Dear Jeri and others, Thank you for the references you have provided. They have made for interesting reading. Not immediately finding my copy of Antique Laces of the American Collectors, I came upon a book that claims to be from that book, and which is entitled Notes on Laces of the American Colonists, by Frances Morris, 1926.. But this may have exactly the same info in it. On page 1 it says "While in the earlier years of the Plymouth settlement adherence to its rigid code of religion demanded a certain austerity in the matter of dress, in the other colonies personal liberty was much less restricted. Recorded inventories and wills of the Massachusetts Bay families not only establish the fact that the "sombre attire" dwelt upon by historians applies more properly to the Mayflower Pilgrims, but indicate as well that before the end of the century there was more or less extravagance--laced headdresses and whisks for the women, ruffles and ribbons for the men..." Then there is a foot note that says "The only undisputed portrait of a Mayflower Pilgrim is the painting made in 1651 in England of Governor Edward Winslow. cf. New York Public Library, the Pilgrim Tercentary Exhibition Guide (1921) I looked him up on the NY Public library image library where an engraving of him, not a painting, can be seen. He has a modest collar, but he might have a little band of something around it. I don't think there is any date provided either of the production of the image or the supposed date of the original image. _http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchdetail.cfm?trg=1&strucI D=165292&imageID=424110&word=Edward%20Winslow&s=1¬word=&d=&c=&f=&lWord=&lFi eld=&sScope=&sLevel=&sLabel=&total=3&num=0&imgs=12&pNum=&pos=1_ (http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchdetail.cfm?trg=1&strucID=165292&image ID=424110&word=Edward%20Winslow&s=1¬word=&d=&c=&f=&lWord=&lField=&sScope=&s Level=&sLabel=&total=3&num=0&imgs=12&pNum=&pos=1) # Back in the Morris book, Yes, indeed, there is Gov. John Winthrop who died in 1649 and was elected governor of Massachusetts in 1629. The original painting is owned by the American Antiquarian Society of Worcester, Mass, it says. On a web page somewhere, I saw the same image and I think they date the image to 1640. He is, indeed wearing a nice ruff and cuffs with what looks like reticella type scallops on them. Morris refers to the Winthrop portrait and mentions that it is believed to be a copy of the little ivory image painted in England prior to 1630, the year Winthrop came to Salem. (I guess the he was elected to be governor and then went to the New World?) It would be interesting to know where that ivory image is and to compare the pictures. I wonder, did he wear the lace openly in the New World, or put it away until other people started wearing it? Elsewhere is the following: "While the sumptuary laws enacted by the Pilgrim Fathers in the early days of the settlements prohibited finery among the people of "mean conditon, education and calling," persons of wealth and position, for whom it was considered suitable, were allowed to indulge in the "woolen, silk and linen apparel" trimmed with "gold, silver and thread lace" banned by the Edict of 1634. The interesting point in this edict of 1634 is that "cut-works," "embroideries", "needle work caps," "bands," "rails" and "ruffs" are forbidden to be "made and worn"," indicating that there were among the Massachusetts colonists skilled needlewomen with sufficient knowledge of embroidery to enable them to make cut-works for their own use and their familie's' use." There is a foot note that says "So far as has been discovered this is the earliest reference to lace-making in colonial records." There is no footnote for the first quote, but I think it must be from the Colonial Law of 1651; Regarding What One May or May Not Wear. _http://www.laughtergenealogy.com/bin/histprof/misc/sumptuary.html_ (http://www.laughtergenealogy.com/bin/histprof/misc/sumptuary.html) . But more interesting is the reference to an Edict in 1634 which seemed to have banned these things entirely. I cannot find this Edict of 1634.It doesn't seem to be directly referred to in the Colonial Law of 1651 but that may be very abbreviated on the internet. I have even looked in my copy of Bradford's History of Plymouth Plantation 1606-1646 under the year 1634, but can't find it.. But I imagine that the editors would have taken things like this out. A disconcerting thing about Notes on Laces of the American Colonists is that they flit about throughout the entire colonial era and all the different colonies, even though the colonies were very different. For instance the delightful pictures of the de Peyster children in their lace trimmed aprons from 1631 were of Dutch children in New York, and most of the lacier pictures of Massachusettians that I have seen are in the 1670's when things were considerably loosened up in Massachusetts. I think the edict of 1651 which lets anyone with a certain size estate wear finery indicates that by then, things were loose enough, that they were regulating rather than banning finery. Also, that many people were wearing too much finery, regardless of laws and decency. The book does refer to the Loara Standish sampler, but says "This is embroidered in color and has no cut-work: it is, however, exceptionally important as being the earliest sampler (c.1640) known to have been worked in America. Another, a lace sampler in the Essex Institute, Salem, was brought to that town by its maker, Anne Gower, wife of John Endicott, later Governor of Massachusetts, a piece considered by English authorities to date to about 1610." I have scrutinized the Laora Standish sampler which is owned by Pilgrim Hall Museum on the internet, but the pictures are not especially clear, so I can't tell if I think it has anything lace like on it. Have you seen it Jeri? Apparently Pilgrim Hall is closed until May for renovations. It appears that this sampler has been released as a kit, although, people sometimes are not totally faithful when they make things into kits. It is a very sumptuously decorative sampler for the work of a Pilgrim, I must say. So, it appears that Winthrop wore a lace collar to have his portrait painted in England before coming to America in 1630 and Anne Gower had a lace sampler from 1610 when she arrived, but an Edict in 1634, which I can't find, prohibited lace wearing and even making, while an edict in 1651 allowed it to people of a high enough net worth and was apparently issued because people were already wearing a lot of finery. However, Notes on Laces of the American Colonists was written during a period of American revisionism of the Colonial experience, which the website at Pilgrim Hall tells us is part of the Pilgrim Story. >From their website: This Pilgrim Story has grown and evolved over time. As each succeeding generation looked to the past for inspiration and guidance, certain key elements of the 17th-century Pilgrims were emphasized. The attention focused on these key elements has sometimes obscured other parts of the Pilgrim Story, changing the perception of the Pilgrim experience. Often, these later interpretations of the 17th-century Pilgrims tell us less about the Pilgrims than about the emotional and political needs of the era in which the interpretations were created. I think it was at about this time, the 1920's, that well meaning people were, in a passion about the colonial past, messing with the Ipswich pillows, setting them back up, etc., which I think Cotteral refers to with some frustration in her research on them. So, more mysteries. I guess we should all keep an eye out for portraits of Puritans and Pilgrims in lace and make note of the dates. The Pilgrims were not exactly synonymous with the Puritans, of course. Just yesterday I received my kit of silver and gold threads from Plimoth Plantation as part of their recreation of the Laton Jacket. Regardless of whether Pilgrims would have worn such a thing, and I think that the organizers of the exhibition "Adornment" are actually contrasting the broader English culture, not Pilgrims, with Wampanoag Culture, the materials are very pretty and I am looking forward to working the sample. I just hope that when I visit Plimoth for a lacemaking session (not to begin until late February at the earliest) they don't make me stand in a stock or anything for violating a sumptuary law. Better keep my head down. Devon
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