Elisabeth Gräfin von Waldburg zu Wolfegg und Waldsee

What people wore

Strict social dress codes in Vienna

Prosperous women in Vienna followed strict rules for social success, requiring different outfits for specific daily activities like morning errands, afternoon tea, or exhibition openings.

Daily life

Housing for the poor in Vienna

In 1909, around 66,000 people in Vienna were bed-renters who did not have their own home and paid to use a bed for only a few hours. Many tenement buildings lacked running water, toilets, and electricity, requiring residents to collect water from a corridor tap called a Bassena.

Work

Hardships of domestic service work

Domestic servants often worked from early morning until late at night, and until 1911, masters had the legal right to physically punish their staff. Even after laws were passed in 1920 to limit hours to 13 per day, many servants continued to work longer shifts and could not lock their own rooms.

Music

Instruments and foot-tapping dance customs

In the Ziller Valley, traditional wedding music was performed by ensembles consisting of two fiddles, a diatonic accordion, a Tyrolean folk harp, and a string bass. Dancers at these events frequently tapped their toes in time with the music, using specific patterns for two-four and three-four time signatures.

At the table

Ideal middle-class meals and coffee house culture

Before the war, the ideal middle-class meal consisted of a three-course menu featuring soup, a main dish of meat with side dishes, and dessert. Intellectuals frequented coffee houses around 1900 to enjoy coffee drinks like the Melange.

News and letters

Vienna's fast pneumatic mail service

In Vienna, the pneumatic tube system delivered messages within the city in about 30 minutes, costing 15 kreuzer or 30 heller, which was equivalent to the price of two ordinary letters or a loaf of bread.