Charlotte Evans

Charlotte joined the Centre for History as a PhD student in 2020. Her thesis title is 'The daily lived experiences of women in 18th Century Britain'. 

I describe myself as a Living Historian. Living History, (Re-enactment), is the re-creation of historical settings with accurate clothing etc., usually for display. It is my hobby, and key to my research. When I chose 18th century dress history for my thesis, living-history provided the questions I am always asked: how did the clothes feel? What was it like to live/work in them, do this, or that?

I quickly discovered that academia rarely engaged with these questions, and had no satisfactory answers, mostly assuming the clothes were uncomfortable and impractical. My experience said this was untrue. Aided by volunteers, I applied living-history’s ‘experiential’ approach to research. During several dedicated events, we wore 18th century women’s clothes, recording the experience, addressing questions such as how long it took to dress, could it be done unaided, and whether the garments were comfortable or restrictive. We have laced fabric-and-bone stays, made and worn leather ones, done physical chores, and discussed our experiences past and present.

I believe this work proves that living-history’s experiential methods are a valid form of research, and that we can learn as much or more from them as from traditional sources. They provide a different perspective on people’s lives in the past, thus increasing and deepening our understanding in entirely new ways.