Category: Reenacting

Fort Ti-ed Up in Knots

On By kittycalashIn Reenacting

Warning: Heavy Re-enactor/Museum Management/Philosophical-type Content

Battle Road, with photographers

Who is this authenticity for?

I think that is the core of the question. I spent much of yesterday (when not banging head here at work) banging my thoughts on the question of Fort Ticonderoga’s standards, and the relative abilities of my family to meet them. Somehow, out of that and previous thoughts about bullying, research, cattiness, and the general meaning of “living history,” “reenacting,” and “The Hobby,” I reached a simplistic conclusion, or perhaps it was a question:

Who is the “good enough” for? Moving past that wretched verbal construct, think about this:

Each event, each unit, each individual is like a museum or historic site in microcosm.  The unit I belong has a mission: to re-enact the 2nd Rhode Island Regiment of the Revolutionary War. The regiment and its members belong to the Brigade of the American Revolution (BAR), which has a mission, “The Brigade is a non-profit living history association dedicated to recreating the life and times of the common soldier of the American War for Independence, 1775-1783.”

Clear enough, right? Following from the mission would be standards. And those standards would, in an organization’s strategic plan, be goals. (The vision statements or values statements would be different–and I don’t know what they would be for the BAR. For my unit, I can only guess but I think one of our value statements would be “Tolerance, kindness, patience.”)

So, let us consider the nexus of the BAR and Fort Ticonderoga from the mission and standards point of view. They clearly overlap where the recreation of the life and times of the common soldier are considered in the context of 1777’s assault by the Continentals on the Fort. Excellent. Because everything you do as an organization should point toward, or be derived from, or further your mission. The BAR, in fulfilling its mission to recreate the life of the common soldier, creates an event that fulfills Fort Ti’s mission “to ensure that present and future generations learn from the struggles, sacrifices and victories that shaped the nations of North America and changed world history. They serve this mission by:

  • “Preserving and enhancing our historic structures, collections, gardens and landscapes.
  • Educating and inspiring our visitors about the history of Fort Ticonderoga and the diverse peoples who met here in war and peace.”

The BAR event would fall under the “educating and inspiring” part of “how” the Fort fulfills its mission.

Clear enough so far, I think, how the BAR and the Fort overlap. Now comes the tricky part: the people part.

Looking at the Fort Ticonderoga event, my first thought weeks ago was, “We can’t do that; no Rhode Island troops were there.” I’m not just a stitch counter—I’m a troop counter too. Then I realized that there aren’t necessarily enough MA and NH re-enacted troops to make the event possible without “reinforcements” from other states.

Conquering that, I began to consider the standards, and as previously stated, I’m a stitch counter so I have to follow them or be a hypocrite. And that’s when I started thinking about “who is this good enough for?” What’s my mission? Is it aligned with my unit’s mission, the BAR mission, or even my own family’s mission?

Because the place of overlap, given that this is a hobby, is in the conjunction of my desire to have fun, and the mission of the BAR: If I think it is fun to “recreate the life and times of the common soldier,” then we’re good.  I love to sew, the challenge of creating 18th century garments for the three of us is fun the way art school was fun, but it’s not any fun to be all dressed up with no place to go.

That’s where it gets tricky.

To Ti, or Not to Ti?

On By kittycalashIn Clothing, Events, Reenacting1 Comment

We’re at a critical moment: onward to Fort Ti, or not. We haven’t had a chance to ask the captain if anyone else from our regiment is going, so we could be on our own, and need to fold into another unit in the field. Fortunately, Mr. S has done that in the past, fielding with a NY Regiment at the School of Instruction. So that’s not the barrier.

We can probably borrow a tent from the Captain, perhaps even one that will not collapse in a high wind, or be ripped to shreds. (It’s a bit of a Swamp Yankee unit, stuff is kept and mended for years, which makes it all the more authentic for this recreation of the “Ragged Lousey Naked Regiment.”)

I can get the day off, and I bet Mr S can get off work early enough that we can get to Fort Ti before dark. I don’t want to set up camp in the dark…and I bet I can figure out food and eating and cooking and even coffee.

No, what’s stopping me is “Information for Reenactors,” or the authenticity standards. There aren’t any for the women attending the event, since we won’t be “in the line,” so it isn’t about me. It’s about the men. I think of the things I’ve made and the time I have and am convinced “We’re not good enough.”

Thanks, Fort Ti!

I get the standards, and I appreciate them. I’m a thread counter myself. But the standards are high and I don’t think we’ll meet them—I know Young Mr.’s footwear won’t. He only has modern shoes, he’s a size 12, and possibly growing. Could I even get him shoes in hand by July 19? Maybe… after that we get into the clothing, which for the boys would need to be re-fitted, and perhaps even made.

So I think, on the whole, we will have to pass on Fort Ti until another year, one when we can meet the standards. Sad for us, but at least the Fort’s staff and the other attendees will not be perturbed by the child’s rubber soles.

Or do I order shoes for the child, and start sewing like a madwoman on the off-chance that Mr. S really can get off at noon, or that I can pick him up by 2:00 at a commuter line station on the way north?

Decisions…and internal conflict. Feeling “not good enough” for standards sucks, especially when you take standards seriously. At some point, OSV is going to enforce the standards they have copied from Fort Ti and Battle Road. These are good things.  But the bar is high, and I think that the kid-shoe factor is a major irritant for some folks, and to a degree to me, though I can afford the shoes and can even, by force of will, cause them to be worn, as long as they arrive in time. (Fugawee, not Robert Land, would have to be the supplier.)

And that seems like madness, really. Better to focus on the mission, if you will, the core:  Improving regimental kit, and expanding civilian wear over time, for Battle Road and elsewhere. It makes participating in the hobby more like running a museum, and while I love my job, I was honestly looking to have a little more fun than I do at work.

 

Blueberries & Panic

On By kittycalashIn Food, Museums, Reenacting

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It is just about blueberry season here–maybe two more days to go, really–and they are a lovely addition to oatmeal for breakfast. A good solid meal is what you need when you’re starting a day of random panic attacks about whether or not an exhibit will get done. I was up at 5 to start writing the main case label, surrendering to the inevitable since I began writing it in my head when I woke up at 4:30. Now I need only fit in working out, sewing a dress, making two lunches, showering, and getting the Young Mr off to summer camp by 8. Madness.

But I was struck by a comment on an earlier post, one about authenticity. The fight continues, and the comment reminded me of a conversation going on over at Historically Speaking/Daily Reenactor. There has been some bad stuff happening in units out there in the real world, and online, too. To do these subjects justice, I need more time and thought that I can put in right now, but I refer interested parties to Kelsey’s blog, where there is much to read and consider.

Now, back to panicking for me.

Vogue for the Lower Sorts

On By kittycalashIn Clothing, Reenacting

How does a reenactor know what to wear? There’s a wide range of choices for any decade, so how do you know what’s right?

Well, you don’t, not without documentation. This is where it can be nice to be a soldier. There’s griping in my house about “plain old white linen grumble frocks grumble waistcoat grumble” but really, the man and boy know who they are and what to put on. (Doesn’t stop them wanting regimentals, and I know they’re casting sidelong covetous glances at British coats.)

What about the women? The range is vast, from Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Izard

to the  Oyster Seller.

Both are ca. 1775, though the original Oyster Seller was probably earlier, but here’s the thing: how differently would she have dressed in 1775 than she would have in 1765?

It’s a point taken up, to a degree, in The Dress of the People, which I devoured in the orthopedist’s waiting room yesterday.

So if you know you’re not Alice Delancey Izard, but you’re not really an oyster seller, either, what do you do?

You check the ads.

I search runaway ads for Rhode Island to check my choices. That’s how I came to make a blue wool cloak, because I found Lucy, who ran away in December 1776 in a “blue Baize cloak.” There was Polly Young, who ran away in June, 1777, in a “black skirt petticoat and a short calico gown with long sleeves.” What did that short gown look like? I wish I knew. But it does place short gowns in Rhode Island (Lucy wore a short striped Dark Flannel gown when she ran away). Now, if only we knew what “short gown” meant in New England.