The 150th Anniversary and Civil War Era Dinner Invitations

So, tomorrow is the generally accepted date for the beginning of the Civil War (you know how historians are.) I wasn't even going to mention it but I felt the need because I am already sick of hearing about it. :D Every time I open a newspaper there's a story about the Civil War or stranger-- Civil War reenactors.

As much as I love to see how other people view us-- I feel like the media regurgitates the same few sensational aspects of it. I love reading that reenactors " even make their hardtack from scratch," as if there is a hardtack mix we should know about. (For those of you not familiar with hardtack the ingredients are: flour and water.) Another interesting topic that gets noted frequently is the price of reenacting items. Normally, the papers will say something like "ladies spend upwards of $1,000 on a nice dress,"-- of course people think we are crazy! Other good topics are "reenactors go on extreme diets to replicate soldiers on half rations," and "women even squish themselves into corsets!" 

Okay, now that I am done my rant. :D I am excited for this year's reeanacting season. The weather was is so nice today that I can imagine myself in my dress holding my basket full of apples while skipping barefoot down the company sheet, smelling summer and gunpowder.

I shall be commemorating only with Civil War Era Dinner Invitations from Martine's Sensible Letter-writer, published in 1866:

A fill-in-the-blank card. Manuals of the time recommended fill-in-the-blank cards for people who frequently had parties. Other options included having your name printed in by the printer and only leaving the invitee's name and date blank.

To fill the card in, follow the first example.




Is everyone excited for the 2011 season?