Learning From Original Items

You have to learn history before you can share it with others. Here are some of my favorite resources for viewing original clothing and material culture from the 1860s.

Local Museums
Make a research appointment at Seattle's MOHAI or the Washington State Historical Society in Tacoma. There's nothing like seeing a real artifact up close--unless that's seeing it up close, with a professional on-hand for commentary. Smaller institutions also may have collections available to view, so ask at your local museum or historic society.

Museum On-Line Collections
Featuring clothing, housewares, pictures, and documents of historic interest.
Historic New England
Museum of Fine Arts Boston
Met Online Collections
Minnesota Historical Society's Civil War Collection.
The Museum of London
The Victoria and Albert Museum
Washington State Historical Society Online Collections
Wisconsin Historical Museum Online Collections
The Henry Ford Museum: Collections Access
Library of Congress Digital Collections

UK National Trust
The Smithsonian Online Collections
Museum of the Confederacy/American Civil War Museum

For manufactured goods heading West in the 1850s and 1860s, you can't beat the Arabia and Bertrand collections:
Steamboat Arabia, More Pictures, Even More Pictures and the Virtual Tour.
Steamboat Bertrand (and the official site).

Textile/Clothing-specific Resources
FIDM Museum & Galleries
Kent State University Gallery of Costume (and Inside Out display)
Europeana Fashion Project (Museum Collection Database)
Demode Couture
The Fashionable Past
Fashion Timeline at Corsets and Crinolines
CDVs at The Graceful Lady
Images of period dresses from private collections, at All The Pretty Dresses
More CDVs from the Barrington House Museum

CDVs, fashion plates, and patterns from La Couturiere Parisienne
Original bonnets and caps from  Mrs. Parker's Millinery
Quilts at the International Quilt Study Center & Museum
More quilts at the Shelburne Museum