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Kitty Calash

~ Confessions of a Known Bonnet-Wearer

Kitty Calash

Tag Archives: candles

After Dark: Bedtime for Kitty

14 Thursday Apr 2016

Posted by kittycalash in Events, History, Living History, Museums, Research

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

19th century, After Dark, candles, chamber pots, experimental archaeology, hygiene, interpretation, John Brown House Museum, lighting, living history, Rhode Island history, sleep patterns

Lewis Vaslet, 1742–1808, The Spoiled Child, Scene II, ca. 1802, Watercolor with black ink and gray wash over graphite on moderately thick, slightly textured, cream wove paper, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection. B1977.14.4342

Lewis Vaslet, 1742–1808, The Spoiled Child, Scene II, ca. 1802, Watercolor with black ink and gray wash over graphite on moderately thick, slightly textured, cream wove paper, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection. B1977.14.4342

In just about a week, we’re running a pilot program in the historic house where I work (tickets available here). After Dark, or What Cheer Night, are programs we’ve wanted to do for a couple of years, but all good things take time.

I’ve drawn the lot chosen to talk about getting ready for bed and sleeping: lighting devices, bedding, washing, chamber pots* and what people wore to bed. While already in possession of candles and candlesticks, and the proud new owner of exhibition and interpretation grant-funded LED candles, there are things I needed to make. Of course.

Print made by Guillaume Philippe Benoist, 1725–ca. 1770, French, Pamela Swooning, after having discovered Mr. B. in the closet, He (frighted) endeavouring to recover her, Mrs. Jervis wringing her hands, and screaming, 1745, Etching with stipple engraving on medium, slightly textured, cream laid paper, Yale Center for British Art, Yale Art Gallery Collection, Gift of the Library Associates.

Print made by Guillaume Philippe Benoist, 1725–ca. 1770, French, Pamela Swooning, after having discovered Mr. B. in the closet, He (frighted) endeavouring to recover her, Mrs. Jervis wringing her hands, and screaming, 1745, Etching with stipple engraving on medium, slightly textured, cream laid paper, Yale Center for British Art, Yale Art Gallery Collection, Gift of the Library Associates.

A banyan, for one thing. And you know that will (one hopes) be followed in short order by a night cap. After all, you can’t talk about Pamela if you haven’t got a banyan and a cap in the house. That’s a simple and relatively fun project to tackle when brain capacity is somewhat limited: some piecing, straight seams, setting in facings and sleeve linings can all happen before I must assault the collar.

IMG_6554
Piecing it together, as the eventual wearer is taller than available fabric.
Piecing it together, as the eventual wearer is taller than available fabric.

Collars are devilishly tricky for me sometimes– oddly, a pad-stitched collar set onto a tailored jacket seems easier to me than a bedgown collar– but I suspect the eventual recipient will manage to enjoy the garment no matter what minor construction errors a tipsy milliner or half-seas over housemaid might make (not, of course, that I am either of those things).

It’s been a fascinating exercise in having a staff-and-docent study group that has taken a decidedly feminist bent (calling Our Girl History!) as we explore what happened in Providence After Dark. Brothel riots in 1782. Warnings by the Baptist Church not to visit the “theatre, circus, or Green Cottage” on pain of punishment. No, I do not yet know what or where the Green Cottage is, but the best researchers I know are working on it. Is this the 18th century answer to the Green Door? We can but hope.

Reading The Coquette? Thomson’s The Seasons? Come experience an 18th century house on a night when people will know what you’re talking about! Or you can watch  that questionable housekeeper prepare a room for the night while she talks about sleep patterns and shares tips for 18th century pest control.

 

 

*Pro tip: put it on a chair. I fully expect to run an intimate workshop some evening called “Will Humiliate Self for History, or, Everything you ever wanted to know about the 18th century, but were too well brought up to ask.”

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Domestic Bliss

07 Friday Dec 2012

Posted by kittycalash in History, Museums

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Tags

candles, exhibits, galleries, Geffrye Museum, history, john middleton, lighting, museum collections, museum of london, Museums, Research, resources, setting a formal table

Museum of London

Museum of London, John Middleton &tc

I’ll come back another time to John Middleton & His Family, 1797 from the Museum of London, but today, this group portrait represents one of the online galleries at The Geffrye Museum of the Home in London. Their website has some nice features, and while I did get distracted playing the Topsy-Turvy Timeline game, what I really like playing with exploring is the Life in the Living Room 1600-2000 gallery.

The Geffrye Museum

This has proven useful in keeping on (slightly distracted) track as we polish silver and think about lighting, entertaining, and the ways rooms were used in the past. In particular, since we settled on the idea of setting a formal table for the “holiday themed tours,” and on the After Dark tours, I’ve been thinking about lighting.

Not only is it clear that the expansive use of candles represented expense and disposable income, it’s also clear that it was uncommon. Special occasions on high-style homes: yes. Everyday use in middling homes: no. Even the charming and well-dressed lady reads by just one candle (though that is also a composition choice, and not purely documentary).

More hilariously to the point, this satirical engraving from the Lewis Walpole Libary:

The Pantry Apparition

Lewis Walpole Library, The Pantry Apparition

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