Over the past few years, Marilyn has been tasked with creating three different sets of costumes, two for interactive educational programs called First Kids and Paths to Freedom, respectively, and one for a special reenactment commemorating the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War.
In First Kids, Elementary to Middle School-aged children learn various stories about children who lived in the White House, such as the time Teddy Roosevelt's son brought a horse all the way from the stables to the second floor of the White House in order to cheer up his sick brother. Then the kids get to try on clothes from the period and reenact the stories they just heard. Paths to Freedom is also an educational program, in which students recreate scenes around signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. Our costumes needed to be historically accurate, yet easy to slip on and off and adjustable for any size child. Easy, right? Right!
Adding to the previous programs will be fairly straighforward. We will add sizes and update numbers to meet the current needs of the programs. In this vein, preparing for the reenactment for the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812 will be very similar to how preparations for the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War played out two years ago, in that we will create about 30-60 costumes overall of historically accurate, heavily researched costumes for a special event, but of course 1812 was a very different period from 1860. Society and fashion in those two years were just as wildly different as 2012 compared to 1964.
1850 looked a lot like this:
1812 looked more like this:
Which period are you more drawn to? Do you have any interesting facts about the war that time forgot?
We will keep you updated as the costumes come out, and let you know about the events at which you will be able to see them!
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