Ran Away From The Subscriber

In conjunction with my work at the Museum of the American Revolution, where we periodically conducy living history events, I've sporadic...

Around June 24 or 25, 1777, John Mills, a swarthy, twenty-year-old New Jersey native deserted from George Ross’s company of the 11 th Penn...

Some projects languish for a while, waiting for your attention. Such was the case with an old pair of "slops" that I made in 2005....

I can't remember when I first came across a description of a waistcoat "with stocking sleeves" in an eighteenth-century source...

I'm very happy to note that an article I wrote appears in the current issue of Winterthur Portfolio . Based in part on my master's t...

Although I try to avoid indulging in self-promotion here, I do make occasional exceptions. What else are blogs for, after all? This past win...

Over a year ago, I wrote: "The runaway was something of a cultural icon in early America. Rebellious young apprentices, bold African ...

Conner, a slave who jumped ship from the Jean at Urbanna, Virginia, in the summer of 1779, was almost certainly a native African. Owner He...

Advertisements for military runaways appeared throughout the Revolution as soldiers absconded from their service. This ad, for six men who h...

In 1735, William Finn was a twenty-three-year-old servant to Philip Doyl of Gloucester County, south of Philadelphia across the Delaware in...

As war with France loomed in 1754, England mustered its forces in the American colonies. The provincial authorities struggled to recruit an...

Henry Cole and John Lewis were typical English indentured servants. Both were in their early twenties and well fed. Cole was knock-kneed and...

One of the biggest challenges facing scholars of historical clothing is deciphering the terminology used to describe garments. What, for ins...

William Wiley was serving his indenture under Zachariah Nieman in Moyemensing Township outside Philadelphia in 1771. Wiley was used to the...

Thomas Wetherby was a healthy young indentured servant when he ran away from John Wood of Cumberland County, New Jersey, in the first month...

The music of the present season, Has given me one good reason, With all the carols and their rhymes, Which can bother the ears some...