, the range of interest, the articulate enthusiasm, the beauty, and a more indefineably recognizable perspective on the details of the world–and the wonder of it–that I take to heart. In other words -I sort of cherish you all secretly as friends who don’t know how much you matter to my not feeling alone in it all. Unfortunately, I don’t believe that I have the artistry to express the overwhelming gorgeousness & preciousness & fragility of the world, & am reduced to making this blog my commonplace book of found images & quotations–and admiring those of you who express yourselves brilliantly. (And, um, as you see–am afraid I may be the one who falls into the ‘earnest’ category. I think it reflects a lack of comfort in using my own words–and yet, somehow, I’ve managed to imbue the SG assemblage of other people’s work with it too. Oh well. I count on my discriminating friends to take it for what it’s worth.)
    Now–does being on a list introducing us to your readers come with any responsibilities of its own? I only wish I did wield the influence to bring the attention they deserve to the blogs I love …
    Thank you, d. a. seger of streets of salem

    Reply
  • Vividhunter
    May 25th, 2012 at 11:15 pm

    Thanks for your great blog. I’ve nominated Streetsofsalem for the One Lovely Blog award at http://procrastinationdiaries.wordpress.com/2012/05/26/first-blog-award-ever/

    Reply
  • Beth M
    September 4th, 2012 at 6:33 pm

    Congrats on being Freshly Pressed! Now I can say I followed you before you got famous. :)

    Reply
  • julia fogg
    October 31st, 2012 at 9:46 am

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/9641506/Germaine-Greer-21st-century-witches-offer-a-warning-to-us-all.html

    Donna, you might be interested in this link.

    Reply
  • theirishaesthete
    January 8th, 2013 at 8:09 am

    Dear Donna,
    Thanks for swinging by my blog recently, and delighted you liked what you saw there. I am in the US often, promoting the work of the Irish Georgian Society of which I am vice-president. In case you are in Palm Beach next month, I shall be there giving a talk…
    Best wishes,
    The Irish Aesthete

    Reply
  • Khaula
    January 16th, 2013 at 11:50 am

    Donna,
    Your blog is extremely interesting! I plan to become an avid reader from hereon! :-D
    And you are a very talented writer! :-D

    Reply
  • ottomandandy
    January 24th, 2013 at 7:13 pm

    Keep up the good work

    Reply
  • Good Golly Miss Molly
    January 29th, 2013 at 3:04 pm

    What a great site. I lived just across the bridge in Beverly for a few years and I miss that part of the world. I was looking for Valentine’s and found your wonderful post – I’d never heard of “vinegar Valentines” but find them delightful now.
    All best,
    Molly Cook

    Reply
  • rimassolosailingaroundtheworldm
    March 2nd, 2013 at 5:02 pm

    Thank you so much for blog. Please stop on my blog and FACEBOOK soon I am leaving solo around the world in very a tiny sailboat San Juan 24-foot. Now I am In Astoria,Or for one week very peaceful town and very very friendly people.

    Reply
  • rickouellette2013
    March 6th, 2013 at 11:26 am

    As a Salem native, your site was a welcome surprise and a real delight to discover. I think I came here first thru news of the razing of St. Joseph’s. My late grandmother used to live across the street from there and whiled away many an afternoon on a bench in the little triangular park between the two. She was of Polish background and called it the “French church” even after attending there for many years, adjacent Harbor St. was then considered a French-Canadian neighborhood. Another era since ended.
    Also loved your posts on the carriage houses and double houses. People and their places are inextricably linked and it looks like you struck a good chord with a lot of other people. I looked forward to seeing what else you have coming.
    All the best,
    Rick Ouellette

    Reply
  • jcmarckx2009
    March 29th, 2013 at 1:02 pm

    Hi there. I’m sure you already get a lot of these, but I went ahead and nominated you for the Sunshine Award. I got the nod, and I wanted to pass it on to some of my favorite bloggers. You were one of the first that came to mind. Anyway, you don’t have to do anything if you aren’t in to that sort of thing, but I wanted to let you know! http://jcmarckx.wordpress.com/2013/03/28/because-of-my-sunny-disposition/

    Reply
  • Katherine Greenough
    May 1st, 2013 at 10:14 pm

    Hello Donna, I really enjoyed meeting you at the Wallpaper lecture in early April, and I have a question for you and your followers. I’m not sure how to post this, so feel free to pose the question on this blog and others you know of.
    I recall we discussed how the beautiful church on Chestnut St. burned in 1903. The church had a steeple and a bell that, I assume, might have survived the fire. Do you know if they did and if so, where are they now?
    It would be wonderful to have some remnant of that lovely structure.
    Thank you, Kathy Greenough

    Reply
    • daseger
      May 2nd, 2013 at 10:55 am

      Kathy, it was so nice to meet you as well. I’ve posted about the McIntire Church several times, and in doing so have run into several pictures of its various surviving “parts”, which I believe are at the PEM. But I don’t remember seeing a steeple, or a bell. Let me check into it some more and maybe some others will weigh in. Donna

      Reply
  • dnikias
    May 17th, 2013 at 7:24 am

    Thanks for checking out my blog and the positive feedback!

    Reply
  • philandre
    May 18th, 2013 at 3:35 am

    What a great blog. It’s quite unusual to engage with one that examines one place (for most of the time) in such detail. I feel as if I’m getting ever closer to the essence of a fascinating city (sadly, a city I’ve not visited, being a Brit who has to ration trips from across The Pond) step by delightful step. And how interesting that, of all my posts on “In search of unusual destinations”, it’s Barrow-in-Furness that caught your eye! Many people tried to forbid us from going. Silly billies! Their loss. Your interest has to be linked to your professorial sense of history (I’m afraid all I dabble in is teacher education and some stuff about what we call Religious Studies)! Phil.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out / Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out / Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out / Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 1,308 other followers

%d bloggers like this: