Final Project Prospectus: 18th Century Clothing
This project will explore 18th century clothing as a means of understanding more about the lives of people at the time. Clothing served more than just a functional role of keeping people decently covered or warm; it was a mark of status and position in society, and could be used as a vehicle for political protest, as in the case of ladies wearing homespun to a governor’s ball in Williamsburg.
The project will pull together information from extant garments, inventories, newspaper advertisements, and letters to see what is revealed about the culture and the times through a better understanding of clothing and its role in 18th century society. What has survived, what has not; how were garments made, and of what fabrics; how many of these garments did people of various social standing typically have; what were the tensions between the colonies and London merchants that can be illustrated by clothing? Depending on the examples found, the project may be narrowed as it progresses to include only women’s clothing.
These questions will be explored through an interactive web site. A section of instructional materials will be included to aid instructors in using the information in their teaching.