Please save the date: In January, we're going to celebrate!

We’re going to have a tea party! It’s happening in January. It’s happening live, in Massachusetts, where it will be cold and possibly snowy. Have your boots ready.

Meena Jain, Director of the Ashland Public Library, is throwing the party to celebrate the release of My Inconvenient Duke. I’ll be there, of course, chatting with my good friend, author Caroline Linden, and those of you readers who can make it. There will be treats. And attendees are welcome to dress in Regency/Romantic era costume, if they so choose.

January 2025 also marks Lord of Scoundrels’ 30th anniversary (may I say Yikes). We’ll also celebrate this miracle of longevity.

Details, details

  • This is an actual, in-person event.

  • 1-3PM ET

  • 25 January 2025

  • Ashland Public Library / 66 Front St / Ashland Massachusetts 01721

  • More info here.

  • Ph 508 881 0134 / Email: ashlandprograms@minlib.net

  • Kindly register here.

The photo: The teacup and saucer belonged to my mother, and was probably a wedding gift. She gave it to me when I turned into a serious tea drinker. Of course I’m afraid to use it, but I keep it where I can see it every day… and wonder if she ever drank tea from it. She was a coffee drinker (black, always) all the time I knew her.

Two Nerdy History Girls on YouTube

The Two Nerdy History Girls Ride Again 2024-07-15, courtesy Meena Jain and the Ashland Public Library

Once again historical novelist Susan Holloway Scott and I had a great time talking nerdy history with our most excellent host/superior moderator, Meena Jain, Library Director of the Ashland Public Library, in Ashland, Massachusetts.

As always, the discussion ranged hither and yon, as we did our best to respond to questions from the audience. But we did devote some time to an unfamiliar-to-many-people garment, the under-waistcoat, as part of a discussion of men’s attire. Apparently, it’s not an easy garment to comprehend in this day and age. Even waistcoats, the regular variety, are not familiar garments to many people.

For those who have watched or will be watching the video and trying to picture the item, here are a couple of images. That red V in the men’s fashion print is the under-waistcoat. It’s a bit more obvious in the portrait, although the museum tells us he’s wearing two shirts. No. The style is different because the images are thirty years apart, and waistcoats changed, much as women’s fashions changed.

From The Dictionary of Fashion History: “A sleeveless waistcoat, shorter than the over-waistcoat but extending a little above its upper edge; the visible portion of rich fabric contrasting in colour with that of the overgarment. Most fashionable ca 1825-1840 when several under-waistcoats might be worn, * one above the other; in the 1840s its use was becoming restricted to evening wear, ceasing to be fashionable after ca. 1850.” It’s revived later in the century under a different name, but let’s not add to the confusion with alternate names.

We touched on other topics, but I’ll leave it to you to ask questions, if you have any, by heading over to my Contact page. Please be aware that during these chats we don’t know what questions to expect, and the answers aren’t always on the tip of our tongues. There were a couple I could have answered more intelligently with a little preparation or time to reflect. But that’s part of the fun: not knowing what’s going to come up.

The program is on YouTube on the Ashland Public Library’s channel. You can watch it by clicking here. Or you can look up the title, “The Two Nerdy History Girls Ride Again! 7.15.2024.” Or you can cut and paste this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9F-xqxxQqM

*!!!!!

Images: L-Saliceti, Cristoforo, by Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Wicar ca 1800, Chrysler Museum of Art. R-Fashion Plate 20 March 1833, French, © Victoria and Albert Museum.

Two Nerdy History Girls Return Engagement No. 6

Author Susan Holloway Scott and I have been invited back to chat about social history with Super Librarian Meena Jain of the Ashland Public Library, Ashland Massachusetts, and an audience from, apparently, all over the place. It seems there are enough nerdy history people out there to keep us coming back. Certainly there’s enough social history to keep discussions going for as long as anybody wants to listen.

There’s no telling what topics will come up, but right now, I’m thinking breeches might be on the list (a) because nobody but historical interpreters, actors, and re-enactors wear them anymore, which makes them mystery items, and (b) because men’s clothing doesn’t get as much attention as women’s. But that’s just my guess. Our audience may have entirely different questions, which we will try to answer. Susan and I have a little more wisdom in some subjects than in others, but we’re always game to investigate.

Thomas Rowlandson, "New Invented Elastic Breeches" 1784 (or later)

© The Trustees of the British Museum

The event is virtual, so wear whatever you like, including breeches.

7 PM Monday 15 July 2024

You can register online by following this link or by cutting and pasting this address into your browser: https://tinyurl.com/apl-nerdygirl6

We hope you’ll join us for this next round. Our sixth!