What to wear, linen or wool? A question of temperature, culture, social class, or formality?

[lukegilly13]

Forgive me if this has been discussed before...but I have not been able to find it here on the forum in the extent that I am looking for (just folks asking what to make a sack coat from).

In the above painting of the Lincoln v. Douglas debate, the politicians on stage appear to be wearing heavier woolen formal coats...yet there are folks in the cowd in their shirt sleeves. This is simply an example of both extremes at the same place at the same time.
Now I know that there were different styles and surely temperature had to play some of a role when choosing to wear linen or wool. However, my interest is in the typical american (north and south) in the period just before the outbreak of civil war. Of course I would not expect to see politicians at a formal debate as above wearing shirt sleeves....but if I recall, there are paintings of Lincoln debating in what appears to be a finely made linen frock coat. There are also pictures of him in rather warm weather wearing his noted black frock and pants. So the question to me becomes, is wool more formal (or reflect a wealthier person) than linen, or does the choice depend entirely upon season/weather? Research has been difficult as artist can take certain liberties in their paintings and what may have been a heavier wool material looks linen in the painting. Original images often do not give the time of year and are often non-typical because the photographee (if that's a word) may have dressed up for the occasion. I'm sure there's an ettiquette book out there somewhere that someone would gladly cite with an explanation of this. I'd really like to find some primary sources of first hand knowledge of choosing what men's fabric to wear. Did deep south men do as women and change attire for the occassion throughout the day? I know a dirt farmer would most likely not wear his most expensive "go to town" coat into the field to work throughout the day...but what about the wealthy slave owning southerner or the very wealthy factory owner in the north? Did they attempt to maintain their upper class status when visiting their operations (be it in a factory or on a plantation) by wearing more expensive clothing even at the risk of ruin? I look forward to discussion!

[lukegilly13]

Re: What to wear, linen or wool? A question of temperature, culture, social class, or formality?

Just adding to the discussion: Here are some images of Quatermaster Departments during the war.
LOC Image cwpb 04283
Check out the guy in the light colored (possibly linen????) frock. He sort of stands out.
LOC Image cwpb 04249
An array of different styles (I believe I even see some fancy sack coats) and colors and possibly fabrics along with a cool overcoat (top right).

[Emmanuel Dabney]

Re: What to wear, linen or wool? A question of temperature, culture, social class, or formality?

Forgive me if this has been discussed before...but I have not been able to find it here on the forum in the extent that I am looking for (just folks asking what to make a sack coat from).

In the above painting of the Lincoln v. Douglas debate, the politicians on stage appear to be wearing heavier woolen formal coats...yet there are folks in the cowd in their shirt sleeves. This is simply an example of both extremes at the same place at the same time.
Now I know that there were different styles and surely temperature had to play some of a role when choosing to wear linen or wool. However, my interest is in the typical american (north and south) in the period just before the outbreak of civil war. Of course I would not expect to see politicians at a formal debate as above wearing shirt sleeves....but if I recall, there are paintings of Lincoln debating in what appears to be a finely made linen frock coat. There are also pictures of him in rather warm weather wearing his noted black frock and pants. So the question to me becomes, is wool more formal (or reflect a wealthier person) than linen, or does the choice depend entirely upon season/weather? Research has been difficult as artist can take certain liberties in their paintings and what may have been a heavier wool material looks linen in the painting. Original images often do not give the time of year and are often non-typical because the photographee (if that's a word) may have dressed up for the occasion. I'm sure there's an ettiquette book out there somewhere that someone would gladly cite with an explanation of this. I'd really like to find some primary sources of first hand knowledge of choosing what men's fabric to wear. Did deep south men do as women and change attire for the occassion throughout the day? I know a dirt farmer would most likely not wear his most expensive "go to town" coat into the field to work throughout the day...but what about the wealthy slave owning southerner or the very wealthy factory owner in the north? Did they attempt to maintain their upper class status when visiting their operations (be it in a factory or on a plantation) by wearing more expensive clothing even at the risk of ruin? I look forward to discussion!

Mr. Gilly! Please ask simple questions! Haha I'm KIDDING! Let's unravel this.

First, what did wealthy people wear to oversee operations? It is difficult to say exactly. However, I have some reason to suspect for example the planter I most frequently research wore corduroy. I don't believe he wore it to go to Robert E. Lee's son's wedding. However, I am inclined to guess that he may have wore it to go to the fields to oversee operations or to go hunting. However, he also participated in an agricultural club and I suspect he may have worn his everyday suit of wool or linen dependent on the season. Ultimately, wealthy people are just not doing manual labor. Thus broadcloth in the field is just not that unusual when Massa is sitting on a horse under a broad brim hat.

Next, the issue of cloth representing wealth. I really have not found this to be the case except in some unique cases of cloth being marketed specifically to certain types of people (at least in the South). Still, I have evidence of hard working enslaved labors in industrial settings wearing French cassimere but also damaged cotton. I am still finding the jeans were being marketed to slaveholders for "Negro wear." But in regards to linen vs. wool: wealthy people and not so wealthy folks wore both. The driving cause for changing these clothes is the heat or lack thereof.

So if you were looking for some basic civilian wardrobe of the middle of the road you might consider:

1. White shirt (these really were more common than patterned/colored shirts) in a fine cotton or linen.
2. A silk cravat.
3. Shoes or boots.
4. Heavier trousers for winter and linen for summer. If you can only afford in time or money to make one, you might consider a slightly heavier material. But let me say that wool should not be bulky but of a finer sort. You may consider kersey, cassimere, or broadcloth.
5. A coat and the most expensive (at least in money) to acquire. You might consider when you will most be doing a civilian impression. I think the most versatile will be one of a material other than linen. However, if you want a linen coat...get one. There's nothing wrong with it but you'll be cold in the winter. If I absolutely had to pick I'd chose a muted colored sack coat (darker blue, black, brown) in wool.
6. Drawers.

Maybe this is a start but I think you are correct that artistic representations are not wrong but must be taken in connection with other thoughts or evidence.

[Pvt Schnapps]

Re: What to wear, linen or wool? A question of temperature, culture, social class, or formality?

I would think that season would be critical in some settings. For example, that photograph of quartermaster department employees in front of the "Art Building" (now the Renwick Gallery at 17th and Penn) looks like it was taken in spring or fall. It shows a mix of clothing weights as well as styles, some of which would be impracticable if the weather was either very cold or hot (although G. A. Sala described Indian summer-like weather in the winter of '64). Both E. H. Rhodes and Jubal Early reported citizens wearing linen coats during the "Siege of Washington" in July, 1864, when the temperature broke 90 degrees and it had not rained for several weeks.

[Ian McWherter]

Re: What to wear, linen or wool? A question of temperature, culture, social class, or formality?

In 1859 The Circular, the publication of the Oneida Community, reprinted this article from the Scientific American:


"Professor Hamilton, in an address on hygiene to the graduates of the Buffalo Medical College, denounced broadcloth as an enemy to exercise and health, but did not suggest a substitute. He says: "American gentlemen have adopted as a national costume, broadcloth-a thin, tight-fitting black suit of broadcloth. To foreigners, we seem always in mourning: we travel in black, we write in black, we work in black. The preist, the lawyer, the doctor, the literary man, the mechanic, and even the day-laborer, choose always the same unvarying, monotonous black braodcloth; a style and material which never ought to have been adopted out of the drawing-room or the pulpit; because it is a feeble and expensive fabric; because it is at the North no suitable protaction against the cold, nor is it indeed any more suitable at the South. It is too thin to be warm in the winter, and to black to be cool in the summer, but especially do we object to it because the wearer is always afraid of soiling it by exposure. Young gentlemen will not play ball, or pitch quoits, or wrestle or tumble, or any other similar thing, lest their broadcloth should be rended. They will not go out into the storm, because the broadcloth will lose its luster if rain falls upon it; they will not run because they have no confidence in the strength of the broadcloth; they dare not mount a horse, leap a fence, because broadcloth as everybody knows is so faithless. So these young men and these older men, merchants, mechanics, and all, learn to walk, talk, and think soberly and carefully; they seldom venture to laugh to the full extent of their sides."-Scientific American.

There are Gold Rush Daguerreotypes taken in California during the summer showing men wearing black broadcloth suits. For anyone who's ever had the pleasure of handling an original civilian black superfine wool broadcloth frock coat, you'll know that these coats are remarkably light, at least half the weight of a modern reproduction. Original superfine wool broadcloth is very thin, yet very densely woven. Comparing modern superfine broadcloth (such as Abimelech Hainsworth) to period superfine is a little like comparing apples to oranges, the weight and thickness of the wool is remarkably different. In modern America we don't commonly wear wool as everyday fabric, so there's no demand for wool to be that fine. We generally only need it for heavy winter wear, so there's a perception among modern Americans that wool is always heavy, hot and scratchy. When you feel the quality of original superfine wool you think it's more like silk than wool.

That's my two cents on wool...:)

Merchants, Mechanics and Day Laborers all wearing black wool broadcloth...Not cheap crappy jeans, even the poor have self respect and self worth.

[Hank Trent]

Re: What to wear, linen or wool? A question of temperature, culture, social class, or formality?

Out of curiosity, that first image of Lincoln speaking... something about it looks post-war to me, 1880s, maybe even turn of the 20th century, the fore-shortened perspective, the way the eyes are done in the crowd, the farmer in overalls--just looks like a post-war way of seeing the world. What is the actual date of it? If it's long post-war it's maybe not the best to use for research of crowds, when there are other period paintings to look at. Not that I see anything anachronistic about it, though. The mix of clothes is actually similar to Bingham's stump speaking painting from the mid-1850s, with a few people in shirtsleeves listening to speakers in broadcloth or linen frock coats.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@gmail.com

[ElizabethClark]

Re: What to wear, linen or wool? A question of temperature, culture, social class, or formality?

My quick thought is that dark wool need not be thick or heavy, as Mr McWherter explains. That's a common misconception, and one I'd love to see done away with! A good frock in a light, fine wool will suit in many situations.

[lukegilly13]

Re: What to wear, linen or wool? A question of temperature, culture, social class, or formality?

Thank you all for the responses.
Hank, I'm not sure of the date of the painting...it is of the Lincoln debate, however, it could be painted post war. I will check this evening from the source I used.
So, it makes sense that folks are wearing wool in the heat because the wool is much lighter than our modern repros. I have noticed that it seems that folks wear light colors in hot weather for obvious reasons.
Why linen then? Was it drastically cheaper yet not considered low class to wear? Or was the benefits of its light weight worth the risk of looking "cheep"? Somewhere I have seen an image of a plantation owner (upper class) sporting brilliantly made frock that appears to be linen....if I find it I will post it.

[newshirt]

Re: What to wear, linen or wool? A question of temperature, culture, social class, or formality?

I'd like to raise the question of jean cloth before the war. Was it strictly a slave cloth before the war, or might the common class be found wearing it in the fields?

[GWagner]

Re: What to wear, linen or wool? A question of temperature, culture, social class, or formality?

Dan Wambaugh told me once that linen was very hard to come by in the south during the war. For what it is worth, I have also read that flax does not dye easily.

Just a few points to ponder.

[Hank Trent]

Re: What to wear, linen or wool? A question of temperature, culture, social class, or formality?

Dan Wambaugh told me once that linen was very hard to come by in the south during the war. For what it is worth, I have also read that flax does not dye easily.

Just a few points to ponder.

If linen was hard to get, I wonder how many pre-war linen coats actually wore out, before the war was over? I dunno, it wears pretty well.

On a separate topic, since this thread got bumped up again, I looked up the painting. It was painted by Robert Marshall Root in 1918.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@gmail.com

[Spinster]

Re: What to wear, linen or wool? A question of temperature, culture, social class, or formality?

Linen wears exceptionally well. The much longer fiber used in quality clothing (line linen) holds up well to abrasion and wear, and wicks and breathes better than cotton. Linen tow (the shorter, broken fibers which were a byproduct of hackling) produced a cheaper coarser cloth, but one that still held up well-- hence its use in 'tow sacks' . Period cotton fibers were *much* shorter than the specially bred cottons of today, and were correspondingly difficult to deal with.

Cotton and linen provide roughly equal challenges in accepting dye, as both fibers have a 'slick' surface, as oppossed to wool, which has scales. Neither cotton nor linen take a a period black dye easily, and require excessive amounts of expensive mordant to do so.

In looking at the relative wearbility of cotton v linen, I look to a living history experiment that took place several years ago--that of reconstructing an 18th century stockade with period tools in real time, over a nine month span. One challenge the team did not expect had to do with the durability of clothing. Working in heavy rains, within two weeks, the men wearing cotton trousers and shirts were virtually in rags, while those in linen (much more appropriate to that period anyway) had sound clothing. The team ended up bringing on a number of women dedicated to fiber processing and clothing production in order to complete the project. As they were attempting to live and work totally *in period*, they eventually had as many making clothing as they had building.

[Hank Trent]

Re: What to wear, linen or wool? A question of temperature, culture, social class, or formality?

The team ended up bringing on a number of women dedicated to fiber processing and clothing production in order to complete the project. As they were attempting to live and work totally *in period*, they eventually had as many making clothing as they had building.

That reminds me of an off-topic (for this thread) discussion I had with some living history folks online a while ago. They argued that it was fine to have, for example, a woman blacksmith demonstrating 19th century blacksmithing in a living history village setting, if she had the skill.

I said that in a living history village context, if the goal was to teach about 19th century village life and not just the isolated task of blacksmithing, that taught more wrong things than right things. Who cooked her meals? Who made her clothes? Who did her laundry? How could she spend the time to be a blacksmith without a "wife" of her own? That's even ignoring the social pressure she would have felt not to be doing what she was doing, and not even getting into what she would have worn. If she (or the village powers that be) couldn't answer those questions for a visitor within the 19th century village being presented, then the village was misrepresenting 19th century life in a major way.

Personally, that would have been my first interest as a visitor, and I'd be looking for a boarding house, a seamstress and a laundress and wondering why a local man didn't set up competition to take advantage of the men who wouldn't bring their work to her on principal.

Maybe visitors just weren't supposed to care. Or maybe the ones who originally cared were supposed to be trained not to care after asking the questions before at other villages and getting enough defensive body language and non-helpful answers.

But to drag this violently back on topic, it's sometimes useful to think of clothing as just the end result of the far larger 19th century social, technological, and economic conditions, as being discussed in this thread.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@gmail.com

[PogueMahone]

Re: What to wear, linen or wool? A question of temperature, culture, social class, or formality?

Well, this may be drifting off topic, but it relates and I don't want to start another thread ...

Were false shirt fronts used during the time period or not? I have seen antique shirt fronts, usually pleated, and they seem like a reasonable thing, but just didn't know if they dated to 1860 or not.