[Sca-cooks] Puritan clothing

[Morses3 at aol.com]

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[ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]
http://www.plimoth.org/Library/costume.htm

A chance to delurk twice in one day!

As a researcher for my family genealogy society with a very long New England
history, this is a topic I've read a lot on before. The web site above from
the living history museum at Plimoth Plantation, widely regarded as one of
the most accurate in the world at portraying the details of a certain
historical time and place, details clothing worn by ordinary people of
Plimoth Plantation, most of whom were not Puritans, but wore the same
clothing that the Puritans wore as well.

Most of the "black and white" Puritan stuff came from the 19th century
writers and artists romanticizing their ancestors of "olden tymes", but
remember that many European Puritans before emigrating wore black and white
as a symbol of their wealth and fiscal soundness to prove they were the
chosen ones in the eyes of God. It was more difficult to retain a deep black
dye in an era without chemicals and thus more costly to be seen wearing black
clothing highlighted with hard to care for-clean- white linens......even in
that case though, it would have been for their "best" clothing, reserved for
church and special occasions, not commonly for everyday wear.

Since this is a food list and I don't want to be guilty of non-food content,
there are also good links on the Plimoth Plantation web site for 17th century
New World food, including some recipes, and of course these are only a few
years out of our period.

Gervase