The Killer Mobile Device For Victorian Women

Adrift in a sea of digital apps, we often feel our needs are met better today than in any previous era. But consider the chatelaine, a device popularized in the 18th century that attached to the waist of a woman's dress, bearing tiny useful accessories, from notebooks to knives.

In many ways chatelaines provided better access to such objects than we have today: How often have you searched for your keys or cell phone at the bottom of a cavernous bag? Like a customized Swiss Army knife, a chatelaine provided its wearer with exactly the tools she needed closest at hand.