Hairstyles

Found some wonderful pictures and descriptions of latter Victorian hairstyles, and the infamous Gibson Girl. Based on what I have found I should be able to describe the different styles and the ornamentation that was a woman's glory in such a fashionable era.

Benjamin Rush and other victories

Ah the joys of going in depth into the hush-hush Victorian era ... found evidence that alcoholism had began being diagnosed by the 1800's, the temperance movement's founding being credited to Dr. Benjamin Rush and his writing: Inquiry Into the Effects of Ardent Spirits Upon the Human Mind and Body. There are several universities that have either archived copies of the 1811 writing or one of its following editions, but alas, they do not wish to share with me. However, I found his main four points in diagnosing alcoholism and his very uncomplicated treatment the disease (and he did term it a disease). Complete abstinence (we'd call that cold-turkey and dangerous, but it was the way they handled drying out). This is what every other source had led me to believe, so I feel like I am making good headway.

Hydrotherapy and Alcoholism

In my research this week, I have found more information about the Victorian preoccupation with the Turkish Bath. This hydro-therapy was popularized during the 1850's in different literature and took very little time to cross the Atlantic and begin popping up in America, especially the Northeast.
Among the institutions that medically used the Turkish Bath I have come across Dr. Holbrook's Hygeniec Institution, which eventually became a temperance facility. I have a detailed account of the Turkish Bath there, but can find no description on their temperance practices and how they might help an alcoholic dry-out. Well, after all, this is the Victorian era and we might discuss the evils of alcohol, but we certainly don't discuss those who have succumbed or how to help aleviate them. Until the 1920's there doesn't seem to be any recorded data (that I can find) on medical treatments for alcoholics. My historian has told me that (yay, we're are back in contact!), especially in concern to Victorian women, such problems with alcohol would be treated the same way as any female concern, "so-and-so is delicate" and then shut them away. Placate and keep them from causing problems. Send them away if you must.
And so, I am trying to piece together an accurate depiction of how Bitsy would try to get well from her alcoholim and depression. In treating her "hysteria" (depressive highs and lows), it has become apparent that she drinks, enough to injure her health and cause serious repurcussions. Which came first, the depression or abuse of alcohol? Doesn't matter at this point, just matters how the family, after shutting her away for years, with her consent, mind you, tries to help her get well ... I want to be accurate, not just telling the way I would want it to go. As the author, I have bonded with Bitsy and I see her dilemna and I want her functioning and well, enjoying her life. But is it realistic? Will she get well? Does she have the resources to climb out of several years of prescribed bed-rest (off and on) and drinking to start making mature decisions when her emotions are running high? I don't know. I look forward to discovering more as I write and only pray that as I do, I will remain true to the story, even if it is not the perfect ending I hope for.

Bed Rest

Ironically, while working on this novel, I have now been placed on bed rest while awaiting (and trying to hold back) the arrival of my third child. I find this especially interesting as I have been re-reading the novel keeping in my mind to not avoid the story of Bitsy, the sister who is put on bed rest quite frequently following any emotional "episodes".

Lying here on my couch in the middle of the family room, the hub of my house and family life, I am surrounded by stimulation. I have the laptop on my legs as I type away, several windows open to let in the spring's cool air and sounds, I have the Bible and a novel to my side, along with phones in reach, even a remote for a television if I should be so inclined. I get to eat, well, anything that does not send me into contractions and that I do not fix myself (I do miss cooking and baking!) and my husband nearby in case I need anything. My three-year-old is a constant frenzy of motion during the day and we read, play board games, and practice numbers, sounds to letters, etc. Containing her would be nearly impossible, but directing is fun. Visitors come and go, mostly wonderful church family making sure we have help meals or help caring for me and my little one when my husband has duties outside the home. In the afternoons, my nearly-six-year-old brings home stories from kindergarten, homework, and runs off to help her sister enjoy the last part of the day, keeping me entertained with their imaginary play, or busy helping them "make better choices" in how they play with one another. :)

Bitsy lives in quite a different "bed resting world". She is confined to her room with limited visitors, her twin seven-year-olds only visiting briefly each day, afraid of her mood swings. She is kept sedate by the lack of taste, color, and intellectual stimulation, not even allowed to read during prescribed bed rest. What thinking woman would not go crazy? She looks out her windows only when getting better, and then gets to venture out of her room until she has another episode. With the anxious fear of having another episode, how can she stop the cycle? Without the freedom to think and reach for something better, how can she break out? And what of her sweet children or husband? How can they do without her? She can give them nothing consistent as long as she keeps getting shut away.

I knew it would be difficult to tell her part of the story, but I am learning, and the more I think through her circumstances, the more I belive her family is at loss until she can get well.

Historical frustrations

After a few weeks of not blogging, here I am blogging for the third time in a little over 24 hours. The cause of the this third entry? Frustration! Though I try to keep my blogs even-tempered and professional, this one will be an exception. Reason? Follow:
After my interview with a Morehead City historian, I felt I had a good grasp on the schooling system of the time. I also did a bit further research on my own and thought I was well-grounded in how I was portraying the schools in Morehead during 1886. However, I have now come across a very old map, thanks to the archives of UNC, dated 1885 which seems to contradict what my historian told me; namely, that the two churches in town, Methodist and Baptist, would have had their own separate schools. The wealthier Methodist members would have a longer school term, while the Baptist school would have a shorter one due to the working class members. Also, I thought that the churches would be on opposite sides of town, the Baptist appealing to those who "work the waters" in the Promiseland, as it was called. Now, I will not say that my historian told me the churches were located there, I believe I inferred that, knowing I would soon be receiving a map from him from the era. Unfortunately, we have had a host of emailing issues, my server will not connect with his, and so I will have to figure out another way to contact him to unknot this historical tangle.
Could I be looking at the map wrong? Is there some other reason that a schoolhouse exists across the street from the Methodist church and just a few buildings away from the Baptist church? It seems illogical for two schools to be so close together without sharing the facility, but ... Perhaps the Methodists had enough money to create a separate building for their school, but the Baptists still had their school inside their church building.
This may not seem very important to anyone, but it is quite pivotal to the plotline as one of the characters is using an opportunity to teach at the opposite school to ensure her independence. I realize having done even more research on the do's and don'ts of the time for ladies, especially single women, that part of her departure and storyline must be modified, but I think with a little work I can maintain the intergrity of the story.
AH! This makes me feel like I am working with a very uncooperative character in a book, one that will only do what he or she wants whether or not it hurts or hinders anyone else. So the historical setting is a difficult, strong-willed, brick wall character? I suppose that makes sense, after all, things happened one way, I just wish I didn't keep running into different versions of how things were. I suppose after I finish researching I will just have to deduce to the best of my ability as to how it really played out and write the story as honestly as I can from there. Does any of this make any sense?
Also, I have tried to enable the comment section in hopes that someone will provide feedback on my posts. I hope you are reading this, and will try to be more professional, less frustrated in the future.

The Sister

I grew up in a family of four daughters, and so I feel that I know a great deal about female relationships. However, the relationship in my novel, or more accurately, a certain disturbed characted in my novel has thrown me for a loop. As happens sometimes when you are writing, you become distracted by a character, feel like you are neglecting them, their story, or some part of their make-up. It is imperative to get this character right, suddenly so important, that you almost want to abandon the project for the fear of tangling the entire story because of this one difficult character.
Her name is Elizabeth, but from childhood she has been called Bitsy. She is a tangled mess of highs and lows, following doctor's directions to be shut away from her family during her lows, leaving so much of her responsibilities on her sister's shoulders that she no longer functions as a wife or mother. Not that all women of her place in society had to deal with what we think of us motherly duties today, but she had even less than that. And so when I first began writing of Bitsy, I could see she had emotionally, spiritually, and mentally (yes, it was considered harmful for an overwrought female to read or think -- too strenous) shrunk. Her body was lax, full, rarely clothed in anything but morning gowns and robes unless going out to accompany her husband on hotel business at the balls during the summer season on her "good" days.
Perhaps I struggle with Bitsy because, (unintentionally, of course)I relate. I have been shut away with depression and had my share of "good days" and "bad days". Those who know me know of my history of chronic migraine-tension headaches, hospital stays, medications, numerous doctors and clinics, etc. Without realizing it, I have been writing a character of whom I can truly say, "yes, I understand" but I have held her away from me, because I don't want to remember all of that ... So I suppose in this area of the novel I need to be courageous and say, "I've lived some of this research" and use the parts of my life that apply to tell Bitsy's story. Silly to realize I've been trying to figure out what was wrong with all my research before this, it wasn't the research that was wrong, but my unwillingness to honestly deal with it.

Gone?

For part of my research I have begun and finished Margaret Mitchell's Pullitzer prize-winning novel, Gone With the Wind. Some might question why I would consider this research. It is, after all, set much earlier than my novel, in a different area of the Southeast, and absorbed historically with the Civil War issues that my novel is only touching on. Why do I consider it worthwhile research? The attitudes portrayed in the novel are rather telling of the gentility of the South. As Mitchell asserted, the era was over, gone with the wind once Dixie lost her war. But the attitudes towards the genders, predjudices, and societal expectations were not. I learned a great deal about how and why women were viewed the way they were at the time. I don't know which side of the war I would have personally supported had I lived in that era, or what prejudices I would have sported. But it has helped me better understand why ladies did not go out without proper escorts, and various other protocol. It will certainly help to make sure that my novel covers these bases.