CURRENT PROJECTS

E. COCKERHAM’S GOWN

One of the objects in our teaching collection at Costume Studies is a silk gown with an intriguing history. The textile dates to the late 1740s, the gown itself is currently in a high-waisted style from the late 1790s, but shows strong evidence of alterations from at least two distinctly different designs in between.

The gown was owned by a member of the Cockerham family in the late 18th century, and was donated to Costume Studies as part of a large American collection in 1992. The movement of the silk from Spitalfields to the United States, the alteration history of the gown, and the lives of the girls and women who worked on and wore the gown are the foci of my current object biography project.

I am currently looking to connect with members of the Cockerham family to confirm some theories about the family’s history, and the original owner(s) of the gown.

 

COSTUME STUDIES TEACHING COLLECTION ONLINE

We are exceedingly fortunate to have access to more than 1500 dress artifacts in our collection, some dating back to the mid-18th century. The collection is used by instructors in the Costume Studies program for hands-on teaching and to inspire research.

One of my projects for 2023-2025 has been to clean the data and make the collection accessible online for Dalhousie students and the research community at large. Big things are afoot; watch this space for news as the project takes shape!

 

Ongoing Research

 THE GENDERED SPUR

I am currently working on a larger project on spurs and masculinity in the medieval and early modern. I presented a paper in November, 2000 on spurs and masculinity in the early 17th century, which has become a chapter in an edited collection on Masculinities in Transition. I spoke about spurs in the 17th century at a conference in May 2023, which will be published in a special journal issue. I continue to expand that project outward both temporally and geographically.

 

THE WARDROBE OF MARY I

Returning to research begun during my Masters, I am looking into coronation and wardrobe records of England’s Queen Mary I. Her use of clothing as a venue for political communication is something that tends to be overlooked historically, but recent work on Queenship in general — and Mary in particular — has illuminated many facets of life for elite women in the Early Modern.