Historians mark this day!

This is the first post on the Historical Reenactment Message Board. May we never forget our history, for it is what makes us who we are.

It may have been the first post, but I don't think it will be the last...not with me around, anyway! LOL I'm interested in hearing from other member who do historical reenacting. Me, I'm primarily an 1800's American West reeanactor. I co-founded a group (sadly dwindling since the death 3 years ago of our President -and my husband) that started out 7th Cavalry (Memorial) Regiment. Then as the 100th anniversary of the Spanish American War approached we moved up to that era (1898). We've done some Civil War, and some pre- Civil War (Westward Migration). When my husband passed away, I buried him in his Rough Rider uniform, and historical reenactors from many eras attended in their period mourning clothing. There was even a firearms salute by a squad of Rough Rider reenactors. It was probably the strangest funeral the Riverside National Cemetary in California has ever seen, but since discovering the hobby in the 1980's, it's dominated our life...and still continues to do so. Even now, the room I'm sitting in is covered with Remington prints, Indian art, a huge color photograph of my husband in Civil War uniform taken for a newspaper article about reenacting, and some miscellaneous photos (ya' can't leave out John Wayne, Clint Eastwood or Wild Bill Hic**** for heaven's sake!). A true reenactor makes their own period reproduction clothing, no zippers, snaps or polyester! Luckily, I live not far from a store in Pasadena, California that specializes in period reproduction patterns for men, women and children, plus a reference library that's to die for! When you're a big person (not just weight, but my late husband was 6'4''), you learn how to adapt patterns that don't "quite" come in 3x, etc. If you don't sew, you learn fast, and many other reenactor women who've developed the necessary sewing skills are often quite happy to help beginners. They can also turn you on to cobblers that will make historically accurate shoes. (A friend, who was just learning about reenacting, was verbally taken apart at the seems about her historically incorrect tennis shoes at her first reenactment!) There's SOOOOO much more I could go on about, like doing school shows in 1st person character, doing parades, shows, reenactments (ie Civil War - with Cannon, horses etc!), buying my first spinning wheel and learning to spin wool, the love of historical research and the on-going battle to fight "politically correct" historical revisionism, but I'll stop here for now. Don't want to use all my ammo in the first skirmish after all! ;-> Diane

Hi, I do reenactments and spinning for South Texas Ranching Heritage days. I've just bought a few patterns from Past Patterns but I'm waiting until after my surgery -which isn't even scheduled yet to make new clothes. I also weave and have done some linen and woolen fabric for some authenticity nuts. I usually spin wool but I recently got a Bosworth charka and need to start practicing on it. I have a Schacht wheel and a 30 year old Ashford, which is the one I take to reenactments. Joanne

Hi, my name is Kim and I'm preop (just barely)  My surgery date is May 5th!
I live in Lancaster Pa and have been doing Civil War reenacting with my son  for 7 years.  I do all my own clothing and my sons.  I also do sewing and bonnet making for a shop in Gettysburg Pa.    My son works at the shop doing leather.  I was kind of surprised to find other reenactors on this web site.  I'm really excited about getting into smaller clothes and even have fabrics set aside for when I get smaller. I've got lots of patterns for large sizes   the first time I took dresses up to the shop in large sizes you should have seen the look on the owners face.  I don't think he had any idea how fast they would sell. 
We aren't all Scarlett O'Haras!  Would love to hear from you.  Kim