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Exploring the Artifacts: Just a Matter of Time

 

Popular from 1600 to 1650, the Lantern Clock that is located in the Governor’s Parlor of the Manor House is just one example of many that were produced during that period of time. The design, English in origin, is characteristically known for its square, lantern shape, single hand face and ornate engravings. Lantern clocks were hung on the wall and were broader than the Gothic wall clocks that were previously popular.

 

Almost entirely constructed from brass and driven by weights, Lantern clocks were modern for their time and fulfilled all the important requirements of a clock, such as keeping a time standard, having a driving force, and having a counting and indicating system.

The lantern clocks would later be replaced by the Longcase Clock (seen right and below), which became popular in the 18th Century.  This later design 

would show off a woodworker’s skills by encasing the mechanical functions with intricately-designed panels.   

  Continue reading “Exploring the Artifacts: Just a Matter of Time”

Confessions of a Costumier: Dressing the Laborers

About a month has passed since our 17th-Century Fashion Show, and we had such an amazing time!  A HUGE thank-you goes out to our lovely volunteer models (L-R) Mike Thomforde, Maggie Brosz, Joe Long, Valerie Long, Steve Ringel, Melissa Dill, Ron Matlack, and Judith Kirby.  Don’t they look great??

I finally have some time to begin sharing what was discussed during the program.  We covered so much about the evolution of clothes in the 17th century, but what I want to highlight most is the diversity in society.  I previously posted a teaser of these various styles, and it’s an important step in the evolution of our living history programs.  Fashions changed not just for the aristocracy, but all the lower classes as well.  A colorful range of people would have lived and worked in colonial Pennsylvania, and we strongly believe all those people should be represented at Pennsbury Manor.  This includes showing the variations in their wardrobe!

So today we begin with the lower class of residents at Pennsbury: the Laborers.  Whether you were plowing the field, tending the kitchen garden, or churning butter in the dairy, your clothes needed to be practical.  Below you see Mike and Maggie modeling appropriate ensembles.  Compare them with the 17th-century drawings by Marcellus Laroon, which depict the poor street cryers in late 17th-century London.

Outdoor laborers would have needed to dress for the weather and conditions required of their jobs.  While they might have a better set of clothes for Sundays or special occasions, out in the fields their attire had to be sturdy and comfortable.  Mike is modeling a shirt, coat, and breeches which are all linen and obviously too big to be made for him specifically.  He could have received hand-me-downs or bought clothes secondhand from a street cryer or ready-made from a store.  His monmouth cap was a universal style worn by land laborers and sailors alike for centuries.  If performing a dirtier job, he would don an apron like the one seen below on the vinegar-seller.  

Just like Mike, Maggie is dressed to tackle the hard jobs all laboring women would face depending on the season.  She might spend her days washing clothes, tending the Kitchen Garden and animals, brewing beer, or preparing meals at the hearth.  The older style of short gown, rather than the more recent mantua style (seen in a previous post), would have been safer for working around fires and less cumbersome when laboring in the garden or stable.  Her apron is made of a spare piece of rough linen and kerchief tucked into her bodice and out of the way.  The only sign of fashion is the striped linen petticoat.  

**You might be wondering why our models don’t have any shoes on in these pictures?  That’s because we haven’t been able to afford any.  We are fundraising to purchase reproduction shoes, because an interpreter in sneakers ruins the whole atmosphere created by historical dress, am I right?  To help out, you can visit our official website www.pennsburymanor.org and click the “Donate Now” button at the bottom.**

 

Written by Hannah Howard, Volunteer Coordinator

The Country Life: Beating the Winter Cold

Although the Penn family did not reside at Pennsbury in the dead of winter, the estate was certainly not dead; the staff worked to ensure the smooth running of Penn’s summer home in all seasons. Colonial gardeners were no exception, cultivating techniques to battle the cold and prepare for spring. As colonials tired of pickled and salted foods during the winter months, they longed for fresh produce. The hot bed, an important part of the colonial kitchen garden, allowed colonists to begin growing vegetables before spring thawed the ground.

 

16th-century engraving of a gardener working on his raised garden beds (“The Gardener’s Labyrinth,” Thomas Hill).  Raised bed allowed gardeners to adjust the composition of the soil, adding or lessening acidity depending on the plant being cultivated.  Hot beds were a variation on the standard raised bed frame.

 

In Pennsbury’s garden, the hotbed is located opposite the riverside next to the cold frames. A brick and wood structure, the hotbed protects seedlings from the bitter cold and provides the perfect environment for out-of-season growth. Colonial gardeners would have layered soil over fresh manure from the barn to create the heat source. Once the manure cooled to about seventy degrees Fahrenheit, the bed was ready for seeds. Straw placed on top provided additional protection from the elements. If prepared properly, the hotbed could retain its heat for several weeks.

Although its main purpose was to jumpstart vegetables in the cold weather, colonial gardeners would have used the hotbed year round to grow a variety of plants. We still use the hotbed for this purpose at Pennsbury (see below). For example, last summer, the gardeners used the hotbed to provide a space for growing flax. The hotbed gave us the perfect place to monitor the young flax plants and ensure they would be mature enough for the fall harvest.

 

A hotbed at Pennsbury Manor, 2011

 

Colonists were not able to simply walk into the supermarket and pick up fruits and vegetables during the winter like we can, but they were not completely helpless. They wasted no resources, and that includes time. While they could not beat Mother Nature’s icy grip on their gardens, they could manipulate the temperature of their own growing environment, the hotbed.

 

**Come to Pennsbury Manor’s Gardening Sunday on May 27 and see what’s starting to sprout in the Kitchen Garden!**

 

Written by Danielle Lehr, 2011 Intern

Edited by Hannah Howard

William’s World: Why Don’t You Joyn Us?

This post was written by Steve Samuel, a new volunteer interpreter in the Pennsbury Manor Joyner’s Shop!   He thought many people, like himself, wouldn’t know the difference between a Joyner and all the other woodworking trades, so he did some research…

THE WOODWORKING TRADES

Figure depicted in "The Joiner II," Denis Diderot, 1751

During Manor tours, it is not unusual for visitors as well as the occasional tour guide to stand in front of the Joyner’s Shop, and refer to the joyners as “carpenters”.  Historically, however, professional joyners distinguished themselves from carpenters as matters of both business and pride.

Dating to the mid-1400s, furniture making was overseen by the Guild of Master Carpenters, who subcontracted work to joyners, inlayers, turners, etc.  These specialists began forming their own companies (guilds) in the 16th and 17th centuries.  Each specified its distinct form of woodworking to make sure that others were not infringing on their trades.  They defined who could practice the trade, and who could not, not unlike our present-day labor unions.  In 1563, the Great Statute of Artificers established that the apprenticeship for a joyner would be 7 years.  The Faculty of Joyners and Ceilers or Carvers of London” received its charter in 1570.  Members were expected to adhere to regulations and quality standards, and could be fined for substandard work.

The Joiner I, Denis Diderot, 1751

In general, carpenters were mainly responsible for structural work.  They also made nailed, or “boarded” furniture.  They tended to work on-site.  Joyners, in contrast, joined pieces of wood together, using the mortise and tenon joint as the basis for construction of furniture, wainscoting and other fixed woodwork and paneling.  Much of the joyner’s work was performed in his shop, alone or with 1-2 apprentices.  In England and the early American colonies, the joyners were the true craftsmen of household furniture.  

Come by Pennsbury Manor next Sunday, May 6 from 1:00-4:00 to see our Joyners working in their shop.  Blacksmithing and Sheep-Shearing will also be happening around the site.

 For Further Reading:

Chinnery, Victor  Oak Furniture, The British Tradition (1979)

 Fitzgerald, Oscar  Four Centuries of American Furniture  (1995)

 Humphrey, Nick  Furniture and woodwork in Tudor England:  native practices, methods, materials and context   Furniture, Textiles and Fashion Department, Victoria and Albert Museum, London 

 

William’s World: Ode to the Springtime Milkmaid!

 

The Milkmaid, Jan Vermeer, 1657-8

I really don’t like to milk cows.  I can’t stand to churn butter.  I know this is a shocking admission from a so-called history geek, but it’s true.  So each spring I breathe a grateful sigh of relief that I can buy my milk and butter in containers at the grocery store!

I wonder how the milk-maids of Pennsbury Manor felt about these chores in the 1680s.  We don’t know their names, but we know they were here and that they were making butter:  in 1684, William Penn suggested that James Harrison’s wife, Ann, supervise the maids in the dairy;  the 1687 inventory includes churns and other butter-making equipment as well as 6 cows; there is strong evidence that a cow pen existed near the stable.  We also know, given the exhausting nature of their work, that dairy maids had to be strong and sturdy to pump away at that churn!

"The Merry Milk Maid," Marcellus Laroon, late 17th-century.

Dairy products were an important part of the diet of people in Penn’s time with butter in particular being used liberally in many recipes.  Butter was also preserved in crocks for later use, and even used as a preservative itself as it could create an airtight seal on crocks.  And of course it could be sold at market, usually by the women who made the butter.  Although buttermilk (the liquid resulting from butter production) could be turned into curds and whey for the household, “the best use of buttermilk for the able housewife is charitably to bestow it on the poor neighbours, whose wants do daily cry out for sustenance.” (Gervase Markham, The English Housewife, 1615)  Who wouldn’t want to do this after being promised that “she shall find the profit thereof in a divine place?”  Heaven for buttermilk?  What a deal!

May was the peak of butter production.  Housewives were advised to breed their cows to calve between March and April when the grass is nearly or at its richest.  The resulting milk made the best butter.  Later on in the year as the grass passed its prime (July), butter production was replaced by cheese-making – another lucrative product for households. 

engraved frontispiece of "Dictionarium Domesticum," Nathan Bailey, 1736

By 1701, the dairying equipment had disappeared from the inventory of Pennsbury Manor.  William Penn’s account books have numerous entries for purchases of butter from local young women.  Was butter not produced at Pennsbury any longer?  Or did the demands of the Penn family and guests exceed production on the site?  I am inclined to believe the latter as Penn still desired a dairy and a milk house.  Making butter was an integral chore of an estate; it would be highly unlikely that there was no dairying at all taking place.

Pennsbury will have a milking cow demonstration on April 29, and a dairying demonstration on June 17.  Both programs will take place between 1:00-4:00.  Don’t look for me to be milking or churning! 

 By Mary Ellyn Kunz, Museum Educator and Former Milkmaid

17th-Century Fashion Show!

In less than 3 weeks, we will have a very exciting event for all members of The Pennsbury Society: a 17th-Century Fashion Show!

 One of the benefits of membership in The Pennsbury Society is access to exclusive programs here at Pennsbury Manor.  On Sunday, April 22nd at 2:00pm, our second program of 2012 will take a look at 17th-Century Fashions in England and the Colonies.   Staff member and residential costume historian, Hannah Howard, will be sharing all her knowledge on the styles of William Penn’s time, including original artifacts, paintings, and drawings of the era.  The program will finish with a Fashion Show of Pennsbury’s clothing collection and discussion of how fashion changed depending on someone’s role in society, with outfits modeled by our very own volunteers!

Image courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Pennsbury Manor is a state historic site, but we owe a lot of our program funding to our not-for profit support group, The Pennsbury Society.   The funds they raise go to support our educational and specialty programs, including our wonderful Period Clothing Collection!  If you haven’t yet become a member of the Pennsbury Society, consider joining and taking advantage of our unique events and opportunities.  For more information, please stop by the Visitor Center or see our website: https://www.pennsburymanor.org/support/membership-opportunities/ 

 

Men’s Relationship to Fashion

I wanted to share an article I just read on another popular blog site called Two Nerdy History Girls.  Every so often, they post something related to late 17th-century culture.  Their most recent article, More Fashions for the Gentlemen: 1700 vs. 1800,  compares how men dressed and behaved fashionably in two different centuries. 

The article, which you can visit at the link above, includes a wonderful engraving comparing men’s fashion trends in 1700 and 1800!  In today’s culture, there is a widespread idea that fashion is inherently feminine, and that men generally do not want to follow or practice fashion (although this is completely untrue, as guys follow trends just as much as the ladies).  This image illustrates several important fashion differences – the article discusses how their behavior, posture, attention to detail, and accessories change based on what was considered fashionable!

Click on the image to enlarge, and see if you can pick out what’s different!  Feel free to share your observations in the comments.  Thanks to the Two Nerdy History Girls and their interesting articles!

Hannah Howard, Volunteer Coordinator & Costumier

Living the Life of a 17th-Century Farmer

Last weekend, during our annual spring Interpreter training, I shared an amazing  BBC mini-series on 17th-century farm life, and I wanted to make sure everyone else got to hear about it too! 

(I’ve actually already shared it a couple of times on this blog, including a recent article about stuffing straw mattresses.  But this is a tv series any history buff should not miss, so I couldn’t resist re-posting a link!!)

The series, called Tales From the Green Valley, follows 5 historians and archaeologists as they live on a real 17th-century Welsh farm and perform the daily activities required to survive. Unfortunately the series is not available on DVD in US-format, but luckily all 12 episodes are available onDaily Motion:*

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xqprv1_e1-tales-from-the-green-valley_lifestyle 

These 12 episodes, one for every month of the year, offers a marvelous inside look at the daily lives of Stuart-era English farmers.  They follow the agricultural year and show how much life was influenced by the seasons, in ways that modern society hardly notices anymore. 

Throughout the year, we’ll be sharing more posts on seasonal activities, so stay tuned!

Hannah Howard, Volunteer Coordinator

 

*No copyright infringement intended, used for purely educational purposes

Exploring the Artifacts: Take Your Mattress and Stuff It!

Those of you that have walked the grounds of Pennsbury may have seen a building called The Worker’s Cottage.  This reconstructed outbuilding’s original purpose or even existence is unknown, but we use it to talk about the laboring class’s lifestyle in early colonial Pennsylvania. Most people did not live as luxuriously as William Penn’s family.  Most homeowners, or people who worked as an apprentice or slave for a homeowner, lived in a 1-2 room house similar to this. 

Today we are exploring one of the biggest features in this cottage:  The Bed. This is technically not an artifact, but a reproduction, an exact replica of a historic object.  Reproductions are used in many historic sites to fill the gaps in our artifact collections.  The originals may be hard to find or too delicate to handle with visitors, so reproductions are a nice substitute that interpreters and visitors can interact with!

Raised beds would have been a luxury for many families, reserved for the master and mistress of the house. Children, servants, and slaves would have slept on mattresses on the floor.  Our bed is a reproduction that we use to interact with visitors.  But the old roping and mattress were looking extremely worn out from all the fun we’ve been having.  So it was time for a make-over! 

We started with the roped frame, creating an interlocking bottom similar to basket weaving.  The tool pictured here is called a Key, and is used to pull the ropes tight. Stretching the ropes as tight as possible, then tying them off would keep a firm foundation for the mattress.  Still, ropes stretch with use, and would need occasional tightening to ensure the occupants don’t fall through in the middle of the night!

Once the bed is tightly roped, it’s time to add a mattress.  Whenever possible, colonists would use feather down to stuff their bed.  But those without the money or means could always use straw. A sturdy, tightly woven linen ticking (cotton would become more accessible and affordable later in the 18th Century) made a great casing for the straw and prevented any irritating stalks from poking through.  Just like today’s pillows, they were sewn on three sides, flipped inside-out and stuffed fully, then sewn closed.  Over time the straw would break down, so the mattress could be reopened and emptied, then stuffed with new straw. 

To see an example of how to stuff a 17th-century mattress, check out this clip of the BBC series Tales of the Green Valley, which documents a year in the life of a 17th-century farm:http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xqpvax_e8-tales-from-the-green-valley_lifestyle&start=815 .  This is an amazing series which I wish was available to purchase in the US.  However, all the episodes are available on YouTube and I highly encourage you to watch – once I started, I couldn’t stop.

In addition to the mattress, well-stuffed pillows and bed covers are also important.  Many people preferred sleeping propped-up, which explains why some beds may seem short to modern eyes (there was not a big difference in height, contrary to popular myth).  Depending on the weather, you might have many layers of sheets and blankets piled on top.  We have one light blanket of a wonderfully scratchy blue wool, but others could certainly be added.

We are so pleased with the way our 17th-century bed turned out – please check out the finished product below!  Continue reading “Exploring the Artifacts: Take Your Mattress and Stuff It!”

Confessions of a Costumier: Men’s Dressing Guide!

Our Ladies’ Dressing Guide post back in September has been the most viewed featurette on this blog -wow!!  I am really excited to finally be able to offer a follow-up for the guys… our clothing collection for the male interpreters is starting to grow, and I encourage our volunteers start using some of the new pieces this spring!  Keep in mind that people’s jobs and station in life would change how they dressed (see our post on Clothing Diversity), but this will give a good idea of a basic outfit.  

Continue reading “Confessions of a Costumier: Men’s Dressing Guide!”

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