I have been collecting old books for a long time and have some very interesting ones. The first was one I found in an attic when I was helping someone clean it out. I was about 17 at the time. It is CHILDHOOD: ITS CARE AND CULTURE by Mary Allen West and printed in 1887. Almost 800 pages that show just how much things have changed. I also have a slim volume of childhood games, with pictures printed about the same time. Another interesting one is THE JOHNSTOWN HORROR OR VALLEY OF DEATH – Being A Complete And Thrilling Account of the Awful Floods and Their Appalling Ruin. It was published in 1889 shortly after the flood. It contains many prints, firsthand accounts, etc. and would compare to to contemporary sensationalizing press.

I also collect old and reproduction cookbooks. I started when I was searching for my grandmother’s rice pudding recipe.

One site I love, especially when looking for cultural context, is the American Cultural History of the 19th Century site at http://wwwappskc.lonestar.edu/popculture/19thcentury.html
They have oodles of great information about the business, art, literature, politics, etc organized by specific decades