Blankets

[Sting]

Don't know if this goes under "Clothing" but a question about wool blankets and period authenticity.
I've always "heard" that the white blankets with the candy stripes were not period correct, to stick with reds and greens.
However I was just reading a clip from Museum of Fur Trade Spring 2003 that had an article by James Hanson noting Hudson Bay Co. orders for "blankets with blue, green, red, & yellow stripes" from 1830.
And one like that is in an exhibit display case at the Museum of the Mountain Man in Pinedale.

What are the thoughts on this?

It has probably been rehashed on here but I'm new so direct me to those posts if so.

[RileyMN]

Problem with "period correctness" is that you have to define what period. As you have found, the candy stripes were available in the 1830s. Won't work for F&I war , rev war, 1812, but late Rocky Mountain I am guessing it would be okay.

My apologies for the guessing, though. I am sitting here at work, looking like I am being productive, while actually browsing the Rocky Mountain College forum!

[Sting]

yep, me too...except I'm a history teacher and I can ALWAYS tie this into my history classes!!!!!

I'm really into authenticity, i.e 1830 Rocky Mountain beaver trapper, and I didn't want to buy some and go somewhere and be looked at like "what's he doin' with those?"

[Beaver Hunter]

I portray an 1830's beaver trapper and I like to go with what would have been most common for the Rocky Mountain Trade. I believe the white blanket with indigo bars on each end shows up most often on the trade records. They would have been the cheapest, because no dye was needed.

I highly recommend Northwest Traders and their classic blanket.

www.nwtrader.com/hand-woven_classic_blankets.html

Paul is a great guy and his blankets are excellent quality. I purchased two of the white blankets and it was the best investment I ever made! You will never have to buy another blanket again. For a completely handwoven blanket, you cannot beat the price!

Alfred Jacob Miller shows some interesting white blankets with red shoots in many of his paintings. This is an earlier style blanket that would work with any period. Northwest Traders also sells this style of blanket as well.

Red blankets also show up on the trade records. Take some time and look through them to see what was most common.

[Rod]

Here's a couple of sites on point blanket colors, the first covers the basics,....

www.pointblankets.com/index.html

...but this one is particularly helpful:

hrd7.tripod.com/hbc/hbc.html


Rod

[sean]

Where and who are as important as when. The West was a big place and access to HBC posts was limited to a relatively small portion of the country. The discussion of the candy stripe blankets always comes down to a couple of interpreted records. The answer to the question 'were they present' is possibly. The answer to the question 'were they widespread' is probably not. For a guy running around in the southern Rockies in the early 1830s, I'd say highly unlikely.

Sean

[Rod]

Completely agree---we know far more about HBC blankets than their US counterparts. Although they often came from the same place, there were different grades of blankets, too. Most any trade list will show Mackinaw blankets, wrapper blankets, etc. Some will be just listed as blankets, but will have different prices for the same size, so must either be from a different supplier or a different grade. The later into the 1800s one goes, the more American-made blankets show up, too.

The lists for the Office of Indian Trade show quite a variety of blankets.


Rod

[Pare]

I've seen reference to French blankets a few times. Does anyone know what they would have looked like?

From the Chronicles of Oklahoma:

digital.library.okstate.edu/chronicles/v011/v011p0786.html

6000 pairs French Blankets
300 North West English guns
300 dozen butcher knives
9000 pounds of blue and white chalk beads
500 pounds of 'Pigeon Egg Beads'
A Quantity of English cloth.


Pare-

[zuke]

According to the HBC on their website, the "Candy stripe" blanket had been sent to the rockies as a trade blanket being mostly used by the indians since around 1800.