An Eighteenth-Century American Tailor: Myth and Reality,as Seen Through One Tailor's Surviving Records

Abstract

One eighteenth-century American tailor's papers are analyzed to test a stereotype of a pre- Revolutionary personal clothier. This stereotype includes drafting technology based on measuring tape and models, while simultaneously assuming skills learned through apprenticeship, and a low socio-economic position for the tailor craftsman. In fact, Edward Marrett's (1713-1780) records did not completely support this stereotype regarding technology or socio-economic position. While not supporting the concept of tailoring education through apprenticeship the records did depict American tailoring as different from 18th c. European as portrayed in lithographs. The records further point to a higher social position than expected, suggesting tailors were not socio-economically stratified. Lastly, the evidence indicates at least American 18th c. tailors may have already made the transition to the dual methods of cutting-direct drafting and using blocks-thought to be a nineteenth-century development.