Becoming Lizzie, Again

At Strawbery Banke Museum folks look forward, or at least plan for, the Christmas program all year long. Called Candlelight Stroll, the grounds are illuminated, there is hot cider, a bonfire, caroling, Saint Nick, and all of the historic houses are full of roleplayers. This means that people who have been roleplayers in the past come back for the three weekends of stroll, folks who are not normally roleplayers get into costume, and they even hire some outside folks, usually musical outsiders.

By August of this past season the other interpreters were asking me where I would be at Candlelight Stroll. They asked me if I’d be the third sister making Latkes in Shapiro kitchen. I love Shapiro, but two Mrs. Shapiros are probably enough. So I went to my boss (the one in charge of education) and asked if there was a different role for me, or if they had any holes they’d like to fill. She asked if I was musical, and had any reenacting friends who were musical… they had spent the last few years looking for a group to provide a drunken Irish servant party in the kitchen of the Victorian mansion.  I jumped at the chance for three reasons: not Shaprio, I would get to hire a few of my friends, and I would get to reprise the role of Lizzie Sullivan.

The last Candlelight Stroll that I worked at Strawbery Banke was the Stroll of 1999, and at that time I got to play Lizzie Sullivan, the 21 year old Irish maid employed by the Goodwin family. I was alone in the kitchen and behind the barrier but I was not allowed to touch anything, so I mostly chatted about all the pies I had made to help my older sister Sophie, the cook (who was downstairs in the cellar gathering root vegetables and stored items.) I had been portraying Lizzie once a week for most of the summer, using the Irish accent taught to me by my mom’s best friend (I have her first name as my middle name), who is bona fide Boston Irish. I wore a costume that was made for someone much bigger than myself (I told people it was my sister’s spare dress, the Goodwin children had just ruined mine.)

My love of Irish history goes back to my first Living History experience, in eighth grade, where the computer teacher and the English teacher taught us about the Irish potato famine so we all could write a journal from the perspective of a real immigrant who made the journey to Boston in the nineteenth century. So when, the first time I worked at The Banke, I was asked to play a Nineteenth Century  Irish Servant I was thrilled to do so. When I went back to college after working at The Banke I did a whole Independent Study and wrote up my Lizzie Sullivan script, with a lot more bibliography thrown in.

Lizzie Sullivan & George Rose,
photo by Jess Boynton, taken in our den.

This past summer, not long after enquiring about this year’s available roles, the Event Coordinator approached me and asked if I really could provide a drunken (acted) party with music for the Goodwin kitchen. I assured her I could, and would start to gather a musical servant posse right away. The first person I approached was Stephen. He is a better roleplayer than I am, plus he plays the Irish drum and we know a lot of the same Irish songs. I searched around for another instrumentalist (I only sing) and ended up with our good friend Kristina of Silver Thistle who, besides being an excellent historical costumer, is also a historical roleplayer and knows a lot of the same songs from years of acting at Renaissance faires. She also lives not too far from Strawbery Banke. Kristina made up a lovely dress, Stephen dug out his mid-nineteenth century clothing from our dabbling in the Wild West, and I borrowed a Strawbery Banke costume. In fact, I was given the same skirt that I wore 12 years ago. It fits me much better now. We rehearsed some drinking songs and some Irish songs, Kathleen (mom’s best friend) sent me a lovely cookbook of old Irish recipes, and we have had a lovely party in the kitchen for the last two weekends.

Lizzie and Sophie Sullivan in Goodwin Kitchen

There are no more barriers in the Goodwin kitchen, and we were told we could eat and drink (as long as it was not too messy.) I provided some food, the event staff provided some, the education staff provided others. It can get cold since the door is so often open, but we have hot water for tea, and a lot of layers of clothes. Goodwin house always has a large number of Junior Roleplayers for Stroll (I'll have to do a separate post of Juniors.) The Juniors, playing some of the grandchildren, string popcorn for our little Charlie-Brown-type tree, and make animals and fruit out of marzipan. We don't sing all the time, since usually there are so many people in the house we are all carrying on different conversations with different visitors. We always get to sing every sing once, and our favorites twice. Even the juniors join in on the songs they already know, or get to know the more time they spend with us. We tell jokes and tongue twisters, and tease each other all evening long while we spread Christmas cheer and maybe a little education too.

We’ll be there for one more weekend, I can’t wait, but I’ll be so sad when it is over. I have a lot more to share with you, hopefully I’ll be getting up a few more posts soon, including some cooking adventures, and future plans.

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My Season at The Banke

Last Spring when I found the notice about openings in the interpretation staff at Strawbery Banke I was at a particularly low point. Temping after the loss of a very good job, feeling like I was not advancing in my field, knowing that I was a drain on my family’s pocketbooks, and not feeling qualified for any job that I might actually want. I saw the SBM notice on their Facebook page. Apparently the usual methods of advertising the position usually yielded a lot of folks that had no idea what they were getting themselves into, but putting the notice up to those who had already “liked” the museum on FB meant that they only heard from people who were really interested in the job of Interpreter at Strawbery Banke.

I was in a place not dis-similar from the last time I had applied for that same job, back in 1998. At the time I was half-way through college, feeling rather lost and depressed, not really sure where I was going. Back then, working at the Banke showed me that one could be a professional in the field of Living History, or at least history, and set me on the way to where I am now. This time my loving family all agreed, maybe it was time to go back and get re-energized, see if the field had changed, and if the Banke had anything else to teach me. I’m so glad I went for it.

There are four variations to the “front line” staff job at Strawbery Banke. There are the Interpreters, who wear modern clothes and speak about the history of the different houses from a modern perspective. There are the Museum Teachers, who teach special workshops to school groups, scout groups, special tours, and those who request specific learning experiences. The demonstration folks have specific skills like weaving or hearth cooking that they practice and teach. Then there are the Costumed Role-Players, who portray specific people from a specific time in the neighborhood’s history. The initial job posting was for interpreters, but during my interview I managed to convince the poor fella interviewing me that I could do all of the above, I hope over the course of the season I proved my worth.

I jumped right in last May, learning workshops, hearth cooking, regular interpreting, and the role of Mrs. Shapiro. By mid-summer I was capable of working in just about any house on the property plus doing research for new program proposals. By fall I had multiple roles, new programs, and had made a whole lot of new friends.

Most importantly, I got to spend the summer doing something that I love. I don’t know why teaching history by doing is my passion. I mean, I know why I think it is a worth while endeavor, and I think I know why I am good at it. But why do I give almost all of my energy over to this when it will probably never earn me a living wage, be enough to support a family, leave me with even the hope of a retirement even if I put it off until I am 80?

I just love it.

And this past year has made me so happy. There has not been a single day where I did not want to go in to work. Okay, maybe I spent some time wishing it was not quite so early, that there were more days in the week, and definitely that my commute was not nearly so long; but any time folks asked me how work was going, I could genuinely say that my work was awesome.

I have two wishes this holiday season. One of them is a secret, the other is a hope that I get to spend more time doing what I love.

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Curling My Hair

Have I mentioned that I’ll do almost anything for history? This month I’ve done something that I never thought I’d do. I curled my hair. I know most American females try this at some point, but I never had. I’ve seen a curling iron, my grandmother owned curlers… ya.

Strawbery Banke has a special program during the month of November for schools that might not have enough money for normal field trips, and for schools particularly learning about harvest holidays. For this program I have taken on almost all the available roles, including a new-to-me role in the parlor of the Governor’s Mansion. Way back when I started at Strawbery Banke in the ‘90s I also worked the Thanksgiving program, and I also got a new role. I played Lizzie Sullivan, the Irish maid stationed in the kitchen helping groups of school kids learn about Mottoes and put together charity baskets. This year Lizzie is going to make another appearance, but not until December (so stay tuned!)

The new role is a front-of-the-house role, I am playing Susan Goodwin Dewey, the youngest child of Governor Ichabod Goodwin and Sarah Parker Rice Goodwin. Susan is recently married to a naval officer and living at home with her father the former governor, her mother, a few other sisters, some nephews and nieces, and the 4 servants. When given the new role I knew I would not have time to do justice to a full formal Victorian outfit, so I asked for a museum owned outfit, and luckily they had a lovely one that mostly fit me. The day I tried it on I was discussing accessories with the head of Role-Players and she said that I should curl my hair. Curl. My. Hair.

I looked through my Victorian costume books and photo books, I looked at fashion plates and decided that yes, it would be better if I curled my hair. My hair has a little wave to it, but only a bit of a curl if my hair is short. My hair is not short at the moment, it is fairly long, and heavy, it is not at all curly at this length. My first step in figuring out how to curl my hair was to put a desperate call out on Facebook. I have awesome friends who suggested sleeping in paper curls or rag curls. So first I tried to wet down my hair and sleep with little strips of paper in my hair. I wore a knitted hat over top and it was not too bad, but I did not part my hair beforehand, and they turned out more frizzy than curly. The next time I tried it I used scraps of rags and a spray bottle that was half water and half setting lotion. When I took the rags out the next morning I had long loose curls that I looped around a bun. Not too bad for my second try!

Half rags half curls

Spikey paper curls

Then came the Monday I was to appear as Mrs. Dewey. I put in the rag curls the night before, put them all under a 1940s style turban I’d made so I could sleep without worrying about them. Monday morning I borrowed My niece’s hairdryer since they were still wet, and tried to heat set the curls. Got into all the dress layers (we are required to dress at home before driving to work) and had a fairly uncomfortable drive to work. I was blasting the heat to try to dry the curls some more, and taking out a few of the rags while cruising down the highway, all while stuffed in a corset bustle skirts in my driver’s seat. Really not my favorite way to drive. I appeared at our morning meeting with the front of my head still in rags, but the back all curls. I’m afraid I might have distracted most of my fellow museum workers as I took out the rest of the rags, but I did have a fairly presentable hairdo by the time the kids showed up to talk Thanksgiving with Mrs. Dewey!

Me as Mrs. Dewey, with really curly hair.

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End of the Reenacting Season

I’ve been trying to think of things to say about the end of this reenacting season and not finding any real pearls of wisdom. But I thought I’d share my mundane thoughts, hope you’ll forgive me.

My reenacting season really starts at Military History Fest in February in Chicago. We’ve been heading out there for 8 years now and we have friends that we only get to see once a year. We also get to show off all our different eras, shop, teach, and meet cool new people who do what we do. It is not the same convention it was in the early years, but it is still a nice vacation into history in the middle of the second-most-oppressive month of the year. This past year I debuted a little 1920s bathing outfit I made up with Help from this American Duchess tutorial I wish I had pictures, but none of them came out. We’ll have to try again next year.

In the spring we brought out a new 12th Century reenactment. Which both fun but overshadowed because I had just started at Strawbery Banke Museum. I love volunteering and creating a reenactment from scratch, but being paid to create historical personas within historical settings was too big a draw. I’m not sure when we’ll get to pull out the 12th Century stuff again, we do not have definitely plans for next year yet, but I hope we do get to pull it out at least once during the upcoming year.

Other than that there was a little WWII work, and since then I’ve picked up 2 more dresses and a bunch more accessories. I’ll show them to you as soon as I remember to take some photos, I promise. There was also a nice trip to Delaware to meet up with other people that do first person stuff.

The era that has taken up most of my energies for the past few years barely made it out of the storage bins this year. Our Landsknecht Guild had one spring event at a college where they were holding a Medieval Conference, one summer event at a small Renaissance faire (a town fundraiser) and our annual appearance at the Connecticut Renaissance Faire’s fall show. My relationship with this show is so complicated I usually avoid talking about it, but I don’t want to leave it out either.

CT Faire is where Stephen and I put most of our energies for so many years, running the cast entertainments from 2001 to 2007. By the end of ’07 things needed to change, and in 2009 we formed Das Geld Fahnlein as a way to continue to do Renaissance history and contribute to the faire, but in a way that felt better. When at the faire I rarely venture outside of the encampment, mostly because I am conflict averse, and over anxious, but I have fun in our little world, teaching about the life of the wandering soldier and the frau that look after the soldiers. We cook, we mend, we laugh, teach, fight (pretend) and even nap on occasion. This year was different, we were a smaller group. Of the five founding members, only Stephen was there most of the time, real life got in the way for most of us. I was only able to make it two weekends, and one of those weekends, faire was cancelled on Sunday. The whole thing felt strange, I had trouble getting excited about being there. I’m not giving up on it over one iffy faire, but I think we’ve got some work to do to re-vitalize the unit.

Is there anything else in store for the rest of the year? I’ve got a few things coming up through the museum, but I’m going to save my museum stuff for its own post.
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Award

Since starting in as a reader of blogs I've seen the blogger awards the we give each other going around and I thought they were rather silly. A lot of that sentiment was due to the fact that I was sure I'd never receive one. But ho ho, now I have! I admit I'm really thrilled. The lovely Elizabeth at Sew 18th Century  has awarded me the Versatile Blogger award  and even mentioned admiring my historical versatility. Thank you so much Elizabeth!

Accepting this honor means I need to:
1. Thank and link back to the person who nominated you.
2. Paste the award to my blog.
3. Tell 7 things about myself.
4. Nominate 15 other blogs.



The first two are complete, here goes with number three:
1. I suffer from wanderlust. Every few years I get the incredible urge to pick up everything and change my scenery. I almost always end up giving in in some way, the most recent "move" being from a job in the Upper Valley to one on the Seacoast. I'm hoping that one holds me for a while.

2. I am a cat person, not a dog person. I love my cat, snuggling, sharing the couch, even sharing the laptop keyboard. I totally do not understand dogs; they are noisy, smelly, and incomprehensible. At the moment the house is occupied by one cat and two dogs, and I think the balance will have to change pretty soon (Stephen watch out.)

3. I love the way I look in hats. I'm not crazy about the rest of my looks, but I almost always feel better with a hat on my head.

4. My current quest involves the search for the perfect storage solution for each of the timeperiods I acquire. Wooden boxes for the Medieval and Renaissance stuff, baskets for the 18th Century stuff, hat boxes and wicker for the 1920s, suitcases for the 1940s… I have not yet reached my goal, but I'm having fun in the search.

5. I am not a leader. I am a fantastic follower, I excel at solo tasks, I love teaching others. But give me a group that I am supposed to lead and disaster inevitably follows.

6. I am a very picky reader. I love to read, but I would rather read the same book for the 8th or 9th time than read a book that is not really my style.

7. I do not like onions. I've tried. I cook with them, I don't mind a diffuse onion flavor, I love garlic. But eating onion bits themselves give me the shivers. I pick them out of everything I eat.


Nominate 15 blogs! That is not an easy task. But it has meant that I've taken a closer look at both my Google Reader list and my bloglist here on the right. I've removed some of the blogs that are no longer active, I've removed some of the blogs that I've just stopped reading. Some of the ones that I most look forward to have been moved into my favorites folder, and those new moves are the ones that I am going to recommend here. These are the blogs that as soon as I see they have a new post it brightens my day. If I see they have a new post and I am not in a position to sit back and enjoy them I will save it to savor at a more appropriate time. These are the ones I would be very sad to loose, and some day I  hope to meet all these lovely folks to tell them their sharing has meant so much to me.

Companie of Saynt George one of the coolest European groups that I am aware of. Their blog always inspires me.

Applied History is an incredibly thoughtful blog using lessons from the past towards our future.

Skills, Scotch, and Surviving My husband's blog. He is a great teacher and knows a ton about a lot of random stuff.

Re: Living History Though Dan mostly reenacts Ancient Celtic life, he has a lot of good things to say about Living History as a hobby.

Historic Cookery One of the first blogs I started reading and still one of the ones that I most look forward to.

The Warp and the Weft is a lovely blog by a merchant out in California who makes trips to France, looking for unique items. She has a great eye.

FDIM Museum Blog really juicy clothing posts.

Laura Callaghan Illustration Pretty illustrations, with a retro feeling to them. I am so jealous of people who have illustration talent.

The Fashionable Past I am in awe of the sewing in this blog, totally impressive.

Wearing History Another impressive sewing blog with the addition of some really cool patterns for sale!

At the Sign of the Golden Scissors The authority on all things Rev War sewing related.

Storied Threads A friend of mine who is making her dreams come true.

Casey's Elegant Musings Casey has been posting less of late, but she has a lovely sense of style and history. Her sewing is also inspirational.

Romantic History Sarah sews for her entire family, and writes well about it.

An Historical Lady The photos of this lady's colonial home are amazing, and she's here in New Hampshire!

That is it for today's post, hope you find these other blogs just as inspiring as I do!



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