Becky FifieldJan 1, 20152 minNew Year’s Day – A Great Day to Run AwayDer Wöchentliche Pennsylvanische Staatsbote 9/17/1773. RL Fifield Photo. Library of Congress. Many of us choose some aspect of life to...
Becky FifieldNov 20, 20132 minA Philadelphia Servant, 1787The Accident in Lombard Street. Charles Wilson Peale. Winterthur Museum. 1962.88. A pie lays broken in the street, a distraught servant...
Becky FifieldAug 29, 20132 minCatering to Clients in an 18th Century Philadelphia ShopI spent July at a Research Fellowship at Winterthur Museum, Library, and Garden. This mainly meant identifying manuscripts and object...
Becky FifieldAug 8, 20132 minDigging in the Archives: Philadelphia City ArchivesNothing like a little research day on my birthday. Quarter Session Docket, June 1, 1767. Philadelphia City Archives. During my stay at...
Becky FifieldAug 1, 20131 minDigging in the Archives: Swarthmore College’s Friends Historical LibraryMy time here at Winterthur is wrapping up. I took yesterday to visit two incredible local institutions, the Friends Historical Library at...
Becky FifieldJul 5, 20131 minHistoric Philadelphia Mapping ResourcesMy research on indentured and enslaved servants’ lives has led me to mapping out their existence on historic maps of Philadelphia. I’m...
Becky FifieldMay 30, 20132 minWhat I’ve Been Reading: Buying Into A World of Goods by Ann Smart MartinRead this great book on 18th century commerce in the backwoods of Virginia. Ann Smart Martin’s Buying into the World of Goods: Early...
Becky FifieldApr 4, 20133 minConnecting the Dots: Convict Servants in MarylandEddie Izzard puns on the Church of England: “Cake or Death?” For people found guilty of committing small crimes in England,...
Becky FifieldJan 28, 20132 min(Music Plays) Lydia, The Tattoed Lady – An eighteenth century woman’s tattooThe New Yorker Photo Booth blog highlighted tattoed women and a book about them Bodies of Subversion: A Secret History of Women and...
Becky FifieldDec 21, 20122 minShifting Garment Styles, 1750-1790: What Research and Sketching Have in CommonI roll over this analogy in my mind as I work with my study of 1,000 runaway indentured and enslaved women and their 6,000 garments,...
Becky FifieldSep 29, 20122 minHalloween Comes to Downton AbbeyI predicted in this post from April that people would be hot to trot for Downton Abbey influenced costumes this Halloween. True to form,...
Becky FifieldSep 7, 20122 minNanny – A Servant Wager CupOnline databases are incredible tools. While my museum career has mostly focused on textiles, dress, and ethnographic materials, I never...
Becky FifieldAug 5, 20121 minRunaway Scavenger HuntIn researching the lives of indentured and enslaved women during the 18th century, I’m trying to rebuild their communities, to better...
Becky FifieldJul 22, 20121 minStocking WashingThe summer is full of living history events, and moreso, the laundry that follows a hot sweaty weekend out in a field without a shower....
Becky FifieldJul 20, 20122 minVariety Among the 18th Century Lesser SortsDer Wöchentliche Pennsylvanische Staatsbote 9/17/1773. As part of my research on 18thcentury working class clothing, I have been studying...
Becky FifieldJun 23, 20121 minNames of the Forgotten – Runaway Clothing Database ProjectMaryland Gazette, August 9, 1787. Library of Congress. RL Fifield photo. The Runaway Clothing Database project uses newspaper runaway...
Becky FifieldMay 27, 20122 minFollowing Eleanor Ferrell: A Runaway Indentured ServantNew: see the full article online here. If it doesn’t come up, go to the home page and search again. Abraham Emmit labeled her “an ill...