Expediton Natchez!

Brian and John - masters of the cabin!
Photo courtesy of Amy Briggs

Hey folks...been a long time, eh? We have been remiss in keeping up to date in our posts...matter of fact its been over a year since the last one! Egads!  We shall endeavor to do better!
On April 20th, REGAL participated in an event marking the last leg of "Expedition Natchez" - a bicentennial commemoration of Andrew Jackson's march back to Tennessee in 1813. This event was a week-long venture organized by the 7th US Infantry Living History Association and the Natchez Trace Parkway Association.  We were asked to meet some of the returning soldiers at the Meriwether Lewis Site on the Natchez Trace.  The Parkway Association graciously allowed us to "set-up" rooms in the footprint of the original Grinder's cabin - the place where Lewis met his tragic end.  Being history nerds this was more than awesome...the statement was oft made that "we're    sitting/standing/talking/existing in the exact place where  Meriwether Lewis died!

Meriwether Lewis by Charles Wilson Peale - 180

Since today and 200 years ago Grinder's Stand was a backwoods stop on the Trace we asked that our group members do a bit of research and try to put together a look that would have been at home on the Tennessee frontier in 1813.  We set a few guidelines to help folks get started and were awed by the diligent efforts of our group to be historically accurate.  Amy Briggs impressed us all with a newly made work dress based on  Past Patterns - Lewis & Clark Era: Empire Gown and she even made her own shoes!  Experimental fashion archaeology in action!  Amy experimented several times with patterns and techniques until she came out with a wearable pair of slippers.  John Polny worked tirelessly trying to put together a "correct" look on a shoestring budget and even went so far as to shave off his trusty beard! Not to mention he braved fabric buying for his beloved in order for her to have a proper frock.  Norah Glickstein, lace-maker extraordinaire hauled her bobbins out and worked while the rest of us stuffed our faces with her homemade bread.                

Norah works her fingers to the bone!
Photo courtesy of Amy Briggs

Wowing everyone with her amazing sewing skills, Mrs. Linda Gray wore an early 19th Century short gown based on the pattern from Genesee Country Village. This pattern is fairly new as it is based on an extant example from the Susan Greene collection, which was recently acquired by GCV.  If you haven't heard of the Susan Greene Collection...then click here to get an idea of the awesomeness! I have the GCV pattern too...unfortunately, I didn't get mine finished in time, but so far it has gone together very well and it's really quite easy.  Linda said she did have a bit of trouble fitting across the shoulders and under the arms, but added some gussets and it fit fine.
We had a great time at Grinder's Stand and enjoyed perfect Spring weather and fantastic company.  By the way, if you haven't caught the small exhibit at the Meriwether Lewis site you really should!  It's very well done and combined with a hike on the surrounding trails and a drive on the Trace makes for a perfect day...add 1813 work wear, great company and hanging out in the footprint of the                                                                      Grinder's cabin and you have an ABSOLUTELY                                                                       PERFECT day!

Jim and Linda Gray looking historically awesome!
Photo courtesy of Amy Briggs

Brian and Neale check out the exhibit at the Meriwether Lewis site
Photo courtesy of Tonya Staggs

Thanks to the Natchez Trace Association and the 7th US Infantry Living History Association for inviting us and to REGAL members for being awesome! Stay tuned for more info on our next local War of 1812 event in Fayetteville....it'll be in September, so there's plenty of time to get your work-wear civilian kit together and remember we are always here to help at beaujaneandgeorge@gmail.com or visit the REGAL Facebook page.

A Toast to the Titanic

Just before midnight on April 14th, 1912 the Titanic struck an iceberg and began its plunge into the icy depths of the North Atlantic taking with her the lives of more than 1500 passengers.  The story of the Titanic grabbed the world's attention more than any other maritime disaster.  Perhaps it was the symbolism of the great ship...a wonder of modern engineering brought to its tragic end by nature or the stories of the souls lost.  Whatever it was that resonated with the public, the Titanic remains the most famous maritime disaster of all time. Even the Lusitania sinking which became a rallying cry that brought America into the first World War has since been mostly forgotten about while the legacy of the Titanic still beckons us in song, cinema and television.  Find more about the Lusitania here: http://www.pbs.org/lostliners/lusitania.html

100 years later we are still captivated by the story of the great ship and its human cargo.  In that same year the SS Kiche Maru, a Japanese steamship, sank during a typhoon on September 22nd with over 1,000 lives lost and no survivors.  Almost no newspaper accounts exist of this tragedy...not even in Japanese sources.


http://www.wrecksite.eu/


The RMS Empress of Ireland was an ocean liner that sank in the St. Lawrence River after being struck by a Norwegian ship - over 1,000 lives were lost making it the deadliest maritime disaster in Canadian history.  While travelling Titanic exhibits tour the world and Titanic museums exist in places like Tennessee, Massachusetts, Missouri and Ireland (just to name a few), the Empress of Ireland has an exhibit space at a maritime museum in Quebec, Candada - Site Historique Maritime de la Pointe-au-Pere.  Read why the Empress was forgotten here:  http://cruiselinehistory.com/?p=3099

None of this is to disparage our fascination with the Titanic or to lessen the liner's tragic toll...but instead to wonder...why she holds our attention as no other ship has or possibly ever will?  Like many others here in America and the UK, REGAL will mark the 100th anniversary of the great ship's sinking with our own 1912 event.  Our Titanic evening, A Toast to the Titanic, will start out in 1st class with drinks at the Oak Bar located inside the historic Hermitage Hotel (ca.1910 ) and then move on to dinner and music in steerage at the Irish pub McNamara's.
Drinks at the Oak Bar will begin at 4:30 p.m. - please note that seating is first come first serve. 
http://www.thehermitagehotel.com/homepage.aspx
http://www.mcnamarasirishpub.com/
After drinks everyone will make their way under their own steam to McNamara's for dinner and music in steerage. The steerage festivities will begin at 6 :30 p.m. and seating will be reserved for those that RSVP. Reservations for the event must be made by April 4th - if you do not RSVP you may be standing! 
RSVP on the Facebook event page here:
http://www.facebook.com/events/340439339336045/ 
or email your reservation to beaujaneandgeorge@gmail.com
No admission charged but everyone is responsible for their own costs. Since there will be driving involved from the bar to the pub we ask that you have plans for a designated driver.  Please come in your best 1912 duds as historic dress is greatly encouraged!


http://photocaption.org/

Not to worry though...you will not be subjected to screenings of Titanic or to renditions of "My Heart Will Go On" but possibly to some Titanic trivia (the actual ship and not the movie)! 

Hope you can join us in commemorating this once in a lifetime anniversary and raise your glass in memory of the lives lost, the dreams dashed and the heroes made in that fateful maiden voyage.


The Unsinkable Molly Brown



Drums Along the Duck

Has it really been nearly a year since this was updated? We'll have to do better...

Well, it's finally arrived. The bicentennial of the War of 1812 is upon us, and the members of REGAL are busy preparing for the Muster on the Trace event scheduled for May 26 and 27. This will be a weekend long event hosted by the 7th U.S. Infantry reenactment group and will take place at the magnificent Gordon Ferry site, part of the Natchez Trace National Park. Find more information here:
www.nps.gov/natr/parknews/war-of-1812-partnership.htm

The event is set just prior to the outbreak of the War of 1812, at a time when suspicion and hostility between Tennessee's citizens and the neighboring Muskogee Creek nation to the south flared into open violence. The militia mustered and prepared to march south into Alabama and the entire region came to the brink of war. Members of REGAL will be portraying Tennesseans of all walks of life responding to the crisis.

But what does that mean? What did a Tennessean look like in 1812?

The next few blog posts will be an attempt to put together some simple guidelines aimed at portraying the citizens of the area at this time in history. It is not intended to be comprehensive by any means. Nor is it meant to be an encompassing look at clothing of the era. Instead, we'll be looking at some of the slender threads of evidence as to what an average Tennessee man or woman specifically might have worn, and (hopefully) why he or she would have worn it. So stay tuned, and watch this spot. More to come!

But next...a detour forward in time.

Talkin' the Talk

One of the more entertaining reads surviving from this period is the Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue by Capt. Francis Grose.

First printed in 1785, it is a curious document. Much of it seems to be cribbed from the Nathan Bailey's Canting Dictionary of 1736, a collection of thieves' and underworld slang. Controversy exists as to how many of those early terms were still in use fifty years later when Grose's book first hit the streets, but many of the terms and phrases he uses are surprisingly modern and are still in use today. And I maintain that some are long overdue for a comeback. The book can be a neat way to salt a historic impression with authentic period slang.  Below are a few entertaining examples:

Act of Parliament: A military term for small beer, five pints of which, by an act of parliament, a landlord was formerly obliged to give to each soldier gratis. [And one hopes the innkeeper would be reimbursed for his expense. The term "it would take an Act of Parliament," meaning something all but impossible, is still in use today.]

Beau-trap: A loose stone in a pavement, under which water lodges, and on being trod upon, squirts it up, to the great damage of white stockings... [One of my favorites, the Georgian equivalent of a cross-town bus on a rainy day.]

Fly-by-night: You old fly-by-night; an ancient term of reproach to an old woman, signifying that she was a witch, and alluding to the nocturnal excursions attributed to witches, who were supposed to fly abroad to their meetings, mounted on brooms. [Another one that's still with us, now meaning something shady or illegal. It seems obvious, but I have to admit, I had no idea where the term comes from.]

Heighty Toity: Dancing the wicked
waltz in 1801.

Heighty Toity: A hoydon or romping girl. [Elsewhere Grose defines "hoyden" and "romping" as a girl who is forward in her behavior. One can already see the transition to the modern "hoity toity," though with a very different definition to our modern one as pretentious or putting on airs.]

Huckle my butt: Beer, egg, and brandy, made hot. [OK, so I added this one just because the name made me laugh. Seriously, when was the last time you ordered this in a bar or restaurant?]

Leaky: Apt to blab; one who cannot keep a secret is said to be leaky. [I want to see this one make a comeback. I know some rather leaky people.]

Rigamarole: Roundabout, nonsensical. He told a long rigamarole story.

Well, that's enough rigamarole for one session. I have to pad the hoof and yam, but there'll be more next time.



You Say Ridicule And I Say Reticule...

Recently, I've been thinking about the reticule, so often included as a little extra in reproduction sewing patterns...a little bonus to complete your period look.  Yet, how many of us actually know anything about this supposedly ubiquitous 19th century fashion accessory? 

First, let's start with the name.  I've heard it said and seen it written that the term reticule was derived from the word ridicule and were thus interchangeably called ridicules and reticules. The story goes that reticules were seen as an impractical fashion accessory and were as such deemed ridiculous and given the moniker of  a ridicule.  Well, being an inquisitive sort I decided to embark on a little research expedition.  A search of any online dictionary reveals that the word reticule has its roots in the Latin word reticulum, meaning "netted bag" with the origin of reticule being placed in 19th century France.  Further investigation traces the first known printed usage of reticule to Katherine Wilmot who wrote of the "little workbag" in a letter dated 1801 (An Irish Peer on the Continent 1801-1803).  Interestingly, a reticulum in ancient Rome was a netted hair accessory much like a snood and according to Karen K. Hersch, The Roman Wedding: Ritual and Meaning in Antiquity, inspired both the name and form of the reticule (Footnote 192, pg. 108). 

Portrait from Pompei in which the subject wears a reticulum.

Now to look up the definition of ridicule and we find the word is most likely based on the Latin ridiculum and originated in France during the 17th century (1690 in print).  As you might guess the definition seems to have always meant to subject someone or something to mockery and derision.  The Latin ridiculum actually means "to neuter"...ouch. The use of ridicule as a noun began around 1700 and here are two examples of the word's use as such and seemingly by these prints to mean someone that is an object of...you guessed it...ridicule. 

http://images.library.yale.edu/walpoleweb/fullzoom.aspimageid=lwlpr03351  http://images.library.yale.edu/walpoleweb/fullzoom.asp?imageid=lwlpr03417



So, now we know what our words mean.  In my mind, this tells me that the term reticule was derived from the very logical Latin term reticulum, meaning "netted bag" and most likely any interchange between the two terms arose from the perfect opportunity for a little humorous word play.  Also, keep in mind both the British and American ability to mispronounce French words...perhaps the interchange comes from an honest mistake of hearing the word wrong.  Try it for yourself...pronounce ridicule and reticule in succession...it's much harder to tell them apart when only listening to the words...now, imagine those words passing between French and English and a mistake in hearing seems very likely.   

 

Ridicule





Reticule

  





 

 







Perhaps we can best sum this up by consulting the quite awesome World Wide Words http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-ret3.htm

"The reticule was indeed sometimes slangily called a ridicule during the early nineteenth century, but it was either an ignorant or a joking transformation of the older term. Charles Dickens used it in Oliver Twist in 1838."

There you have it...I blame Charles Dickens for this whole ridiculous reticule mess!  Ahh...but, I fear that Americans had some hand in this as well and that the dilemma existed long before Dickens put pen to paper.  The book,  Historic Dress In America by Elisabeth McClellan, gives mention of a Philadelphia magazine that in 1808 wrote, "no lady of fashion now appears in public without a ridicule - which contains her handkerchief, fan, card-money and essence-bottle" (pg.82).  This would appear to offer proof that the reticule was indeed known as a ridicule.  Yet, from this reference we can't know if the term ridicule was a mistake in writing, hearing or was truly known as such.  Whatever, the case it seems clear that the word ridicule well predates reticule and that the first written description of such an item refers to it as a reticule.  If the two terms came about to be used interchangeably then I'm led to believe that a reticule was first known as a reticule and only later a ridicule whether by mistake, humor or both.  So...what do you think? Now I wouldn't partake in all this talk of reticules and not give you lots of pretty pictures...stay tuned for the next installment...PRETTY PICTURES are promised!



The Bastille Day Challenge

July 14, 1789: Democracy in action.

    Tomorrow marks the big 222 for one of the seminal moments that helped to bring about the Regency era. On 14 July 1789 a mob of several hundred stormed the infamous Bastille prison in Paris seeking to secure arms and ammunition for the revolt against King Louis XVI.  Since 1880, France has celebrated the fête nationale (national celebration) on the 14th, celebrating the end of feudalism that followed the storming of the fortress.

    For 130 years the people of France have welcomed the day with fireworks, feasts, a military parade, and taking pride in just being French. Traditionally, traffic offenses were pardoned on this date and the president held a state of the nation interview with the press, although the current president seems to be a bit of a spoilsport in this respect.

    In this country, July 14 usually passes unnoticed except as the day before payday for many. However, in some areas, there really is a throwdown to celebrate the occasion. And in some cases the celebration has become almost insanely elaborate.

    So, in honor of the date, REGAL issues this challenge: send your pictures of how you celebrated Bastille Day to the REGAL Facebook page, or comment below. Now's the time to get out your liberty cap and baguette and get out that copy of A Tale of Two Cities. If you happen to have the head of a royalist mounted on a pike in your closet, now would be a great time to get it out. Or go to the nearest hamburger joint and have a big cup of French fries. Big or little, elaborate or plain, just drop us a line and let us know how you got your Bastille on.

What's In a Name?



George IV and his bling.

     With the Royals visiting California, it seems fitting to talk about the Crown. The "official" Regency is 200 years old this year. Great Britain defined the Regency as lasting from 1811 to 1820. This is the era in which George III was declared unfit to rule due to his mental illness and was replaced by his son George, Prince of Wales, who acted as Prince Regent under the "Care of the King During His Illness Act" of February, 1811. The Regency ended when the third George died in 1820, and his son was crowned George IV.

      The term "Regency" has come to be used very loosely, especially on this side of the Atlantic. It gets a bit confusing. If you're like me and you consult the great oracle Wikipedia hoping for clarity, all you get is static. And I quote:



        "The term Regency era sometimes refers to a more extended time frame than the decade of the formal Regency...If Regency era is being used to describe the transition between Georgian and Victorian eras, the focus is on the pre-Victorian period from 1811, when the formal Regency began, through 1837 when Queen Victoria succeeded William IV. If, however, Regency era is being contrasted with the Eighteenth century, then the period includes the later French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Regency)

       Thanks for clearing that up. 

      Anyway, to simplify things, we as a group concentrate on the Georgian Period of history, which begins in 1714 with the coronation of George I and ends (confusingly) with the death of William IV in 1837. This long period includes not just the British Regency, but the French Ancien Regime, Revolutionary, and First Empire Periods, and the American Colonial, Revolutionary, Early Republic, and Jacksonian Eras.

       So since this whole shebang was covered by the Georgian Period anyway, why didn't we just call it the Georgian Aficionados' League?

       Because REGAL just sounded better. And the guys in the group didn't want to belong to GAL.