Cautionary Tale

Hi all,

This isn't my typical kind of a post. I recently went on a research trip to a famous city and spent many hours in the historical society. The end result was that very few people stayed in the city during the Civil War period I was researching. Here's the kicker it didn't feel right. The information seemed logical but I left frustrated and confused. I've spent several additional hours researching and there were many people living in that city during the war.

Here's where the problem came from. The historical society had no letters, diaries or journals from the women who stayed behind as their husbands, fathers and brothers fought in the War. The society for some unknown reason didn't have any records from the women. The possibility that it was strictly because their aspect was from the female perspective is more than likely the reason for the society not having saved those papers so many years ago. Whereas they had several from soldiers writing home, their diaries, or men who stayed behind in the city. The other problem is that the papers at the time rarely reported social events. And (here's the kicker) I was told that no one stayed in the city. The wives were sent out to the Plantations to run them. The houses in the city were social, summertime events.

Here's what got me confused. I'd read literature in the past that said the contrary. So, were the fictional accounts I read previous wrong? Were there no women in the city during the war?

I continued my research and thankfully I've found that there were in fact women still in the city, that social events did occur, not often but they still did and while the research is very very slow I am making progress.

Why am I sharing this with all of you? Because that is the way of historical research. We need to scratch below the surface, dig deeper until we find the truth. I have a long way to go but I'm still digging up tidbits. When I've verified this information, I'll share some of my findings with all of you.

In the meantime, have a great day and enjoy your research.

Fashions

Hi all,

I have found a few websites that are useful. So, enjoy the links for as long as they are available.

Wikipedia has a nice article for the earlier part of the century. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1795-1820_in_fashion

Regency period extended into the first part of the century. In fact for 37 years of it. Here's a link with some neat resources. http://www.regencyreproductions.com/

Victorian Era Fashion, excellent site. But limited to Victorian era. http://www.fashion-era.com/the_victorian_era.htm

Limited site but useful information http://gallery.sjsu.edu/paris/fashion/ 19th century Paris women's fashions

Ladies Fashion was highly affected by the periodicals of the time period as well. Godey's Lady's Book was quite popular, not just for the color plates of ladies fashions but also for their fictional stories.

Another thing to keep in mind, is what were the fashions of the area you're writing about. For example, in the mid century in Key West, FL. There was a mixture of NY fashion, Southern and Spanish. Corsets didn't last long there, or at least the women didn't wear them too often during the heat of the day. Different cultures brought different fashion attire.

Tidbits from Genealogy Research

For all of you who enjoy doing genealogy, there's a little something I've come across that many of you probably already know, but if you're still new to genealogy you might enjoy this little tidbit.

Search historical records of the town in which your relative lived and the surrounding areas. I just discovered a very small bit of information in the most unlikely of sources today. Land grants given to soldiers who had fought at Narragansett Fort, Dec. 1675. In this list I ran across two of my ancestors. For me, it's an interesting tidbit.

Another question that arises from this information is why the Narragansett Fort Fight, Dec. 19, 1675 and what does it have to do with land being granted from Amherest, NH.? Ah, research, gotta love it.

So, what does this have to do with being a historical fiction writer? Well, there's a lot of history you can learn from these rare books. What I like about them the most is they are more detailed than the current histories of areas. I've found information on a man selling hogs, using the Wilderness Trail during the time period I was writing a historical novel. The information was so unusual and yet at the time, so normal, I just had to work it into a novel. Hogtied was the result of that tiny tidbit of information. In the account of the County's history, it not only told about him bring the hogs to Virginia and the price he received for them, it also told the actual costs of tolls, lodging and food along the way.

And what does this have to do with 19th century history? Well, a lot of these early histories of towns and counties were written in the 1800's. And that is why they caught my eye.

Tidbits like this add a nice texture to our novels, imho.

Genealogies searches of names that settled areas has also garnered me some valuable information as well.

Continuing Thursday's Post with regard to newspaper indexes.

Here is a link to "History and Present Condition of the Newspaper and Periodical Press" ©1884 In these pages you'll find lists by states of the various states. Below is an example from Iowa:
IOWA.
Area, 55,475 square miles; population, 1,624,615; 99 counties— newspapers published in all. The total number of newspapers and periodicals published in 1840 was 4; in 1850, 29; 1860, 130; 1870, 233; 1880, .">69. The publications during 1880 were divided, according to periods of issue, as follows: Dailies, 30; weeklies, 500; semi-weeklies, 3; tri-weeklies, 1; bi-weeklies, 2; monthlies, 31; semi-monthlies, 1; quarterlies, 1. In each of 140 towns one paper was published; in 61, two; in 33, three; in 10 four; and in 21, five or more.
EARLY HISTORY.
1836, May 11.—Printing was introduced at Dubuque. The publications prior to 1842 were as follows: (a)
1836, May 11.—The Dubuque Visitor, established at Dubuque Lead Mines, Wisconsin territory, by John King. Now published as the Dubuque Herald.
1837, June 3.—The Iowa News, at Dubuque, by RusseU & Coriell. 1837, July 8.—The Western Adventurer, at Montrose, by Thomas
Gregg.
1837, July 8.—The Wisconsin Territorial Gazette, at Burlington, by Clark & Jacobs. Now published as the Burlington Gazette.
1837, September.—The Western Emigrant and Historian, at Montrose, by Thomas Gregg; monthly, 16 pages. But three numbers were issued.
1838, March 24.—The Fort Madison Patriot, at Fort Madison, by James E. Edwards. Removed to Burlington, November 27, 1833, and called the Burlington Patriot. Now published as the Burlington Hawlrye.
1838, August 4.—The Iowa Sun, at Davenport, by Andrew Log:in. Now published as the Davenport Democrat.
1840, October 23.—The Iowa Standard, at Bloomington (now Muscatine), by William Cram.
1840, October 27.—The Bloomington Herald, at Bloomington (now Muscatine), by Thomas Hughes.
1841, May 23.— The Fort Madison Courier, at Fort Madison, by R. W. Albright.
1841, June 10.—The Iowa City Standard, at Iowa City, by William Cram. Now published as the Ioxea City Republican.
1841, July.—The Miner's Express, at Dubuque, by Avery Thomas.
1841, July 30.— The Iowa City Argus, at Iowa City, by Nathan Jackson.
1841, August 26.—The Davenport Gazette, at Davenport, by Alfred Saunders. The first steam press in Iowa was used in this office in 1855. The daily (first in the state) was established October 16, 1854. Still published.
1841, December 3.—The Iowa Capital Reporter, at Iowa City, byHughes & Van Antwerp. Now published as the Iowa State Press.
a Compiled by John Springer, of Iowa City.

Newspaper Indexes

Every now and again I stumble on something I think will be quite helpful for others while researching their projects. Today I'd like to share about a source that is sometimes overlooked and not always that easy to find, "A Newspaper Index" I make use of this while I'm visiting historical societies and trying to find other interesting tidbits that were going on in the year I'm setting my story. Google books now has some of these indexes online, I've found two but there are probably more.

Here is a link to Index to the Newspapers Published in Geneva, NY
And another to Palmer's Index to the Times

The largest free site that I'm aware of for access to Newspapers is Chronicling America hosted by the Library of Congress. It's a bit slow at times but the quality of the news papers are really very good.

There are paid sites available that have historical newspapers but this blog primarily speaks to free online sources.