Sure, I have to research props for stage, but I also have to research them for fiction too. For instance my upcoming story in Talebones, is set in England in the 1920s. I needed to find out if cigarette lighters existed by then. Yes, but hand held ones were still a couple of years away.
One of my favorite websites, Props, as a great article with a load of links on How to Research Props. I highly recommend it. In particular, A History of Props: A Timeline of Props and Product Usage.
Once, years ago, I got to see the Thorne Rooms (like dioramas of interior design) at the Art Institute in Chicago. I loved dollhouses, so I was fascinated by such perfectly decorated period rooms, but I noticed a small table with a sort of bag hanging from underneath it at the end of a sofa. There was nothing hat said what that table was, which frustrated me. A week or so later, I was in Canada for the Shakespeare festival and one of the plays was Turgenev’s A MONTH IN THE COUNTRY. Sure enough, there was that same end table with a bag, only life sized. In the middle of Act I, an actress opened the drawer of that table and took out her embroidery hoop and scissors. It was a sewing/embroidery table!
Yay for serendipity!
Thank you! Great site find.