Lunch and Learn: Outfitting Our Gallant Soldiers

The production and supply of textiles during the Civil War speak to the period's newly discovered patriotism, to manufacturing and economic challenges, and especially to Herculean efforts of women on the homefront. Join Lynne Bassett as she explores Connecticut's role in the Civil War through the textiles that the citizens of the state created and used, from the first call to defend the Union to the post-war ceremonies that helped veterans to make sense of their experience.

Lynne Bassett is a textile and costume historian and independent scholar, specializing in New England's historic textiles. Her 2004 exhibition at the Mark Twain House in Hartford Costume Society of America's Richard Martin Award for Excellence, and Bassett currently serves as guest curator for costumes and textiles at the Wadsworth Atheneum. Her writings have been published in PieceWork, The Magazine Antiques, The Dublin Seminar for New England Folklife, and White House History. While she has authored many books and book chapters, her most recent publication is Homefront & Battlefield: Quilts & Context in the Civil War (co-authored with Madelyn Shaw), 2012.