Two Nerdy History Girls on YouTube

If you missed the Two Nerdy History Girls’ chat with Meena Jain and the wonderful group of readers and nerdy history people who joined us, you can tune into YouTube. Or you might want a replay in case you missed something. I sure did. While I love not knowing what questions will arise (it keeps my brain stimulated), I know there will be some whose answers escape me at the time—or maybe I’ll think of additional information after the chat is over. So yes, this happened, and I will probably do some follow-ups.

If you’d like to watch or re-watch, here’s the link. Or you can look up “The Two Nerdy History Girls Ride Again! 4.14.2025”, which is on the Ashland Public Library MA channel.

Readers asked about Court dress and maternity wear (very important at a time when so many women spent most of their childbearing years bearing children) as well as a number of questions about medical care, disease, women’s health.

If you’d like to follow up on a subject raised during the chat, you can send me an email via the Contact Loretta page on my website. Your topic might be quite blogworthy—which would allow me to go on and on in nerdy history fashion—something to look forward to!

In excellent timing, @littleblossomdarling (Blossom Darling on Facebook), very recently posted a short video about menstruation and women’s clothing. You might want to follow her on social media, because she tackles many of the same topics that come up in these chats and elsewhere. And a note of credit to dress and textile historian Hilary Davidson (@fourredshoes) whose discussion of Jane Austen’s clothing got the 2NHGs thinking about women’s heights.

The Two Nerdy History Girls return. Again.

Yes, it’s turned out to be a regular thing, and being a Nerdy History Girl, I for one am very happy about this. Meena Jain, Director of the Ashland Public Library, continues to invite us back. She also makes it pain-free, and keeps things moving along, a superior host.

And so historical novelist Susan Holloway Scott and I will appear virtually to answer your burning questions about the past. Well, we hope we can answer. At any rate, we’ll do our best, and if matters proceed as they have on previous occasions, we’ll all have a good time.

Details, details:

Virtual - The Two Nerdy History Girls Ride Again!

7pm-8pm ET Monday 14 April

This link will take you to the event information page, which includes the registration link. Or you can register directly here. Either way, you’ll get confirmation and reminder emails. These will come from Zoom, so you may want to check your spam folder.

I hope you’ll join us—and ask some questions!

Two Nerdy History Girls on YouTube

The Two Nerdy History Girls Ride Again 2024-07-15, courtesy Meena Jain and the Ashland Public Library

Once again historical novelist Susan Holloway Scott and I had a great time talking nerdy history with our most excellent host/superior moderator, Meena Jain, Library Director of the Ashland Public Library, in Ashland, Massachusetts.

As always, the discussion ranged hither and yon, as we did our best to respond to questions from the audience. But we did devote some time to an unfamiliar-to-many-people garment, the under-waistcoat, as part of a discussion of men’s attire. Apparently, it’s not an easy garment to comprehend in this day and age. Even waistcoats, the regular variety, are not familiar garments to many people.

For those who have watched or will be watching the video and trying to picture the item, here are a couple of images. That red V in the men’s fashion print is the under-waistcoat. It’s a bit more obvious in the portrait, although the museum tells us he’s wearing two shirts. No. The style is different because the images are thirty years apart, and waistcoats changed, much as women’s fashions changed.

From The Dictionary of Fashion History: “A sleeveless waistcoat, shorter than the over-waistcoat but extending a little above its upper edge; the visible portion of rich fabric contrasting in colour with that of the overgarment. Most fashionable ca 1825-1840 when several under-waistcoats might be worn, * one above the other; in the 1840s its use was becoming restricted to evening wear, ceasing to be fashionable after ca. 1850.” It’s revived later in the century under a different name, but let’s not add to the confusion with alternate names.

We touched on other topics, but I’ll leave it to you to ask questions, if you have any, by heading over to my Contact page. Please be aware that during these chats we don’t know what questions to expect, and the answers aren’t always on the tip of our tongues. There were a couple I could have answered more intelligently with a little preparation or time to reflect. But that’s part of the fun: not knowing what’s going to come up.

The program is on YouTube on the Ashland Public Library’s channel. You can watch it by clicking here. Or you can look up the title, “The Two Nerdy History Girls Ride Again! 7.15.2024.” Or you can cut and paste this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9F-xqxxQqM

*!!!!!

Images: L-Saliceti, Cristoforo, by Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Wicar ca 1800, Chrysler Museum of Art. R-Fashion Plate 20 March 1833, French, © Victoria and Albert Museum.