The White Linen Shirt and Shift in Early Colonial Eastern Woodlands North America

Abstract

This thesis investigated the white linen shirt and shift in Eastern Woodlands North America during the 17th and 18th centuries. The research question was: “Through a material culture analysis of an 18th century shirt and shift, what can we extrapolate about how these objects may have affected the power dynamics in relationships between settler and Indigenous communities in Eastern Woodlands North America during the early colonial period?” To find an answer, the shirt and shift were examined as objects that moved within and between Indigenous and settler communities. A material culture analysis was performed on an 18th century shirt and shift from the Anne Lambert Clothing and Textiles Collection. The letters of Marie de l’Incarnation and four oil portraits by John Verelst were also examined to contextualize the artifacts and examine portrayals and discussion around the objects. This research aimed to study two objects in depth and then expand the research to the objects in their social context in order to examine the power dynamics between Indigenous and settler communities at the time of study. The research demonstrates that the layered meanings of linen undergarments in European dress systems allowed a space for settler colonial rhetorics to be propagated.