18th Century Reenactor's egroups

Good day,

One of the best resources around for reenactors who use the web for research, shopping, and socializing, is the Yahoo! egroups and other email distribution lists. If you aren't familiar with them, I will tell you later how they work. For now, let me list the ones I know of that are worthwhile for 18th Century Reenactors:

~http://groups.yahoo.com/group/18cMusic/: a bit of a misnomer, as it is there to assist reenactors in the accurate portrayal of the 18th Century military field musician, not 18th century music in general (as the name implies).

~http://groups.yahoo.com/group/18cWoman/: without a doubt one of the best, this is a place to discuss everything about women in the 18th century, clothing, manners, status, condition, and more. Stories of actual women, excerpts from letters & diaries, sources for study. Emphasis on regional differences, and the abilities displayed in home and the running of businesses. An exploration of how events affected their lives. Men and women are both on this list, and "men's stuff" does get discussed now and then, especially clothing.

~http://groups.yahoo.com/group/250thFIEventsLakeGeorgeNY/: focused on the 250th anniversary of the events that occured at the southern end of Lake George and which will be re-enacted through 2007 at Lake George.

~http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cookfi/: relevant to the 2005 Cook Forest (PA) F&I War Encampment plus a number of other great events in the PA area.

~http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FandIBrits/: This group is intended to communicate information between members of French and Indian War reenactors portraying British Regulars,Provicials,Rangers and Natives loyal to The British Crown.

~http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FandIWAR/: military battles, life in camp, material culture of the times, weapons, the social order of colonial America, and just about anything else on subjects pertaining to the eighteenth century, including topics specifically related to re-enacting the period on both sides of the conflict (French, British, general Colonial, and Native American).

~http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FandIWomen/ a discussion of women and their pertinent issues in the French and Indian (Seven Years) War era, including interpreting the daily lives of women in Nouvelle France (roughly 1740-1760); this list is useful because 18CWoman has a strong emphasis on Rev War era and very little influence on Canadian women.

~http://groups.yahoo.com/group/historic_animals/: while not just for reenactors, this forum brings together Living historians and breeders of historically correct breeds of Livestock which includes cattle,horses sheep,pigs,goats,poultry,cats and dogs, for discussing historically correct breeds, and for reneactors who are intersted in incorpating the historically correct animals into the Living History community.

~http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HistoricalTrekking/: dedicated to living history or historical trekking, for people who are interested in recreating the daily life skills and activities of the people who lived in North America during the 18th century.

~http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MiddleWatersGroup/: not a French group or an English group, an F & I, Revolutionary War or 1812 group specifically, nor exclusively military or civilian, they are a group of Midwestern reenactors who need to share information for people, personas, and events in their area of the country.

~http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NativeList/: for people involved in living history who portray 17th-early 19th Century Native Americans, mostly of the Eastern Woodlands' cultural groups during the 18th century, the scope also including people who portray Indian Agents, Traders, or members of recreated military units that supported native operations, but not Indian Fighters.

~http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Nieuw-Nederlandt/: for people interested in the historical New Amsterdam/New Netherland and interested in the living history portrayal of it.

~http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Revlist/: an active community of living historians, re-enactors, research historians, historical writers, genealogists, and other persons interested in the period of time during which the American War of Independence was fought, with topics including military battles, life in camp, material culture of the times, weapons, the social order of colonial America, and just about anything else on subjects pertaining to the mid to late eighteenth century.

~http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RevWarBuySellSwap/: for folks into Rev War reenactment to list things they are either looking for, selling, or willing to swap.

~http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RevWarCostume/: for discussion on making and wearing Revolutionary War era costumes and clothing (Costume:" 1. A style of dress, including garments, accessories, and hairstyle, especially as characteristic of a particular country, period, or people."-Websters). There is some overlap here with 18cWoman, but this list has more info on men's clothing.

~http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SavoryFare2/: focuses on the historic foodways of the 18th Century, including receipts (recipes) and appropriate documentation, ingredients (both finding original and possible modern substitutes), measurements, cooking methods, foodways background and relevant material culture of colonial America, including immigrants of the period and their contribution. This group is the successor (hopefully temporary) to SavoryFare, until we can get subscription problems sorted out on the original list.

Whew!! That's enough for now. Check back tomorrow to find out more about how they work and what you need to do to get the most out of them.

Oh, if I have missed any that are important, please leave a comment and let me know.

YH&OS,
Sarah / Chauncey