Benjamin Franklin and the Sartorial Identity of Early America: 2
In 1776, Benjamin Franklin arrived in France charged with the mission of acquiring assistance for the American Revolution from the French monarchy. This choice was not made without purpose as Franklin was well known in France as a man of genius, the discoverer of electricity, a direct descendant of thinkers and scientists like Newton and Galileo. Franklin projected an image of Quaker simplicity, an identity that not only did not wholly represent himself but also catered to the French’s preconceived ideas of America. This paper explores how Franklin used dress and fashion to propagate a somewhat disingenuous image of himself and of American culture as a whole. The Treaty of Alliance that he orchestrated directly impacted the early republic’s own evolving national and sartorial identity. This paper also highlights the effect that dress can have in a shifting political environment, particularly in France where luxury and social hierarchy could be determined by the company you kept and the clothes you wore. The early republic’s sartorial identity was conflicted for on one hand, homespun clothing represented patriotism and commitment to the revolution, on the other hand luxury goods and emulation of French fashion signaled access to Europe’s lifestyle and status.
Benjamin Franklin and the Sartorial Identity of Early America: I
In 1776, Benjamin Franklin arrived in France charged with the mission of acquiring assistance for the American Revolution from the French monarchy. This choice was not made without purpose as Franklin was well known in France as a man of genius, the discoverer of electricity, a direct descendant of thinkers and scientists like Newton and Galileo. Franklin projected an image of Quaker simplicity, an identity that not only did not wholly represent himself but also catered to the French’s preconceived ideas of America. This paper explores how Franklin used dress and fashion to propagate a somewhat disingenuous image of himself and of American culture as a whole. The Treaty of Alliance that he orchestrated directly impacted the early republic’s own evolving national and sartorial identity. This paper also highlights the effect that dress can have in a shifting political environment, particularly in France where luxury and social hierarchy could be determined by the company you kept and the clothes you wore. The early republic’s sartorial identity was conflicted for on one hand, homespun clothing represented patriotism and commitment to the revolution, on the other hand luxury goods and emulation of French fashion signaled access to Europe’s lifestyle and status.
A Picture Worth A Thousand Words:
This brief article discusses how Queen Victoria (1819-1901) and Empress Dowager Cixi of China (1835-1908) used photography and photo editing in similar ways, in order to promote a specific image of themselves to both their people and other countries, as both ideal women and ideal rulers. The physical photos themselves served as useful political tools that these women used to their advantage.
“Testimonies of Rank and Character”:
Swords are often valued today as works of art and as the belongings of famous individuals, but these objects can also provide a deeper understanding of the time period in which they were created or used. The purpose of this research paper is to examine what values were transmitted by the ownership and wielding of blades, particularly as markers of genteel status. The swords studied in this paper were owned by American Revolutionary General John Brooks, and through an examination of his life and the matter in which blades were traditionally used, a connection between these weapons and masculine ideals can be traced. Ultimately it can be concluded that men had very personal relationships with their swords, even if they were not used in combat, as extensions of themselves. To the Early Americans, masculinity was associated with leading one’s family and bravery in combat. Likewise, blades were often associated with honor, as rewards for serving in the highest capacity and the embodiment of these ideals. Through both material culture and document analysis, this paper posits that swords were essentially a man’s military and political prowess in material form.
A Measured Response
What can a family cookbook from 1764 tell us about life in 18th century New England? Sarah Fayerweather’s receipt book was compiled in 1764 and passed down from generation to generation. These handwritten pages are not simply recipes frozen in time. They are a looking glass in which the careful observer can distinguish the nuances of New England’s colonial past. Scholars have focused primarily on published recipe books, but Fayerweather’s book reveals much about life in colonial New England, a world on the brink of revolution. Consider just three of the recipes it contains: one for rye and Indian meal cakes, another for ginger snaps, and an alleviant for abdomen pain. Through an analyzation of these three recipes, this personal receipt book provides an incisive study on the social, cultural, political, economic, and medical nuances that affected the daily lives of women in late-eighteenth-century Massachusetts.
To Walk Like an Egyptian:
The experience of coming to know the individuals of the past through their material culture displayed within museums offers an understanding distinctive from those of the individuals who used and created them. In discussing how closely the modern museum visitors experience with artefacts on display reflects one’s relationship with material in the past, the different analytical theories, museum contexts and visitors are considered. The complexities of these interpretations and presentations of the past are showcased in the material of ancient Egypt as its various exhibitions and popularity have influenced just how accurately one can come to understand past individual experiences.
