Re: MtMan-List: underwear

[agottfre@telusplanet.net (Angela Gottfred)]

> But
> there are many  ladies at our rendezvous.  In reality they wouldn't have
> been there at all in 1830, but they are here now.  What about their underwear.

Lots of women were involved in the fur trade. Some were mixed-blood, some 
were Native; a very few were white. All of them would have likely objected 
to you asking them questions about their undergarments. And you'd better not 
ask me about _my_ underwear when I'm at rendezvous!

Seriously, there's not a whole lot of information on European women's 
undergarments in this period, but the Cunnington book mentioned earlier on 
this thread gives a good summary of what is known. Because there isn't a 
whole lot of info, opinion falls into two main schools : some folks believe 
most women didn't wear drawers/pantelettes, because so few survive, and 
there is very little mention of them in period writings; others say that can 
be explained by the fact that writing about one's underwear was improper, 
and underwear was usually discarded or recycled when it was worn out, unlike 
other exterior clothing.

Your humble & obedient servant,
Angela Gottfred 
agottfre@telusplanet.net