HAIR FACTS

I was doing a little research about fashion in 1876. I'm pretty good with costume history, but I was trying to get clear in my mind what Libbie and the other women would have been wearing and then what her mourning clothing would be like. While I was checking the Internet, I found a couple of sites that discussed hygiene, including hair.

I thought this was interesting: because people had to wash their hair with soap and it made hair really dry, they didn't do it very often. Instead, they would give it 100 brush strokes to both get the oil distributed to the ends and get rid of dust or whatever. They used scented oils.

They really like the glossy, oily look, which of course, would hold their complicated styles better than freshly washed hair. It wasn't until the invention of modern shampoos in, I believe, the 1950's, that washing your hair often became a practice.

I'd go so far as to say that wasn't typical until the '60's with the notion that clean, natural hair was the fashion. I know my friends and I gave up curlers, hair dryers and, especially getting your hair "done" in about 1966.

Of course, women, and men, in the late-19th Century could use hot curling irons, fake hair and hair oils and potions. Well, people through out history probably figured out how to do that.

I think it was Libbie who wrote that army ladies (officers' wives) would get to town after several months on a post and discover their hair style was very much out of fashion. They would send their husbands out to buy extra hair. They used braids and curls and even pieces for the front.

I guess their hats or the caps they wore in the morning or evening would cover whatever.

THE FUN OF RESEARCH

The fact is, if you're interested in the subject, the research is fun. The trouble is getting so deep into it, you forget about the project you're researching for. You have to reach a certain point when you just put your blinders on and get on with the writing.

But then you have your characters doing something and you have to find out if they could and how. For instance, I decided to write a scene that takes place on the train bringing Elizabeth and the other women back to the States from Fort Abraham Lincoln.

I have to stop and find out what that would entail. I found a map online of railroad lines from Bismarck east and saw the line was almost straight east through the Dakotas into Minnosota. That was great, then I had to find out when exactly they left, how long it took - almost a week - and what kind of train - Northern Pacific sent a special car - with what kind of accomadations - Pullman car with bathrooms for men and women and a small kitchen.

I had an old article from "American Heritage' magazine that had great photos about crossing the Continenant by train and, of course, there was great stuff online.

This info became useful when I decided to write a scene about the Custers' wedding trip. They left the evening of their wedding with the other two couples of their wedding party. It took overnight to get to their first stop, Cleveland. And if you're wondering, they went to a hotel there, otherwise they spent their wedding night on the train. From what I could find, there weren't any berths for sleeping untli after the Civil War and Libbie and Armstrong were married in 1864 so they sat up, with no privacy.

In both cases, I mapped out the trips. Doing that, I wondered if I could set up a calendar. If would help with the itineraries and also with what else went on in Monroe when Libbie got back. Back to the Net. I put in 1876 calendar and up popped what I needed. Made me feel quite heady!

i wrote three other historical novels before this one and doing research all from books was fun, but took more time. Couldn't just stop and look up whatever online. On the one hand, I had to make decisions, come to conclusions when I couldn't find the specific information and on the other, I wonder what gaffs I made.

Of course, writing about someone who wrote her own books means there is a lot of information out there about her. She wrote hundreds of letters and was written about in books, memoirs and the papers all of her long life. I'm also conscious that Custer and every facet of his life is a subject about which many, many people are experts.