I need a womens version of Echoes Of Glory,asap....

[Union Maid]

Hey there, just loookin and tryin to find a hardcore womens version of echoes of glory. Like what do hardcore women use? Is there a womens/civilians book equivalent to EOG? thx guys!

[Spinster]

Not really.


See, thats why being a civilian is harder. No uniforms. No 'issue' items. Fashions that varied with location and socio economic class, complicated by wartime shortage.


Start with Juanita Leish's Who Wore What

Branch out by reading issue after issue of Godeys Ladies Book and Peterson's.

Hie yourself up to Kennesaw the next time the Whitesmans have their fabulous collection of original clothing on display. Bring a camera. Plan to stay the weekend.

Read Ersatz in the Confederacy. Get an idea of how clothing changed in the Deep South as the war wore on.

Pick up Donna Abrams book--somebody else will have to remember the name for me, of her wonderful collection of period images.

That's a small start..........

And once you get dressed, you get to figure out household goods.

[sharibear]

Donna Abraham's book The Way They Were: Dressed in 1860-1865 I think is the book Spinster was referencing. I bought my copy last month at Abraham's Lady, only $12, lots of reference pictures.

[MrsArmstrong]

Learn about the stuff:
Research antique books about furniture, fancy and country, pottery, stoneware, glass, china, tinware, plus read period receipt/recipe/cookbooks and household manuals. Also studies on architecture. Genre paintings are great to see "stuff" that are used as props. The internet can connect you to a lot of information online.

There are so few chances for citizens to be in the house/home/town environment. Looking at homes and furniture, imagine how you lived and moved around in these environments as apposed to skirting tent ropes, camp chairs and fire pits. A state of mind helps to capture what it might have been like.

Enjoy the holidays.

[Elaine Kessinger]

The Ladies are correct that the clothes are only part of what you will need to be a "hard-core" civilian re-enactor. Being willing to accept and confine yourself to the correct attitudes of the period you portray is a defining line. READ!! Read everything you can stand to get through.. household manuals to imagine your household, agricultural manuals (especially if you are portraying a rural enviroment) to imagine your rural life, city directories to imagine the people populating your urban life, newspapers, pamphlets, and trade journals to imagine the minutae of day-to-day living and current events, diaries and memoirs of women who lived it to imagine how women thought and reacted to the situations they found themselves in...
"Google Books" is a treasure trove of period thought in the form of digitized books, magazines, and pamphlets of the era. "Advanced Search" should allow you to confine the dates to period. "Son of the South" has copies of "Harper's Weekly" digitized for the war years and reproductions are available from "Ragged Soldier Sutlery" Digitized copies of some magazines and trade journals can be found here: http://digital.library.cornell.edu/m/moa/browse.html

For viewing original garments, you might try the following websites:
http://www.thegracefullady.com/civil.../originals.htm
http://www.demodecouture.com/realvict/ (like all museum collections, the dates of objects will need to be considered carefully before being accepted as gospel fact)
http://clothing.shop.ebay.com/Pre-19...-/48864/i.html

Ebay offers several "antiques tips" pages on household goods ( http://pages.ebay.com/buy/guides/antiques-buying-guide/ ) and many books on identifying antique "xyz" household goods can be had through library loan programs. You will want to make friends with your local librarian, because there is no one definative photo guide to all of the household goods you'd need to be familiar with.

Allow me to reiterate, the background of your impression will be key, not just to choosing clothing, but to your knowledge base as well.

And again, progressing to "hard-core" doesn't mean just the correct "kit". Knowledge of the kit, your background, period thought, the "little extras" are all important steps on your progressive journey.

I do hope I haven't overwhelmed you too badly. It is a fun journey that I would apreciate more women being willing to make. Good luck.

[mmescher]

I'll add to the chorus on reading from a variety of sources. On our website, raggedsoldier.com we have a variety of reproduction books and modern books -- including _The Way They Were_ -- that, while not completely covering the waterfront, hit a variety of topics.

I would caution to, as much as possible, go back to period sources. A secondary source is a start but don't take any author's word for something, particularly if it seems very unusual or is bordering on dogmatic. We have found what we consider errors in some of the secondary sources mentioned. A prime example was one book (not in the ones already mentioned) that proclaimed "they wore mostly dark clothing" based on viewing photographs of civil war period clothes. This statement did not take into account the reaction of wetplate chemicals to different colors and how different they were from modern black and white results. Consequently, its conclusions were questionable.

For that matter, our website also has a variety of articles on assorted topics in "Articles: Virginia's Veranda"

And other postings have mentioned that clothing is just a start. There are the foods, daily chores that were part of living with appropriate implements, politics, etiquette, and religion just to mention a few topics. The subject is so vast and varies so much depending upon the socio-economic status and geographic location, a single volume would not be adequate. We have been doing this since 1988 and are still finding new material. But the searching and finding is what makes it an active hobby and fun. With the internet and the availability of so many primary materials on line, it has gotten a lot easier to do research.

You might want to check your local library for databases they subscribe to or, if there are any colleges nearby, the databases you could access from their library. American Periodical Series comes to mind as a good resource.

Michael Mescher

[southern_belle1861]

While not a book, The Sewing Academy run by Elizabeth Stewart Clark is amazing. It has years of back threads that cover everything you ever wanted to know, and then some. There are often threads discussing original dresses on the internet or personal collections, sewing help, discussions on material, spiritual, geographical, bibliographical, and any other "al" culture.

We're a friendly bunch, so feel free to ask questions!

www.thesewingacademy.org