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New England Colonial Living History Group.
The Pilgrim’s Manual.
How to get started in our living history group.
©Copyright Keith H. Burgess Esq.2007.
Our group’s main period of interest is 1700-1760 in the North Eastern parts of the New World.
Your Persona: Before you can start to research the period, you need to choose your persona; the type of period character you wish to emulate. Your choice may be influenced in several ways.
Q Who were your ancestors back in the 17th &18th centuries? What country were they born in & what were their occupations? This knowledge may give you a starting point.
Q If you had lived in the 18th century, what sort of lifestyle would you have chosen, given the choice?
Q Our group is very focused on the period living skills & the wilderness survival skills. Our main activity is historical trekking, that is trekking & camping in a historical manner using only period equipment or copies of that equipment. In order to participate in historical trekking you need to be properly clothed & equipped, so you need to choose a persona that would at some time have traveled & or lived in the woods. The following list of personas will give you something to choose from.
· A trades person or labourer who is also in the local militia.
· A woodsman or woods woman.
· A woodland Indian.
· A person who was captured by Indians & was adopted into Indian society.
· An ex-military person with a new occupation.
1 Having chosen your persona, you can now start to do the research. The things you need to know are:
· What were the most common clothing & equipment that your persona would have used?
· What other clothing & equipment choices were available?
· What skills would your persona have had?
· What other obligations or occupations might your persona be involved in, such as militia duties ?
Research.
Before you start searching the net, or Dixon Library, check with Keith to see how much research information is already in our library. Our authenticity rating is very high, so you can count on us to help you as much as possible and make sure you get the right information.
Good research will increase your enjoyment of living history, and it will save you a lot of time and money in the long term. Always remember that early styles of clothing and equipment can be used in a later period, but later styles cannot be used in earlier periods. Also if you are living in the years between 1700 and 1760, not everything you own will come from that period. It is only reasonable to expect that you may have items dating to the 17th century.
Some people find it easier to relate to a different period and lifestyle if they give themselves/their persona, a different name and history. I did not change my name, but I will offer you my own persona as an example. I found this construction of a fictitious history easy to do by basing it on my actual history but setting it back 300 plus years, though my family home was actually built in 1745AD.
My name is Keith Henry Burgess. I have two Woodland Lakota Indian blood brothers. They named me Le Loup.
The year is now 1740, and I was born in 1680 in England in a small town on the south coast. My Father owned a large house in sheep lane called High House.
My Great Grandfather was a wheelwright, and my Grandfather a harness maker. My Father was a stage-wagon driver and owned his own stage-wagon. He wanted me to continue in that work, and although I mostly enjoyed working for my Father, the hours were long and I did not want to spend the rest of my life driving a stage-wagon in all weathers. I was also starting to feel confined. The lands I happily roamed and played in as a child were no longer open to me, and so I decided to leave England and voyage to the New World.
I was fortunate to leave my home with a little of my own money, a good knapsack and haversack, an oilcloth my Father gave me, and also a good fusil. When I arrived here in New England, fifteen pounds of meat was worth £1.1.6, so I was able to start my new life as a woodsman, or as we would say in England a forester and hunter. I have worked as a farm labourer for 8/- a day when game was scarce close to the settlement, and I have worked as a scout and courier in the local militia, known as the Flying Company.
I am now in my 60th year, and married with three fine sons. My home I have built in a forest, which I own and have called Wychwood Forest after a forest so named in the old country. I have known and lost three good close friends in my time here, which has been forty or more years.
Our forest farm supplies most of our needs, and what we do not produce, can be traded for.
Research Sources:
· Primary sources of information are best. These are accounts written in the actual period. Information may be in the form of books, someone’s estate records, diary notes or journals, and paintings and sketches.
· Secondary sources are accounts that were written in the period by people who were not actually present at the particular event themselves, so their interpretation may not be correct.
· Tertiary sources are books, magazines and papers , often written many years after an event, even hundreds of years, and what is written is an overall view as interpreted by the author. This can be a good source providing the author supplies a Bibliography so that you can check where the author got the information.
· Experimental archaeology is the using of period tools, clothing and other items to perform a period task. This can be anything from building and sailing a ship, to making fire with flint and steel. Historical trekking is a good example where many tasks and skills are performed, and which gives a broader understanding of a particular lifestyle.
Clothing and Equipment.
Once you have done some research and decided what clothing and equipment you need, it is time to start collecting the items you need. You may not be able to afford ready-made items, or you may wish to make your own clothing and equipment as far as you are able. Some items can perhaps be traded for, you can also use second hand materials purchased from op-shops and second hand stores. Second-hand clothing items can be used for many things, and so can wool blankets and good cotton or linen bed sheets and tablecloths. My first real linen shirt was made from a linen tablecloth, and three of the best knives I have were purchased second hand, two from a second-hand store, and the other from a stall in the local market. All three knives appear to be originals, and the handles on two of them are pinned in the correct 18th century fashion. The third had no handle.
In our group there is no pressure put on members to be fully clothed and equipped in a certain period of time, but we do like to see some effort being made in that direction.
If you are having a problem finding certain items, or need some advice, don’t hesitate to ask for help.
The Blog listed below is for member use, please feel free to post comments and questions. We are frequently updating the information on this site so please visit as often as you can. The more our site is used, the more often it will show up in someone’s search and perhaps attract more membership.
Welcome to our group.
Email: historicaltrekker@gmail.com
Blog: http://woodsrunnersdiary.blogspot.com/
Group Forum: http://neclhg.freeforums.net/
Mail: C/o Keith H. Burgess, MSF 2007, Armidale NSW 2350.
The Pilgrim’s Manual.
How to get started in our living history group.
©Copyright Keith H. Burgess Esq.2007.
Our group’s main period of interest is 1700-1760 in the North Eastern parts of the New World.
Your Persona: Before you can start to research the period, you need to choose your persona; the type of period character you wish to emulate. Your choice may be influenced in several ways.
Q Who were your ancestors back in the 17th &18th centuries? What country were they born in & what were their occupations? This knowledge may give you a starting point.
Q If you had lived in the 18th century, what sort of lifestyle would you have chosen, given the choice?
Q Our group is very focused on the period living skills & the wilderness survival skills. Our main activity is historical trekking, that is trekking & camping in a historical manner using only period equipment or copies of that equipment. In order to participate in historical trekking you need to be properly clothed & equipped, so you need to choose a persona that would at some time have traveled & or lived in the woods. The following list of personas will give you something to choose from.
· A trades person or labourer who is also in the local militia.
· A woodsman or woods woman.
· A woodland Indian.
· A person who was captured by Indians & was adopted into Indian society.
· An ex-military person with a new occupation.
1 Having chosen your persona, you can now start to do the research. The things you need to know are:
· What were the most common clothing & equipment that your persona would have used?
· What other clothing & equipment choices were available?
· What skills would your persona have had?
· What other obligations or occupations might your persona be involved in, such as militia duties ?
Research.
Before you start searching the net, or Dixon Library, check with Keith to see how much research information is already in our library. Our authenticity rating is very high, so you can count on us to help you as much as possible and make sure you get the right information.
Good research will increase your enjoyment of living history, and it will save you a lot of time and money in the long term. Always remember that early styles of clothing and equipment can be used in a later period, but later styles cannot be used in earlier periods. Also if you are living in the years between 1700 and 1760, not everything you own will come from that period. It is only reasonable to expect that you may have items dating to the 17th century.
Some people find it easier to relate to a different period and lifestyle if they give themselves/their persona, a different name and history. I did not change my name, but I will offer you my own persona as an example. I found this construction of a fictitious history easy to do by basing it on my actual history but setting it back 300 plus years, though my family home was actually built in 1745AD.
My name is Keith Henry Burgess. I have two Woodland Lakota Indian blood brothers. They named me Le Loup.
The year is now 1740, and I was born in 1680 in England in a small town on the south coast. My Father owned a large house in sheep lane called High House.
My Great Grandfather was a wheelwright, and my Grandfather a harness maker. My Father was a stage-wagon driver and owned his own stage-wagon. He wanted me to continue in that work, and although I mostly enjoyed working for my Father, the hours were long and I did not want to spend the rest of my life driving a stage-wagon in all weathers. I was also starting to feel confined. The lands I happily roamed and played in as a child were no longer open to me, and so I decided to leave England and voyage to the New World.
I was fortunate to leave my home with a little of my own money, a good knapsack and haversack, an oilcloth my Father gave me, and also a good fusil. When I arrived here in New England, fifteen pounds of meat was worth £1.1.6, so I was able to start my new life as a woodsman, or as we would say in England a forester and hunter. I have worked as a farm labourer for 8/- a day when game was scarce close to the settlement, and I have worked as a scout and courier in the local militia, known as the Flying Company.
I am now in my 60th year, and married with three fine sons. My home I have built in a forest, which I own and have called Wychwood Forest after a forest so named in the old country. I have known and lost three good close friends in my time here, which has been forty or more years.
Our forest farm supplies most of our needs, and what we do not produce, can be traded for.
Research Sources:
· Primary sources of information are best. These are accounts written in the actual period. Information may be in the form of books, someone’s estate records, diary notes or journals, and paintings and sketches.
· Secondary sources are accounts that were written in the period by people who were not actually present at the particular event themselves, so their interpretation may not be correct.
· Tertiary sources are books, magazines and papers , often written many years after an event, even hundreds of years, and what is written is an overall view as interpreted by the author. This can be a good source providing the author supplies a Bibliography so that you can check where the author got the information.
· Experimental archaeology is the using of period tools, clothing and other items to perform a period task. This can be anything from building and sailing a ship, to making fire with flint and steel. Historical trekking is a good example where many tasks and skills are performed, and which gives a broader understanding of a particular lifestyle.
Clothing and Equipment.
Once you have done some research and decided what clothing and equipment you need, it is time to start collecting the items you need. You may not be able to afford ready-made items, or you may wish to make your own clothing and equipment as far as you are able. Some items can perhaps be traded for, you can also use second hand materials purchased from op-shops and second hand stores. Second-hand clothing items can be used for many things, and so can wool blankets and good cotton or linen bed sheets and tablecloths. My first real linen shirt was made from a linen tablecloth, and three of the best knives I have were purchased second hand, two from a second-hand store, and the other from a stall in the local market. All three knives appear to be originals, and the handles on two of them are pinned in the correct 18th century fashion. The third had no handle.
In our group there is no pressure put on members to be fully clothed and equipped in a certain period of time, but we do like to see some effort being made in that direction.
If you are having a problem finding certain items, or need some advice, don’t hesitate to ask for help.
The Blog listed below is for member use, please feel free to post comments and questions. We are frequently updating the information on this site so please visit as often as you can. The more our site is used, the more often it will show up in someone’s search and perhaps attract more membership.
Welcome to our group.
Email: historicaltrekker@gmail.com
Blog: http://woodsrunnersdiary.blogspot.com/
Group Forum: http://neclhg.freeforums.net/
Mail: C/o Keith H. Burgess, MSF 2007, Armidale NSW 2350.
