The Meaning of Dress: Ethnohistorical Analysis of interrelationship of material culture in the form of dress to past events.
 

Abstract - Presentation to the Costume Society of America. Fall 2007.
 

Leatherstocking in Palestine: Frontier Mythology, Dress, Identity, and the Founding of Israel

This research was an interpretation of dress history and its role in reflecting cultural and social change. More specifically, this work reported the results of a comparative analysis of the commonalities of dress change and evolution between the “frontier founders” of the modern state of Israel and those who participated in the westward expansion of the continental United States. Exploration of the similarities between dress form and identity construction of the expansionist “white heroes” in both national mythologies is the central theme of the work.

An ethnohistorical approach was used to develop the research data, which included the qualitative techniques of historical analysis and synthesis, combined with the assessment of sketches, book covers, and photographs, using established methods of visual anthropology. Data included the study of original photographs of Hashomer guards, and interpretations of the Hebrew language Hashomer papers (Goldstein, 1998; Shafir, 1989), a collection of Israeli documents concerning the history of the Jewish guards. In comparison, dress artifacts from the collection of the Autry National Center and the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum were visually analyzed. In addition, the lurid covers of dime novels, referred to as “blood and thunders” were included in the analysis as well. The focus of this work was on the history of participants who functioned within the liminal stage between civilization and frontier, often finding themselves confronted with violent reaction to their presence. Included in the analysis of the Americans were such notable frontiersman as Benjamin Church and Kit Carson.

This research focused on cowboy mythology depicted in low budget, series Westerns, predominant during the depression years of the 1930’s in the form of the Singing Cowboys films, known also as Horse Operas. The Singing Cowboy was an immensely important cultural figure, representing the fantasies, desires, and ambitions of those who experienced the economic hardship, dispossession and dislocation of the era (Stanfield, 2002). The one actor who best defined the essence of the Singing Cowboy was Gene Autry, around whom this research centers.

The data set for this analysis included visual and content analysis of a dozen Gene Autry feature-length films produced in the 1930s, six television episodes produced in the 1950s, and archives at the Autry Institute for the Study of the American West in Los Angeles – including the entire 110 item collection of Dell’s Gene Autry Comic Book covers dating from 1946 to 1955. The comic book, like its predecessor the dime novel, though not a high form of literature, was a popular expression of cowboy mythology. Gene Autry’s Comic Book was one of the most popular of its time and the covers give an outstanding static image of his cowboy persona. Films, television shows and comic book covers were examined for the relationship between Autry’s cowboy dress and his masculinity construction.

Autry was well known for his rather flamboyant Western dress, an appearance resplendent in comparison to other male characters in his films. Extravagant dress, combined with his pleasant, perhaps “sweet” personality created contradictions with the common view of cowboy masculinity. In fact, film producer, Nat Levine, questioned whether Autry had the virility to be a bona fide film cowboy (Green, 2002). Perceptions of masculinity construction are embedded in Wild West mythology, which is a “vivid and memorable set of hero tales,” based on the “complexly resonant symbol” of the cowboy (Slotkin, 1998, p. 3.). This image of the cowboy masculinity, with such hallmarks as earnestness, toughness, self-discipline, and unswerving purpose remains powerful and culturally pervasive today (Tompkins, 1992).

Abstract - Presentation to the Costume Society of America. Fall 2002

Conjuring Authenticity: Using Appearance Cues to Construct Credibility in American Folk Music - Drs. Mitchell Strauss and Annette Lynch

Vernacular music, as opposed to the more rigidly structured forms of classical music, employs a A musical language that is current, familiar, and manipulable by ordinary people (Filene, p.4). Folk music is generally conceived as the purest form of vernacular music; however, the definition of exactly what constitutes real or authentic folk music has been subject to debate since early attempts were made to catalog it. In the late 1800's, Francis James Child, established a definitive American folk music canon derived entirely from British peasant ballads created before the 15^th century. According to Child's any derivation from his canon suffered from lack of authenticity. Subsequent analysts and collectors of folk music broadened the scope of what was considered authentic. Alan Lomax, for example, established additional criteria for authenticating folk music, including not only the lyrics, but the manner in which the song was performed, and the appearance of the performer.

The movement toward including American roots music in the canon of authentic folk music began in the early 1900s, however the genesis of using white male working class appearance styles to validate the authenticity of distinctly American artistic voice dates to the second half of the 19^th century. In the struggle to recognize the unique and significant contribution of America to the art of poetry, Walt Whitman self-consciously crafted an engraved daguerreotype for the title page of his first edition of Leaves of Grass that captured a white male American working class hero. This visual image of the democratic voice of America, coupled with a distinct form of free verse, was posed in direct contrast to images of European poets as coming from an elite educated class,  writing in formal and traditional poetic form.

Whitman's image of himself became an inspiring appearance style, which when coupled with his free form verse, becomes emblematic, for singers like Woody Guthrie, of what it means to be an authentic American artist (Carmen 2000). Central to this definition of authenticity is performing or writing material that can be understood by common people, and dressing to symbolize the link of your work to the real lives of the working class.
 

The purpose of our research is to document the role that dress and appearance play in establishing the notion of authenticity in American folk music.  The theoretical framework we are using is based on Goffman's work on construction of identity and the role played by dress in developing a credible identity kit. 

Dress Authenticity in Civil War Reenacting -- Below is a photograph that has been computer altered to appear as a water color.  The photograph was taken by me at the September 1999 reenactment of the battle of Chickamauga.  Though the photograph, before alteration, was a high quality image, the water color transformation gives a more fitting affect to a somewhat surreal human endeavor.  My  research energies were applied to the study of Civil War reenacting, particularly issues related to dress authenticity and underlying meanings and messages associated with Confederate reenacting. Below the picture are abstracts of my publications in this particular research.