Historical Reenaction

A popular summer activity in America is the reenaction of historical events and eras. Probably the most popular activity is the reinaction of Civil War battles. Men are the keenest participants as they like

Figure 1.--This boy in preparing for an Independece Day parade representing the era after the turn of the century. The middy blouse and pants, however, are not historically accurate creations.

to dress up in realistically accurate costumes, including the weapons. The reinactions are often done as a family activity with the wife and children also dressing up. Boys are often keen participants as buggle boys. While the Civil War reinactors are the most well known, there are also those interested in Revolutionary War reinactions.

Other activities with the participants dressing up in period costumes include old car rallies as well as parades of all descriptions, and a wide variety of local historical society productions.

These reinactions are often most popular with women and girls, except fpr the Civil War reenactions. Women and girls seem to genuinely enjoy dressing up in the varied fashions of the day from bussels to bloomers. For the boys it is a bit diffrent. Younger boys also enjoy dressing uo, especially if the costume is something exciting like a Civil War buggle boy. Some boys fashions like Buster Brown or Fauntleroy suits, kilts, or even sailor suits are a bit suspect for todays fashion conscious boy who feels much more at home in jeans. As a result, there is often a lack of boy volunteers for these events, but mon always appears capable to convince a few boys to participate.

The historical accuracy of these costumes is often lacking. The big exception to this are often closely monitored Civil War reenactions where monitors are careful to make sure that all aspects of the 20th century, such as wristwatches are removed.

Available infomations on these reinaction events include:
18th century: Nany European countries sponsor all kinds of historival pagents.
Revoluntionary War:
Civil War:
Turn of the century: Turn of the century reenactions are popular in auto ralies and in July 4 parades.
1920s:




Related Links: Careful, this will exit you from Boys' Historical Clothes
Canadian fashions: Some interesting images on how Canadian children dressed at the turn of the century
Mom: Some interesting images on how mom dressed