Revolutionary War Reenactment at the Colonial Pennsylvania Plantation

This weekend was the Revolutionary War Reenactment at the Colonial Pennsylvania Plantation. You may ask, if I ever spend time in the 21st century, unfortunately I do. But today, I put on my petticoat and, jacket and shift and was ready for a warm May day in 1776. A day in 1776 for me, an indentured servant, involved getting wood to keep the fires in the kitchen going, helping out with the cooking, cleaning the dishes, getting more wood, cooking some more, getting more wood, and listening to the battle that was being fought off in the distance and cooking yet again. Then I got to the fun part of the day: cleaning. :D It may seem bleak but I would rather be a weekend indentured servant than pretty much anything else.

Somehow, cooking and cleaning the old fashioned way is much more suited to me. Maybe it's the fact that the standard of "clean" was much different then than it is today. I think more likely it is the fact that everything is done by old fashioned hard work- no washing machine, no dishwasher, no microwave. There is something very satisfying about a good day's hard work and then collapsing for a nap at the end of the day.
I also like the fact that work is done together and that everyone's work benefits all others. I do not mind work when work is also time spent with family or friends- not like the 21st century where members of the family all go off to separate jobs and barely see each other.  

Some specialty reenactors came out to the battle:

A physician and his lovely wife, also a physician.  These two were full of information about Colonial medicine. They had lots of period medicines and instruments, including that scary instrument pictured. They talked about the healing properties of honey and how honey was used in the colonial times to heal wounds and was only recently rediscovered by medical professionals within the last 5 or so years.  

A British physician and his son: These two were knowledgeable, especially the son who is only 12 or 13. He is learning colonial medicine the same way doctors really did back in those days. It is surprisingly effective!

A Hessian Soldier: ( I talked to this man's fiancee. I asked her if she knew she knew her fiancee was a "Hessian Soldier" while they were dating. She said "Yes, he told me--but I didn't know what that meant." :D ) Now she's all dressed up and being dragged to reenactments, they are even thinking about colonial dancing at their wedding reception. (Sometimes I don't think people know what they are in for.) I am lucky that Andy and I are equally interested, crazy, *insane* about history and reenacting.

I hope you all have escaped into the 18th century for the few minutes that you read this post. I hope it makes you all want to gather your siblings or children and do the laundry in a basin in the back yard during this lovely weather we have been having or gives you an ache to make dinner in the hearth tonight.  

Our New Arrival: Coal, the Kitty

Andy and I have long been searching for the perfect kitty. Some cats are friendly, others want nothing to do with you, but this one likes to play and cuddle and purrs nonstop. Coal is mostly black, he has the slightest bit of white on his chest and on the tip of his tail.

  Coal runs to the sound of anything jingling and likes to take a few playful swipes at it to see what it is. He also likes to climb up on you while you are sleeping and curl up on your chest. He's such a tiny, little guy that you'd hardly notice him curled up beside you- accept that he purrs like a little motorboat for hours. He really is the cutest thing and he seems really happy.

We adopted him from a loving family who catch and fix/neuter strays. You can tell they were very affectionate; Coal loves people.    

We are glad that this cute, lovable guy was born in modern times as there were many time periods and places where it was hard to be a black cat. After the Malleus Maleficarum, the famous medieval, witch-hunting treatise was written in 1486, it was generally accepted that  witches could turn into black cats nine times in their lifetime. In later periods, people thought that cats were "witches" in disguise or were "the familiars" of "witches" and that they strutted around town doing "witches'" dirty work --not this little guy, he's brought nothing but happiness. 

My New Colonial Outfit

I have been working on hand-sewing a new Colonial jacket, shift and petticoat. It has been moving very slow. The shift is completely sewn other than the two armbands at the bottom of the sleeves and my jacket is about halfway done. The jacket is taking a long time because the fabric and the lining are sewn separately so it is like sewing two jackets and putting them together. I am still not sure what color petticoat I should make. I originally thought that a nice checkered linen pattern would be pretty, but I ended up having blue and white linen fabric for my jacket, I now need a plainer petticoat. Above is a sketch of what I hope the finished dress will look like. (Sorry it is really not a good drawing, I was really just trying to see how it looked all put together. You'd never know I was an artist!) I am not sure about the maroon skirt, yet.

My shift is very plain, there is a diagram for a shift on A Stitch in Time at Home that is very easy to use. Linen wrinkles like crazy, sorry about the picture.

This is the the detail of the hand sewing on my shift. I very much like the look of hand-sewing. It is definitely not the best but it does make a prettier looking garment. I used to be afraid of hand-sewing. It really isn't that hard and you have a larger selection of stitches to choose from.

This is my jacket fabric. It is linen but was too thin so I have been lining it with a linen tablecloth. The fabric is pretty, but I think I will feel like a china plate wearing it. It was the only stamped, linen I could find, though.

So, will the maroon petticoat look nice or will it look to "old timesy patriotic?" The other option I have been thinking about is possible blue and white stripes (run vertically.) Any other ideas? I am hoping to finish the outfit in time for reenacting season.

How to Date Old Books: How to Read Roman Numerals

 I love old books. There's a smell to old books and the worn in, well read feel that you just can't get from a modern book. Great care used to go into making books, many were even hand bound, today machines manufacture the whole books. 

Many of us have old books but have no idea what year they are from. Many 18^th and 19^th century books have no publication date and leave us to research for ourselves to determine their origins. 

The first thing to look at is the front pages of the book to see if there is any publisher’s information. If there is publisher’s information, you can do some research online to find out between what years a publisher was in business. You may also be able to find lists of when they published certain titles.

Also, look to see if there is a forward in the book. Sometimes forwards include the date of publication so it is unnecessary to include it in the publishers notes. Another thing to look at is if there are any advertisements in the book. These are more common in older books than you would think. Try to research a little on any advertisements in the book as other books advertised are likely to have been published in the same year.
  

If nothing else, you can try to date a book by the style of binding or printing as well as any etchings or photographs included. Book printed on rag paper, were normally printed during the 1600s and 1700s. Books printed on wood pulp paper normally date after 1840.









If an illustrator created images especially for the book, try researching the illustrator as well as some of the artwork. Woodcut illustrations (usually only one) were used in books in the 18th century. Woodcut designs are normally thicker and less detailed than "etchings" which were used from the 1800s to the early 1900s.  

The date may also be included with the publisher’s information as Roman numerals. Roman numerals are one of those things that many people half-learned. Most of us learned enough to read a clock, but nothing else.  Roman numerals take a bit of work to figure out but it is well worth it to learn how just to know if your copy of Walden is from 1854 or 1910. The practice of using roman numerals was more prevalent in Britain but can still be found in a lot of old American books.

• Roman numerals are written with the largest numerically equivalent letter to the left and the smallest numerically equivalent letters to the right in largest to smallest order.

                  Ex. MDCLX = 1660

• Each letter’s value is added together.

                  Ex. MMC = 1,000 + 1,000 + 100 = 2,100

• Each letter is normally only used three times in each number (this is sometimes four but it is rare.)

                  Ex. VIII

• To make sure that each letter is only used three times, there is a “subtraction rule” which is if a numerically smaller letter is before a larger one, it is subtracted from the larger letter’s numeric value.

                  Ex. MCMXLII = 1,000 + (1,000-100) + (50-10) + 2 =1942

Some Roman Numeral Dates to try:

Answers: 1. 1854, 2. 1862, 3. 1861, 4. 1843 

I hope this helped and that many of you can now date your antique books. This is eventually leading up to a post on how to care and preserve your old books.  


*Note: The woodcut design was drawn by Paul Revere in the 1770s, the etching is from Godey's Lady's Book 1860.

The Neshaminy Event : 100% Success

The Neshaminy Event was gruelingly hot. Seagulls cawed overhead while the smell of salt water wafted through our camps. As we bent over our fire to heat water for cleaning dishes, we ladies could hear the low rumbles of cannon fire and the sharp pops of rifles coming from the woods. The sun was too hot so we agreed to forgo the dishes and dragged our chairs under the shade of an oak tree. Too hot to move, we sat with our heads bowed in our hot skirts wondering how the men were, in their wool coats, running in the woods carrying their heavy guns and ammunition packs.

            “They will be miserable,” we groaned.

    
  A little after all firing had ceased, the men stumbled into camp at a slight run. They dropped their packs and tore apart the meat we had for making sandwiches. Exhausted and excited the men reported that our company was finally large enough to be its own company and they did not have to join up with another one, a large feat!

Andy then relayed that he got to be acting corporal! A short-lived rise in the ranks, but a rise nonetheless. :D I congratulated Andy and told him that I was happy about his new position as it would also move up my ‘position’ in Civil War Era society. Then I poured some water over his head. :D It was happily accepted.        

We ended the night with a walk on the beach. There was a ball going on and we could hear the music, but those affairs are stuffy and boisterous. We sat on a bench overlooking the water and talked. Neshaminy Park really is very beautiful and relaxing. It was still a good event despite the heat (89 degrees.)

We also tried to make Soda Bread from this recipe. It was so hot out that even our serving utensils and pans, nowhere near the fire were hurting our hands to touch. We ended up burning it a little but the guys still devoured the whole of it before marching off to fight. By the time I realized I should have taken a picture of it, the bread was no more. It was a very fun event in a unique setting.