Mens everyday clothing

[hardeeflag]

I have a question regarding men's every day clothing. I've been out of the hobby for about 5 + years and thinking about getting back into it on a casual basis. Being right about close to 50 now I wont be doing military any more. I will leave that to the younger men. I have a question about what the average male would have worn on a everyday basis. I'm trying to model my impression about my own economic status and jobs skills. This would be purely middle class service worker/provider. I currently am in IT but not sure what parallel occupation in the 1850s/1860s except maybe telegraph operator or lineman...

What would the average male of that class wear? I tend to not wear my best clothes on a daily basis even to my every day job. When I grab a coat it is denim or leather jacket that is durable and if I brush up against something I am not worried about a scuff or rub or two.

So what would be everyday decent looking clothing that the typical male would be wearing. Would these be broadcloth coats or something like a Satinette for a more durable wear and not worry about you best clothes getting soiled. I'd imagine working black broadcloth would show a lot of dirt or dust. What are some other materials for common everyday coats and trousers

I live in the southwest so even with the above occupation, I don't think there were a lot of telegraph lines as you got west of the Mississippi.

Also not many vendors taking orders for civilian clothing these days. Thanks.

[fahtz]

Re: Mens everyday clothing

I think you are on the right path cloth wise. A wool broadcloth will go a long way. Jean cloth might make too poor of a economic statement for your chosen profession... maybe you are part of the beginning stages of line runner? Maybe you are scouting for line paths... I must admit I haven't looked into that particular impression.

Since you have picked the fabric, now think pattern of fabric- what do you like color wise? Are you a window pane kinda guy? I like staying to solids on outer garments, but do not shy away from a pattern on the vest and trousers. In fact I am having a window pane wool made into a pair of trousers and vest right now. But not a three piece matching suit! The seamstress and I discussed this idea, and both agreed we do not see many images with three piece suits of the day.

For the coat, think darker for a wool. Lighter for a linen. That is an over generalization, but it may serve you better in the SW. I love linen in my every day life, and I love it in my period wear as well!

Vendors- Usual suspects are still around... Corner Clothiers, Originals by Kay, etc. Join a civilian Facebook group and you will find piles of folks (myself included) doing exactly what you are... giving up military and going civilian! It is a great time to make the switch!

[hardeeflag]

Re: Mens everyday clothing

So broadcloth would be everyday use as opposed to say Kersey or Satinette? Dust is terrible out here so I'd imagine a dark brown or of a salt and pepper gray might better here.

I need to do some more research on occupations out this way but there don't seem to be of the gentile sort of occupation. just crossing form Texas to my area was potentially a risk of life and as the war got into later stages of 1862 you might not keep your hair. Freight running, trading, mining, overland mail, Mill operator, etc. I don't think the occupations out this way were real social gentile type.

[fahtz]

Re: Mens everyday clothing

Rich,

I have to admit the fabrics are all a bit fuzzy... been years since I have dug through that info. So I turned to the handy search feature here... and found this thread that contains a thesis with the Steamboat Bertrand as the subject. http://www.authentic-campaigner.com/...lian-Sack-Coat

From Vicki Betts' post:


Meyer, Deborah Jane Colton. "Virginia City, Montana Territory: 'The
Social City': An Interpretive Look at the Coats of the Steamboat
Bertrand." M.S. thesis, University of Missouri-Columbia, 1990.

There were 61 sack coats on the Bertrand. "Identified
by crate information, 28 of the 61 coats--nearly half--were manufactured
by the firm of Young and Company of St. Louis, Missouri...Many of the
sack coats of the Bertrand exhibit striped, checked, or plaid material,
although further study of waistcoats and trousers would be needed to
determine if the sack coats found are part of ditto suit ensembles. All
of the sack coats bound for Vivion and Simpson feature rather narrow
collars with rounded or square corners. These single-breasted sack
coats have lapels that tend to be rather narrow in width, although a
small number sported wider lapels. Most of the sack coats examined
feature a breast pocket on the left, and have a waist-level pocket on
the right, although some coats feature waist pockets on both sides with
smaller pockets directly above the waist pockets. These pockets were
constructed in the welt technique. There is an abundance of
top-stitching along all edges of the coat, including front openings,
pockets, collars, and sleeves. The use of decorative braiding was also
used along coat edges, i.e. sleeves, pockets, collars and front
openings. The buttons used include: leather, hard rubber, metal, and
cloth-covered forms. On one coat, frogs (corded or braided loops) were
used as fasteners instead of buttons. Many of the coats appear to have
had interlining (composed of either linen, wool or perhaps a horsehair
blend) which has deteriorated. Some coats are identified as having an
interlining, however, it was used only in areas needing interfacing such
as the lapels and collar. The coats were not fully interlined as the
preliminary description indicates. In general the sack coats are in
poorer condition than the two styles of coats described previously."

1 coat--black and gray tweed
1 coat--brownish gray with black vertical stitching
1 coat--dark grayish-brown
2 coats--grayish-brown
2 coats--black and white tweed
4 coats--black
5 coats--brown
5 coats--brownish-gray with white pinstripe
7 coats--blackish-gray with white pinstripe
10 coats--dark gray
11 coats--brown with black and white pinstripe
12 coats--brown with black 3/16" vertical stripe.

I must admit I am an hour from the Steamboat Bertrand, and haven't been back since 2003... Guess we can call that life.

[LibertyHallVols]

Re: Mens everyday clothing

One resource that might be helpful is the Library of Congress' online photos. There are photographs of tradesmen at work, civilian scouts alongside of military personnel, and civilians (such as sutlers, etc) together with the military. Also, there are a number of photographs of civilians, posed in groups.

These can be great help (especially with the high-resolution images available) when trying to learn what civilians might wear. The photographs of civilians in Northern urban areas that show more men "dressed for business", you see a lot of dark sack coats and dark hats. Trousers seem to be a mix of dark cloth similar (matching?) to the coat, patterned cloth (houndstooth, etc), and fabric such as corduroy. Foot wear is harder to judge because what looks like shoes could be boots hidden under trousers. However, you do see a mix of exposed boot-tops and what could be shoes.

Men at work or scouts in the field are dressed more casually and with less "fine" fabrics. You see more straw hats and linen coats, as well as cheaper fabrics on trousers. In some cases, however, you have to look carefully to notice that a gent standing among a group of officers is actually a civilian... what looks like a private purchase sack coat on an officer is frequently simply a civilian in-camp.

I'll try to dig up some links later, if I can.

In the meantime, go to the LoC site and do some searches for terms like "scout", "shop", "sanitary", or "commission" and see what pops up.

[LibertyHallVols]

Re: Mens everyday clothing

Here are a few of Sanitary Commission civilians:

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/cwp/item/94502624/resource/

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/cwp/item/cwp2003000992/PP/resource/

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/cwp/item/cwp2003000469/PP/resource/

Scouts:

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/cwp/item/cwp2003006600/PP/resource/

(There are a number of threads -including posts by me- on this band of rascals!)

Blacksmiths: http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collecti...4/PP/resource/
(Leather) Trimming Shop Men: http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collecti...0/PP/resource/

Enjoy!

[Elaine Kessinger]

Re: Mens everyday clothing

The Man's Wardrobe Toolbox; Compiling a wardrobe for portraying the mid 19th century man
by Elaine Kessinger

Please let me know if the link doesn't work or Google Drive is not playing nicely with your computer software. :-)

[J. Donaldson]

Re: Mens everyday clothing

Elaine-

Thank you for posting that document. I'm in the process of expanding my civilian impression(s), and that is a great starting point for planning what I need.

[hardeeflag]

Re: Mens everyday clothing

Elaine,

Nice document. Thanks.

[BobRoeder]

Re: Mens everyday clothing

Since you mentioned "telegraph operator" you can also search the LOC for that subject, there's a bunch of photos here:

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/search/?q=telegraph&co=cwp

Also, besides the above very helpful source, others might include the men's (& childrens ?) issue from "The Citizens' Companion" magazine (www.citizenscompanion.com) - sorry don't recall the exact issue, and/or "An Introduction to Civil War Civilians" by Juanita Leisch - http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-C...lian+civil+war

Cheers,