She hates me nor saying that. During the symposium i find it to face a topic close to home here in alexandria. Katherine gruber is from the jamestown georgetown from the university of Mary Washington and from the college of william and mary. Shes contributed to the valley of permanent garleries in yorktown including liberty fever, a special exhibitusion careator including early virginia which i highly encourage you to go see before it closed in january and forgotten soldier, open now through march 22nd, 2020. Kate will present her topic. So please welcome my good friend kate gruber. Well good afternoon. So you have to get through me before we can get to happy hour so ill try to make that happen with as much alack ritity of possible. Mark twain said it best. Clothes make the man. Little men little to no influence onsite. And the more i like about people, the more i like my dog. Also, he dressed like this. [ laughter ] so why dont we go to the british author Robert Campbell who wrote in 1747 no man is ignore about that a tailor makes our clothes and some makes their dress and said to make themselves. So, yes, in short, clothes make the man. And in 18th century people really had a relationship with their clothing. A relationship or a knowledge of the tradesmen, women, merchants and seamstresses and others who are a role in producing clothing, importing or selling that clothing. So this is very true for alexandria, virginia, right here on the eve of the revolution. The residents of 18th century alexandria were part of a world that defined by adherence to strict social hierarchy and clothing and textile consumption presented a unique dichotomy which we shall see was based on choice and the nature of the trade. So today i want you to take you a journey through 18th century alexander, a city on the eve of revolution. The time machine is the only known surviving account book from a virginia tailor in the prerevolutionary period. Can everyone hear me okay . I will try better. So utilizing this account book as our guy. My goal this afternoon is to give you just a glimpse of prerevolutionary alexandria through the lense of how they acquired clothing and importantly the lives they lived in their clothes. Hopefully what will immerge is a more complete picture of a city on the eve of revolution and how the simple every day act of dressing had revolutionary consequences. Or at the very least eliminate some of what alexandrias society wore to the revolution. So well get started right away. William carlin served the residents of alexandria as a tailor from 1763 to 1782 as the only known surviving account book from a tailor, carlins records offer a very rare and unique insight into consumerism material culture, a world in which alexandrians were really deeply entrenched. Carlins account book provides the names of 130 customers who entered his shop to be measured and fit for clothing. Well carlins tailoring business flourished right here in alexandria shortly after the founding in 1749 when the Virginia House met in williamsburg, yes, william and mary, i invite Public Participation so any time just go for it. Thank you. So the house of burgees proposed an act at hunting week warehouse in the county of fairfax. So as a port town and you realize im speaking, preaching to the choir here, you know the history of this town, alexandria thrived on imports and exports. Prominent planters exported tobacco. Tobacco and wheat across the atlantic in exchange for other goods like rum, sug and fashionable luxuries. Factors that we have heard about today offers stores and warehouses for scottish and others that imported goods across the atlantic. Eventually those goods made their way to alexandria and by 1776 the population was under 2,000. That population would glrow to 5,000 by 1800. The residents of alexandria then were ship builders, carpenters, merchants, silver and blacksmiths and enslaved africanamericans, tavern keepers and whiten dentured servants were found here. Many were immigrants from england and scotland and one was a tailor of William Carlin. In my mind this is how i imagined him for a really long time. Ill let that sink in for a moment. Sort of middleaged and a round figure perhaps on a bald spot or excessive worry that his seams werent quite right but given the handmade goods and things sources from local materials, and now of course ive realized that carlin was roughly the same age as i am now. Im starting to pickture him a little bit more like this. All right. To be fair, how about that. So unfortunately i havent been able to uncover too much about carlins life before he began his account book here. According to family histories, carlin was born in 17 near a place called paintly bridge in yorkshire and lived in london before immigrating to england. He was 31 years old when he made his first notations in a new account book in 1763. So by then alexandria was a power base for emerging gentry who owns vast plantations and including George Washington and george mason who lived within a few miles of the city center. Scottish and english merchants set up shop in alexandria and they made up most of the population and carlin is part of that. A Family History states that carlins shop was located on the corner of king and royal streets. Guess what, guys, we get to walk right by it when we go to happy hour. Here is a handy directional map for you. Spent some time there last night saying hello. It is a la serla now. I told my husband is that why he was young and redskiny because he was on the jared diet. So you could see that carlins shop was very prominently located in the citys developing downtown. It must have been a visible feature on the landscape and kru customers didnt have to travel to for to visit the shop from the places where they worked or lived. So of the customers in the account book, where ive identified where theyve lived and that is a lot, no one was more than one mile away from carlins tailor shop and that includes george mason who owned a townhouse about 200 feet from carlins shop and George Washingtons townhouse is less than half a mile away at 508 cameron street. Which is i guess that is north, which is not on the map but it would be just off this map here. So merchants and tradesman like carlin were crucial links to gently planters like mason and washington who needed the wares, silks, linen and wool and cotton to provide props for their social performance of dominance. As a tailor, carlin supplied the men of alexandria with many props. That they needed to perform this act. But the account book reveals that the customers who patronized carlins shop were a city of the demographics of the city as a whole which is fascinating but ill get into that later. But we need to talk about the relationship of the tail lor to his clientele in the form of the apply coined art and mystery of the tailors trade. This is important. So when George Washington, we talked about George Washington today, when he ordered suits, and livery from his london tailor, he included the language, the livery suits must be made by measures of men taken nearest their size to they could judge and intended for 59 and 54 height and proportionally made. So these were essential communications to a tailor if you are expecting him to construct a handsewn fitted garment. It is not a luxury item as we associate as today. It is a simple fact of clothing construction. Until the mid 19th century hand sewn was for any garment whether it is a wealthy member of the gentry or a enslaved. So men and women in the 18th century were familiar with the needle and thread and could make some simple repairs, maybe some Household Items but fuller garments required the knowledge and skills of men and women who learned their trades with the master tailor. So articles such as breaches, coats and others require a tailor. The skill is in the ability to fit, to measure and cut garments for a man. This is just men here. I wanted to make a quick point. Im talking about men being customers because women would go to a completely different garment maker but these are just men in mens garments here. With rare exceptions. Stays. So it is the 18th century corset. Carl lynn made Martha Washingtons stays. So somewhere along the line they needed to utilize the skills of a tailor at some point. Even the Virginia Company included a tailor in the First Expedition to jamestown and sent six more in 1608 making tailors one of the most represented trades in colonial virginia second only to carpenters and if you know anything about what happened to the Virginia Company in james toutown of 1607, but t need more tailors, that says a lot. Theyre not eating, but got to look good. All right. So that trend actually holds up throughout the 18th century. In the virginia gazette tailors advertise makes up 6 of advertisement from copies of the gazette from 1736 to 1780. Only third behind tutors and doctors. In alexandria, where carlin is, a distribute of the citys occupation from 1764 to 1800 reveals that 20 of local artisans were involved in the clothing craft and just like in 17th century jamestown it is second to those employed in the construction trade. So again this is an important part of our everyday life and in society. And this overwhelming number of tailors on the landscape speaks to their necessity in a society where individuals did not routinely make their own clothing. So why were tailors and their skills so important to communities like alexandria. A source said a tailor must bestow a good shape where nature has not designed it. Well to accomplish this, a tailor needed to take systematic measurements across a mans body, very detailed measurements so may i have a voluntarily from the audience who knows french. Please, there has to be somebody. Because i dont want to butcher this on cspan. Please, maam. If you could read the title of this book for me, please. [ inaudible ]. Thank you very much. [ applause ] you see why i didnt want to tackle that. I took latin. Im useless. So thank you for saving me from that embarrassment. So this is the 1769 treat is on the art of tailoring and it chronicles 20 different measurements neededond a mans body to construct a well cut and wellfitted suit. A tail lor must take the measurements for a person of whom the clothes are going to be made. A strip of paper one inch wide is used. It is called a measure. It is placed on the body wherever the sizes require and reach measurement is marked by a snip of the scissors so they ensures it would fit the customer properly and the way it fit his body was as important as the fabric choice. To George Washington provides a fun lens to explore the importance of cut and fit even further. When washington sent orders for clothes to london tailors he noted his large size and lanky stature. He was the tallest in Continental Congress. We learned that today. So he knew that these details were necessary in the construction of fitted clothing. So in order for a suit, washington wrote to charles lawrence, let it be fit for a man full six feet high and proportionately made. Further correspondence from washington to his london factory reveals that washington was just not satisfied with the quality of the garments that he received from his london tailor. I have hitherto have many clothes made on fish street but whether it is the fault of tailor or the measure sent, i cant say but certainly it is my close have never fit me very well. So his frustration from poorly fit clothing from london, he turned to carlin. He brought coats that needed mending and breaches and suits and washington could lengthen the breadth of coats and restore it to the proportionately made gentleman. One day to altering your clothes to your great coat and so on and so on. So as a gentlemen in a prominent city, excuse me, ill have to look at washington for a while. As a prominent city, George Washington was at the top of alexandrias social ladder. So he did warn that warned his friends not to conceive that fine clothes make fine men any more than Fine Feathers make fine clothes. So he knew how to dress the part. So he turned to carlin and came to the local tailor for making new clothes itself. He ordered a variety of garments including coats, waist coats and leggings and even more formal attire. Breeches were the most common garment made for George Washington and though he continued to place orders for suits and coats from his tailor in london, it seemed washington may have given up on charles lawrences ability to judge the height and breadth of his clients for the purpose of making comfortable and satisfactory breeches. By june of 1768 he wrote that you have sent my clothes too short and sometimes too tight so i think it is necessary again to mention that i am full six feet high. I love how he just blames it on everybody else. No, im not gaining weight at all. So, again, carlin to the rescue. He provided washington with the fitted and very fashionable clothing that he needed in order to maintain his place in alexandria complex invisible social order. So revered within the region, washingtons taste set the bar for the remainder of society seeking to emulate National Dress of the local gentry. So far weve exposed washingtons account with carlin but artisans and merchants and enslaved men passed through the door of the shop illustrating that the clothing could certainly uphold social hierarchy and inequality and the act of entering the tailor shop ensures that social mixing could be explored and experienced in this pre revolutionary space. And the active being measure for clothing was something that all members of the social strata could experience in 18th century virginia. So were going to washington a temporary adieu. How is my pronounciation . Horrible. And weve explore the other community who stepped inside of the walls of carlins shop and account the for the over 2,000 transactions by washington. So though carlin constructed for the fairfax family, 38 members of alexandrias merchant class sought his talents as well. Among the men is james kirk, hopefully someone that you have heard of. Hes noted for hosting the british nicholas crestal when he stayed in alexander in 1774. John carlyle also was a frequent customer in carlins shop. And in addition to the planner gentry and merchants of alexandria, William Carlin had a work with the trades men of the city so there was a wide cross of men who worked with their hands in shops and on wet wharves such as blacksmith joel cooper and ship builder Thomas Fleming and silver Smith Charles turner. Carlin produced clothes for one arc tech, one cooper, one hatter, five joiners, two silver smith and no partridges and a pear tree but he produced 205 garments for the artisans including 38 waist coats and 17 suits with fabric choices that ranged from a velvet suit to a country cloth suit for silver Smith Charles with breeches and drabs in between. So he served others of alexandrias society, the enslaved africanamericans and white servants and in the workshops of the citys artisans in taverns as well. Carlin made clothing for apprentices of some of the alexandrias art isons. They made provisions for the clothing and their accounts when they came to carlin themselves. So builder James Parsons purchased clothes for two of his apprentices who were samuel rowe and george barns and they would later train to become bricklayers. And the free citizens also utilized a workforce of both white and enslaved africanamericans and many krufts in carlins have not been identified. I havent been able to figure out who they are and i just have a name. And that is because at this time alexandria relied heavily on whiten dentured endentured servitude. He made purchases for himself and 12 other individuals that are only identified by first name. So it is possible that some of them were enslaved or otherwise somehow part of adams working household. So further to this point, carl lynns accounts provide an interesting view of how the enslaved Community Acquired clothing as well as what they wore. The livery for enslaved men and the tailor constructed garments for members of enslaved Community Working for and owned by alexandrias artisan and merchant population too. So clothing made specifically for the enslaved members of Alexandria Community account for 10 of the total transactions in the account book as a whole and 37 of the customers also purchased clothing for enslaved men. At the same time they purchased clothing for themselves. Sh should have mentioned im a quanta tative historian and you dont think i included that in my biography. I think that is the most math youll hear from today. And this is typical of what any man would receive from his tailor, free or enslaved. And all he produced 0i90 coats, great coats and 14 frocks. For enslaved men owned by either alexandria citizens. So id like to do a bit of a deep dive here further into the clothing that carlin made for the enslaved members of alexandrias society because we know precious little about this very, very prominent part of the citys population and through the account book we gain so much more insight into their material lives on the eve of revolution. So carlins accounts could help us understand the varieties, the quantity and life cycle of clothing within the broader lens of the material life of the enslaved. So here we go. So joe, who is an enslaved man owned by silver Smith Charles jones appears to receive clothing from carlin twice between 1772 and 1775. Charles jones was a very infrequent customer. But in 1772 he received a coat and in 1775 carlin mended his leather breeches, which are the jeans of the time. So this is interesting to me. Given the fact that joes next appearance in any document of any kind in the history orric record is in the virginia gazette and it is a runaway advertisement. The ad reeds run away from the subscriber in Fairfax County near alexandria, a young negro man named joe about 20 years of age. 58 and well made and had on when he ran away a shirt and trouser but may probably change his clothes so we all too often, how man