Books - I love ’em. I want to own all the books in the world. But since my last name isn’t Gates or Buffett, I probably won’t end up with an entire bound set of La Mode Illustrée in my studio.
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I have three basic approaches for doing Extreme Research in books. #1 I buy as many as I possibly can. #2 I take advantage of the incredibly rare and amazing volumes owned by libraries. #3 I do a lot of research on the Internet. Having spent a good portion of my life hunched over card catalogues, I have to say I am utterly blown away by the books Google has scanned and made available to us, free of charge.
In this blog, I’ll share some wonderful library experiences with you. In the future, I’ll talk about my personal collection and later about some books now available on line.
In this blog, I’ll share some wonderful library experiences with you. In the future, I’ll talk about my personal collection and later about some books now available on line.
This is a pattern page from Der Bazar, 1865, owned by the Special Collections of the Gladys Marcus Library at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. These are full-size patterns and, as you can see, they are overlapping. In this way, Der Bazar could include a lot of patterns with each issue. Many years ago I was allowed to use tracing paper and a very soft pencil to copy every pattern from the 1865 volume. It took me a solid month. Some of the patterns that came from that venture:
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Here’s a recent adventure in research at the New York Public Library:
The Fashion Archives and Museum of Shippensburg University acquired a very early vernacular coatee. It was my job to take a pattern from the coatee. I find it much easier to take an accurate pattern from a garment if I know what period it belongs to. So determining the date of this garment was a self-assigned part of the project.
By the way, if you would enjoy watching Museum Director Karin Bohleke restoring this garment, follow her on Facebook.
By the way, if you would enjoy watching Museum Director Karin Bohleke restoring this garment, follow her on Facebook.
The NYPL owns some wonderful tailoring books from the first part of the 19th century. The top plate is from Manuel de Tailleur, 1833. The pattern on the right from The Tailor’s Preceptor of 1830 is full size. It was in very fragile condition and I was allowed to photo it (no tripod), but if I had suggested tracing it, I would have been chased from the building. | 
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OK, one more library adventure in Extreme Research:
Artificial flowers like those of the 19th Century simply can’t be bought today. I became interested in learning how they were made and that led to teaching a class at The Ladies and Gentlemen of the 1860’s Conference. I found a certain amount of information on flower making in the ladies’ magazines, such as Godey’s and Peterson’s. However, the most complete how-to’s were rare books at the library. Of particular interest were the following -Die Fabrication der Kunstlichen Blumen, 1855:
| Nouveau Manuel Complet du Fleuriste Artificiel, 1854 
| Goffering tools Drying racks | Our workshop version of the tools 
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The Artificial Florist, 1838
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It would seem that every day another piece of priceless research is added to Google Books or some of the other Internet libraries - books I have laboriously photographed, a page at a time. The convenience and availability is wonderful, but I never regret having touched, observed, and smelled (!) the original. That’s Extreme Research.
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