Tips for new re-enactors.

[Southernlady1862]

Hi,

I am creating a pamphlet for all new civilians entering our group. I will be enclosing websites for research and original images for them to study. I am also putting together a list of simple, cheap, and even free ways to bring their impressions up a notch.

If you would like to share any tips, info, or links with me that you believe should be included in such a handout, I would be very grateful for your input!

If there is already a thread pertaining to this subject, please delete this one and direct me to the other... thanks!

[Union Navy]

Re: Tips for new re-enactors.

Shameless self-promotion:

http://www.authentic-campaigner.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7975

[Virginia Mescher]

Re: Tips for new re-enactors.

Virginia's spouse posting

Some additional shameless self-promotion:

https://www.raggedsoldier.com

Since the impression is more than just clothing, a collection of other stuff to round out the impression, including quite a few reproduction books.

They should also look at the menu item "Articles: Virginia's Veranda" for an assortment of online articles about what sometimes might seem like obscure topics but which are the subject of questions at events.

And since almost all the soldiers came fresh from the culture of the 1860's, they should know a lot of the stuff on the website.

Michael Mescher

[ElizabethClark]

Re: Tips for new re-enactors.

And another:

https://www.elizabethstewartclark.com

There are about 35 articles (totally free), including free undergarment projects for women, and free pinafores for girls, in the Compendium section. Poke around!

Another good one:

https://www.agsas.org

[Becky Morgan]

Re: Tips for new re-enactors.

As a general rule, buy used good equipment rather than incorrect or imperfectly made new. While quality isn't cheap, it's entirely possible to spend less on a used but serviceable correct garment than an incorrect new one that isn't likely to be fixable.

Also, when it comes to women's clothing, the underpinnings are as important as the outside.

Period newspapers from your unit's area are vastly underused by many reenactors. They are available through most public libraries and will give you a quick idea of what the prime topics of the day were in your area, whether military or civilian.

[Diochra]

Re: Tips for new re-enactors.

I have to second and third Liz's site. Having started as a poor college kid (and still being one, matter of fact), I wouldn't be here without it!

The Meschers' site is also wonderful, especially as it relates to food. Yum.

[ElizabethClark]

Re: Tips for new re-enactors.

Ashe, I started as a broke college kid, too. :)

To add a quick note to Becky's related to quality: it can be very difficult for a newbie to living history to be able to tell what looks like The Original Cast, and what doesn't. They certainly won't be helped by some of the *non*accurate vendors, who are perfectly happy to tell a buyer something is accurate just to make the sale.

Encouraging a newbie to research first, buy second (or third, or fourth!) is always a good piece of advice. When that advice can be coupled with a willingness to mentor a new enthusiast, and a goodly stack of original images to study, that's a great combination. Helping a newbie see the difference between really well-done historic clothing, and everything else, is a big thing.

I'd also encourage any new enthusiast to *not* dwell only on clothing! Certainly, the details of a physical impression are really important, but they also need to be reading for context and passion. Knowing the clothes is not enough. They need to know the stories, the lives, and the details of living in the mid-century. Music, science, how to buy groceries, how finding a place to live works... that's all part of it, and it's vital--literally, it gives life to the mannequins we would otherwise be!

[Southernlady1862]

Re: Tips for new re-enactors.

Thank you all for your feedback! The useful links have been added! I actually had Miss Clark's already, a great site!
The main thing I'm trying to push in the pamphlet is "don't buy ANYTHING alone! " . It pains me to see, no matter how many times you tell them, new "recruits" go off and buy hundreds of dollars worth of the farbiest things you've ever seen!

[Virginia Mescher]

Re: Tips for new re-enactors.

Virginia's spouse again.

I would add to the "don't buy anything alone" with "ask whomever you are shopping with what the backup documentation would be for everything you buy". So many times we have heard "the captain's wife told me this was okay".

I could go down just about any company or civilian street at a reenactment and see that someone was getting bad advice or just assumed that because a sutler offered something that it must be correct. I remember one event that had so much of the blue enamelware sitting out that it looked like a turquoise sales booth.

Really it is no different than any advice you get in this hobby. Even with advice from people who are recognized as knowledgeable in their field, if you want to be totally comfortable, you should check their documentation and reasoning and make up your own mind.

Michael Mescher

[Becky Morgan]

Re: Tips for new re-enactors.

I'd also encourage any new enthusiast to *not* dwell only on clothing!

Preach it, Mrs. Clark! I have been to a lot of places, from reenactments to living history sites, where the clothing was perfect and the attitudes weren't. A patently fake accent bothers me far more than a hidden zipper would if I knew about it. The most perfectly reproduced coat on earth won't make up for the guy inside it going around bragging about how great it is when the person he represents would only have cared that it kept him warm and in uniform. You're right about the mannequins; if what it looked like is the only concern, a diorama will do. If what it WAS LIKE is the desired outcome, that takes more work.

[Southernlady1862]

Re: Tips for new re-enactors.

Good point Mr. Mescher. It's pitiful the items I purchased when I first entered the hobby.... all at someone else's suggestion. I shudder to look at the old photos of myself......
We now have a "fashion coordinator" in the unit that we try to refer everyone to. He's very well researched, and will provide documentation when needed. Now, if only the new recruits would take his advice!

[Diochra]

Re: Tips for new re-enactors.

Make a book list. (Have enthusiastic reviews to tempt possible non-readers.) Here are a few of my favorites:

A People's History of the Civil War by David Williams

http://www.amazon.com/Peoples-History-Civil-War-Struggles/dp/1595580182

A good, and sad, overview of the Civil War and the years preceding. I admit I cried.

Sarah Morgan: The Civil War Diary Of A Southern Woman by Charles East

http://www.amazon.com/Sarah-Morgan-Civil-Diary-Southern/dp/0671785036/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265853622&sr=1-1

Note: In the "Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought" section there are links to more diaries. Diaries are the best. I'm putting a handful on my 'to-library' list now. ;)

I'll have to dig for others; those are just the ones I have offhand. Period poetry and fiction is also fun: Dickens, Trollope, et al. Liz might have some suggestions; I just bought two early Dickens novels but haven't read him yet. :D Can't give opinions! Note that Jane Austen was published in the period but wasn't remotely close to being as popular as she is now.

I'd also encourage newbies to discover where their own interests lie. For example, I'm a modern-day graphic design student, so finding out about period printing, typography and color theory is really fun for me. You could also give a few 'starter' recipes for food and drink.

[ElizabethClark]

Re: Tips for new re-enactors.

I like Elizabeth Gaskell better than Austen in many ways. And the classic "gothic" horror stories are also fun as background reading for the sort of thing mid-century folks found existentially creepy. Scientific American (the modern mag) has excerpts from mid-century editions of Scientific American each month, too, for those who are of a less "romantic" mind.

There is literally not a single modern interest that does not have a mid-century correlation!