"Why do we cast cannons?"
Awesome article about the whys, wherefores and the way we go about making reproductions, by Jay Gaynor, Colonial Williamsburg’s director of Historic Trades. 18th century but relevant to all historical re-creations, I think.
This article will probably soon be making the rounds of every historically oriented mailing list near you....
"...Aspects of the products strike us as irrational. It is only when we try to get inside the heads of the original producers that we begin to understand that there was almost always a rational reason - or a rational nonreason such as that it wasn’t important to them - if evaluated within their systems of production, consumption, aesthetics, and philosophy. We soon learn that we cannot make accurate renditions of period products unless we are willing to think like period producers...."
Lots of good stuff. I won't try to quote it all.
This article will probably soon be making the rounds of every historically oriented mailing list near you....
"...Aspects of the products strike us as irrational. It is only when we try to get inside the heads of the original producers that we begin to understand that there was almost always a rational reason - or a rational nonreason such as that it wasn’t important to them - if evaluated within their systems of production, consumption, aesthetics, and philosophy. We soon learn that we cannot make accurate renditions of period products unless we are willing to think like period producers...."
Lots of good stuff. I won't try to quote it all.