19th Century American Male

4 Pages 1029 Words

“The Gentleman’s Page”

The Lively Arts History Association (LAHA) put together a site called “The Gentleman’s Page: A Practical Guide for the 19th Century American Man.” Its web address is http://www.lahacal.org/gentleman/. The LAHA is a California organization formed to help facilitate better understanding of history looking through the eyes of the performing arts. So while it could be particularly helpful to actors, artists and musicians whose work includes 19th-Century themes, it is also likely to be of students of history whose mission is to truly understand life during that time.

The site is divided into three primary sections: behavior, attire, and resources. The home page gives an interesting and user-friendly glimpse into the rest of site, without being too glitzy or hard to follow. The top of the page has a clear indication of the site’s title and purpose, the left column has easily recognizable tabs that guide the user through the section. The guts of the home page include high-quality photos that are good examples of men from the era.

The lead quote on this site is from Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and describes the novel’s character, Colonel Grangerford: “His hands were long and thin, and every day of his life he put on a clean shirt and a full suit from head to foot made out of linen so white it could hurt your eyes to look at it; and on Sunday he wore a bluetail-coat and brass buttons on it … There weren’t no frivolishness about him, not a bit, and he weren’t never loud.” This snippet gives a quick glimpse into what a man from that era might look like, and a sense of what the web site has to offer – a view of the look, feel and persona of someone from the 19th century.

Behavior Section
This section serves two purposes reasonably well: takes a look at men’s social and cultural habits, and puts those in a context of norms and events of the times:
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