But what shall we do about clothes?

[ksmith]

I have found a couple of good websites, but if anyone has a favorite resource discussing either clothing or the American English language circa 1836, they'd be appreciated.

Books too, even...

Comments

[slave2tehtink.livejournal.com]

Um, most of my resources tend to be for the period 30 years later than that, but I've one or two that might serve. Will poke around my links &c when I get home from ze business trip!

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[torrilin.livejournal.com]

1836 is the Romantic Era in clothes. Natural waist, no more going about without underwear, still fairly light fabrics. koshka_the_cat doesn't do a ton of Romantic clothing (no-one does in costuming AFAIK) but she's one of the few I can think of who do any. She probably be a good person to ask about sources, since she's *very* fond of primary sources (ie, actual antique clothing).

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

I would love to know what a jacket or dress or coat of the time felt like--how the buttonholes looked, the weight of the item. I am most interested in clothing worn by those in the rural Midwest--central Illinois. Not the finest fabrics or the latest styles. The clothing people made themselves.

Thanks.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Back when I was writing Regencies, I found my best source for reference material was university libraries. Particularly Syracuse University, which offers fashion and textile degrees. You might want to check local universities to see if they have something similar.

[rarelylynne.livejournal.com]

Have you tried the American Memory Project through the Library of Congress? You need some pattern books (http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?awh:1:./temp/~ammem_mi9Z::). Best place to look is in women's magazines and books for that year. Newspapers (http://www.newspaperarchive.com/LandingPage.aspx?type=glp&search=1836%20clothing&img=\\na0019\1958456\12228503.html), too. Can you get to one of the local academic libraries? They subscribe to big databases of digitized newspapers, periodicals, and such.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

I will.

What I would *love* to do is hold items of clothing and get a sense of what they felt like. This pretty good article at least states that the wool was itchy, which may sound like a study in foregone conclusions but is easy to forget when you're used to modern wool blends that aren't.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

I never heard of this--thanks!

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Hmm, do they have living history museums anywhere near you? Or Civil War reenactors? Either group usually contains someone knowledgeable about period clothing and the differences between modern textiles and construction methods and historical ones, and they're generally willing to talk for hours.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

There have to be some colonial Williamsburg-type things somewhere in Illinois, or even Indiana. Need to look.

[torrilin.livejournal.com]

Oh! Field trip time. Kent State University's textile collection! Not the exact right area, but they're probably best in the world for having garments of the right age and provenance.

I'm not familiar with Chicago university and museum holdings of textiles. But... I've found that very often institutions don't make a big deal out of their collections. The Royal Ontario Museum has one of the finest collections of socks in the world... do they talk about it? No :P. Stuff in a collection often shouldn't be touched, but even seeing it in person, with a conservator who can show you things like the insides could be really fun/useful. It can't hurt to write and ask politely if they have anything that might be useful.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the tip. I'm going to search in the Chicago area as well.