Project Overview
Project Overview
This project represents the very beginning of the research for my dissertation. In that paper, I will be investigating the origins and evolution of male evening dress, and the ways in which this civil uniform has influenced contemporary ideas of gender.
There are two components to this part of the project,
- The Research Question
- Mapping the Data
1. While the goal of this project is to investigate the ways in which upper class American men interacted with their wardrobes during the nineteenth century, that question may frequently be put on the back burner while I focus on finding, analyzing, and visually depicting the data that I'll be collecting for the project.
2. The Omeka project is mostly about looking at data. Instead of coming to this project with one specific source of data, rather I am thinking broadly about what kind of data will serve the dissertation, and how mapping it visually might help me ask better questions during my research.
This page will map out the basic information I'll be looking at in this project.
Who
This project will focus around the first three generations of men in the Astor family, starting with John Jacob Astor (1763-1848), and ending with John Jacob Astor IV (1864-1912).
Future iterations of this research will also likely involve other individuals, such as:
* Men of their same social circle, such as the: Vanderbilts, Rockefellers, Morgans, and Schermerhorns.
* People of lower classes, particularly servants like: butlers, valets, drivers, and waiters.
* People in trade, such as: tailors, shopkeepers, and laundresses.
When
The timeline for this project can be approached in a few different ways:
1. The "Long 19th Century." The French Revolution through WWI (1789-1918):
This allows for the transition out of the fashions of the ancien regime and into the new styles of male dressing; what Flügel calls "The Great Masculine Renunciation." While probably good to include for my eventual dissertation, the time span of this option might be a bit wide for this stage of my research, depending on what sort of data I find.
2. 1818 - 1918: This hundred-year period starts with the very beginning of the new practice for wearing black & white for evening occasions, and lasts through the end of WWI. It nicely focuses more specifically on just evening dress, but could present research challenges particularly in the first half of the period when primary source documents are harder to find.
3. 1885 - 1905: This 20 year period spans the time when the new "tuxedo" jacket entered the male evening wardrobe as a "semi-formal" option, generally thought to be rude if worn in the presence of ladies, but acceptable at home or in the company of other men. This time frame might be the best to focus on for this iteration of the project, for the purposes of narrowing down source material in the Harvard University Archives. The date range could adjust up or down by a few years in either direction, depending on what I find in the archives.
Where
This project will focus on the places where these men lived, worked, dined, entertained, and (hopefully) shopped for their clothing.
It will focus on three types of locations:
1. Residences: The grand homes of the Gilded Age in Manhattan, along the Hudson River and in Newport, Rhode Island. It may also include where they lived while attending school at Harvard (or Yale), or where their business interests were located.
2. Entertainment: Locations where the upper class dined and entertained, such as restaurants and men’s clubs, the opera and theater. This category is important for identifying the time of day when these men were the most likely to appear dressed in formal evening attire.
3. Shopping: Where they (or their servants) may have purchased clothing, including tailors, department stores, or laundry facilities.