Wearlooms is all about Civil War: women and children, soldiers and citizens, and the clothing and artifacts they made and used.
You can learn about them in live and online classes, presentations and workshops
- Select a venue: live or online? (Live classes are available weekends. Online are available weekday evenings.)
- Select a topic. (See list below, or request a custom topic.)
- Email Juanita to schedule a class or presentation (juanitaleisch@yahoo.com)
- Attend and enjoy!
Online Classes Online classes are priced per 120-minute session, and the price per person goes down as the number of attendees goes up. For one person, a two-hour session is $55. For two people taking the same class at the same time, it's $30 per person. For three, $25, and for four, $20. I don't recommend more than four, because in our experiments there's serious degradation in audio quality when you get more than four people talking at once ... not to mention problems with the audio reception breaking up! Send an email to juanitaleisch@yahoo.com that you want to schedule a class. Pick you topic. You can coordinate sending your money separately, or all together. It's your choice. At the moment, I'm keeping these rates really cheap to make up for the inconvenience of having to send checks by snailmail, but I hope to be able to accept Paypal and online orders someday soon ...
Wearlooms arranges talks and also provides a FREE speaker's bureau service, and so can help link up organizations with speakers who are experts on on various military material culture topics. We'll provid the talk or a FREE referral to someone who can give the talk. You and the speaker negotiate logistics and speaker fees.
Samples of our most-requested talks:
· What is Historic Accuracy and Why Bother?
· Gone With the Wind: A Civilian & Military Critique
· Home Sweet Home: Winter Huts & Soldier Housing
· Uniforms of Johnny Reb: Typology of Confederate Jackets
o Lean and Hungry Band of Wolves: Uniforms of Confederates at
· Who Wore What: Women’s Clothing
· Aprons to Zouaves: Children’s Clothing
· Essential to the Cause: Women’s Roles in the War
o Depot Women: Uniform Production
o
o Yankee Schoolmistresses
· Women’s Reactions to
If they’d covered this stuff, instead of just names and dates, we’d have liked history class!.
Wearlooms’ associates specialize in all aspects of the lives and artifacts of the Civil War era, including (but not limited to):
· Uniforms
· Arms and accoutrements
· Women’s clothes
· Children’s clothes
· Military and civilian styles for men
· Economics and Extravagance
· Homespun Dresses
· Work Clothes / Play Clothes
· Economics of Intended Reuse
·
· Children’s lives and schooling
· Arts, crafts, occupations and industries
CLOTHING TOPICS
Uniforms of Johnny Reb
Our associate, Les Jensen, invented the depot -based typology by which Confederate jackets are identified. In this talk he shows photos of known examples, explains the research that led to the typology, and identifies the characteristics of each jacket type.
Lean and Hungry Band of Wolves
Our associate, Les Jensen, has done extensive research on Confederate supply and logistics, and hs pinpointed distribution, condition and supply data to identify the state of Confederate uniforms just before and during the Battle of Gettysburg. Many people think the Confederates went to Gettysburg seeking shoes. Is it true?
Who Wore What: Women's Clothes, 1861-65
Results of an extensive survey that revealed what styles were worn, and by whom!
Narrated Powerpoint presentation that includes more than 100 photographs from the period.
* What, exactly, is the "Look of the Ladies" 1861-65?
* Did women of all ages wear the same styles?
* How did the clothing fit .... and just how large were those skirts?
Aprons to Zouaves: Children's Clothes, 1861-65
Results of an extensive survey that revealed what styles were worn, by whom, and at what age!
Narrated Powerpoint presentation that includes more than 100 photographs from the period.
* What, exactly, did boys and girls wear 1861-65?
* Did they really dress little boys in dresses? Were they just like girls' dresses?
* At what age did they start dressing little boys in uniforms?
Economics of Intended Re-use
This paradigm-shifting talk explore WHY Civil War civilians dressed as they did.
Narrated Powepoint presentation that includes more than 100 photographs from the period and many photographs of original garments.
* What's the difference between a work dress and a day dress?
* What's the difference between the frocks of little boys and the frocks of little girls?
* What are key characteristics of men's work shirts?
ROLES IN THE WAR TOPICS
Essential to the Cause: Women's Roles in the Civil War
Survey and summary of women's roles supporting the Civil War, including their medical, material, monetary,
moral, military, and memorial support. Addresses efforts of women as individuals, in ladies' aid societies, in industrial settings, and women who served as spies, scouts and even soldiers.
* How did rich and poor women contribute?
* Did women really work outside the home ... and for pay?
* Did women's roles really make much of a difference to the military?
Spirit of Young America: Children's Roles in the Civil War
Survey and summary of children's roles supporting the Civil War, including their medical, material, monetary,
moral, and even military support. Addresses efforts of children as individuals, in children's organizations, in industrial settings, and children who served as smugglers, spies, scouts and even soldiers.
* How did rich and poor children contribute?
* Did children really work outside the home ... and for pay?
* Did children's roles really make much of a difference to the military?
Armed with Needles: Sewing for Soldiers
This talk shows how the study of artifacts can be used to study women and their contributions to the Civil War.
The talk includes women who contributed as individuals, volunteered or worked for ladies aid societies and other organizations (like the U.S. Sanitary Commission and U.S. Christian Commission, and women who toiled as production workers.
* What would compell a woman in New York to make a flag with 13 stars on one side, and 21 on the other?
* How does research on a flannel poncho lead to a private supply depot run by Mrs. H. G. Otis?
* Can you make a pair of socks from the stuffing of an old chaise lounge?
Depot Women: Unknown Backbone of the Armies
Our associate, Les Jensen, has done extensive research on the thousands of women who labored to produce the millions of garments issued to Confederate (and Union) soldiers.
* How did so few women make so many garments?
* Why don't we hear as much about these women as the women who volunteered for soldiers' aid societies?
New York Women in the Civil War
This emphasizes the many women with connections to New York state who played significant roles in the Civil War, and their many roles in the war, including those who served as abolitionists in advocating emancipation, and in leading efforts to provide moral, medical, material, military, monetary, social, spritual and psychological support during the war.
To Raise Myself Up a Little
During and after the war, thousands of women travelled south to teach contrabands and newly emancipated children and adults. Their experiences and accounts resonate with teachers today ... who still deal with the issues they describe in their accounts and letters.
POLITICAL TOPICS
Other Than That, Mrs. Lincoln: Women React to the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
Juanita illustrates the variety and the violence of emotions with which women -- north and south -- reacted to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. It compares and contrasts immediate reactions with those written after a period of reflection, and those of northern versus southern women.
Spending, Saving, and Civil War Sustainability
Political decisions and monetary policies affected the everyday lives of civilians, north and south. The talk includes with a paradigm-shifting view of Civil War attitudes toward the economy of every day things.
* What's the next step beyond reuse / renew / recycle economics?
* What did Civil War women do to save even more money?