The Forensic Reconstruction of George Washington, Part 2

For the traveling exhibit “Discover the Real George Washington: New Views from Mount Vernon,” Dr. Jeffrey H. Schwartz, a forensic anthropologist at the University of Pittsburgh forensically recreated accurate, life-sized figures of George Washington at the ages of 19, 45, and 57. The catch was that Schwartz wasn’t allowed access to Washington’s bones.

In my previous blog post, I described the materials and techniques Schwartz used to surmount this challenge. Although some of the more exacting details that I mention below are only visible in close-up photographs of each figure’s facial features, for those who study body language, Schwartz’s overall impressions do come through. Let’s take a look at the results.

George Washington, age 57Schwartz says that Washington on Inauguration Day, at the age of 57, was the easiest figure to create. Just a few years earlier, Jean-Antoine Houdon had created a three-dimensional life mask, bust, and statue of Washington: a gift to any forensic anthropologist. When Washington took the Oath of Office, he had only one natural tooth in his mouth. Since tooth loss softens the jaw line, Schwartz gave Washington an amorphous jaw line. He also gave him the puckered lips of an older man. For the inauguration, Washington, who never wore a wig, had his own hair powdered.

George Washington, age 45Washington at Valley Forge, age 45, was more difficult for Schwartz to capture. At this point in his life, the Commander of the Continental Army still had some teeth in the front of his mouth, so he didn’t have the taut lips of a man trying to hold a full set of 18th-century dentures in his mouth without the help of a product like Polygrip. Schwartz also wanted to capture Washington’s charisma, the element about him that helped him hold the army together through that bitterly cold winter. Thus Washington has “tired eyes” with crows feet, and between his eyes, his brow is furrowed. Note how Washington’s feet hang below the torso of his horse. Horses in the 18th century were smaller than they are now, however, sources report that Washington’s limbs were so long and lanky that he could wrap his legs around the belly of his horse, thus contributing to his excellent equestrian skills.

George Washington, age 19The 19-year-old Washington, depicted in this image as surveying in the wilderness, has a pronounced angle in his back jaw because he still has all his teeth. He also has more fullness in his cheeks, a smaller nose and ears, and fuller lips than the older versions of himself. Washington was well-known for enjoying his time in the wilderness. Therefore, Schwartz gave the young Washington a smile behind his eyes, and lips tilted up ever so slightly at the corners, as if he’s delighting in his time with nature, musing that his future looks bright.

What do you think of Jeffrey Schwartz’s creations?

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The Forensic Reconstruction of George Washington, Part 1

How is it possible to forensically create an accurate, life-sized figure of someone long dead without having access to the deceased's bones? The traveling museum exhibit, "Discover the Real George Washington: New Views from Mount Vernon," features three life-sized figures of George Washington at the ages of 19, 45, and 57. To create these figures for the exhibit without exhuming Washington, the folks at Mount Vernon sought the expertise of Dr. Jeffrey H. Schwartz, a forensic anthropologist at the University of Pittsburgh. Schwartz collaborated with at least ten other experts.

Schwartz used a laser technique to scan the three-dimensional life mask, bust, and statue created by Jean-Antoine Houdon when Washington was in his early fifties. The associated computer program captured points and extrapolated them, allowed the team to morph the shape of Washington's face and body according to known physiological data about him at various ages. Schwartz also had access to the following for Washington:

  • His dentures
  • His surviving, unaltered clothing
  • Portraits from actual sittings (v. sightings)
  • Text sources such as letters and diaries that described Washington

GWDentures Several issues affected Schwartz's interpretation of Washington. Tooth loss and use of dentures affect the shape of the jaw and mouth. Tooth loss for the first president started when he was in his twenties. By the time he took his oath of office at age 57, he had only one of his natural teeth left in his mouth and used an uncomfortable set of dentures. This set of Washington's dentures is on display in the exhibit.

Also, Washington had contracted smallpox in Barbados when he was nineteen. No records have been found to indicate the amount of facial scarring that he endured from the disease. However, Schwartz believes that a scar visible on Washington's left cheek in some portraits was from smallpox and not the result of a tooth abscess, as sometimes theorized.

GWPealePortrait According to Schwartz, children of the 18th century were corseted from an early age, boys through about their fifth year. This permanently affected the spine's shape and the body's carriage. Shoulders of adult men were brought back and down. The curve of the lower back was accentuated, as was the belly. In this portrait of Washington, you can see those features.

What were the results when Schwartz and his team pulled all of this together? Check back here on Wednesday for a look at George Washington when he was 19, 45, and 57.

Georgian Secrets: Ladies’ Undergarments During the American War of Independence

Readers occasionally ask me what ladies of the late 18th century wore for underwear beneath those lovely gowns and petticoats. Did they wear panties? What made their hips so huge and their torsos look like tubes?

Undies01  On Sunday 19 September, Louise Benner, the Curator of Costumes and Textiles at the North Carolina Museum of History presented the program "From Head to Toe: Clothing in 18th-Century North Carolina." A portion of her program included showing the audience the underclothing beneath the gorgeous polonaise gown that a volunteer named Gina was wearing.

For upper class and many middle-class women, undergarments consisted of the following:

  • Shift. Ms. Benner's hand is on the sleeve of Gina's shift. The shift, later called a "chemise," was made of cotton, linen, wool, or silk, had three-quarter length sleeves, and reached to the middle of the woman's calf. Shifts doubled as sleepwear.
  • Stays. In the picture, the stays are the greenish garment across Gina's midsection. Stays were heavily boned, usually with whalebone, to keep the torso erect and thus heavily restricted movement in the upper body. Stays also gave women's torsos that "tube" look.
  • Panniers. Also known as side hoops, these were tied around the waist. Panniers made the hips look extra-broad beneath the petticoat and lower portion of the gown. If the gown and petticoat were made of heavy material, panniers would be constructed of metal to support the weight of the fabric.
  • Pockets. Gina's right hand rests on a pocket, accessible through slits in her gown and petticoat. Women might wear pockets on both hips and/or embroider their pockets. Embroidered pockets could be worn atop the petticoat instead of beneath it.
  • Stockings. Made of natural fiber like the shift, stockings were tied with ribbons just above the knee.

A woman such as a laundress who performed physical labor also wore a shift and pockets, but instead of stays and a gown, she wore a short jacket (also called a short gown) with some boning, usually pinned closed across the front. The jacket reached to just below her waist and covered the top portion of her petticoat.

Panties arrived on the underwear scene decades later.

Ms. Benner's presentation was part of a collection of lectures and free programs that supports the traveling exhibition, "Discover the Real George Washington: New Views From Mount Vernon." The North Carolina Museum of History is the only venue in the southeast to host this exhibit, which runs through 21 January 2011. Colonial North Carolina Family Day on 25 September, in which I will participate, is one of the supporting programs.

Soaring with the Eagles: Do You Finish What You Start?

In the Boy Scout program, Life Scout is the rank immediately
below Eagle Scout. Whenever a young man advances to the rank of Life in my
sons' troop, the scoutmaster delivers a special message to him, his peer
scouts, and all the parents. He recites the statistic that only about three
percent of boys who start the scouting program advance all the way to Eagle. He
also states that when a boy completes that final, arduous advancement from Life
to Eagle, it proclaims to everyone (such as future employers) that he is a
person who finishes what he starts.

When it comes to books, do you finish what you start?

If you're a reader, do you finish books that you start
reading? If not, is it because the book wasn't to your liking? Or do you allow
the needs of others to overrun your sacred reading time every day? Finding the
opportunity to read presents a great challenge if you're a parent with young
children, or you're a caregiver of an older relative. Take a book with you
everywhere. Insist on squeezing in the reading moments each day: at lunch,
before bed, in the bathroom.

If you're a writer, how many manuscripts have you cast
aside, unfinished? Ask yourself why you quit working on them. Do you allow the
needs of others to overrun your sacred writing time every day? Do you continue
to produce manuscripts that you don't complete? Maybe you discovered that a
plot ceased to work or an idea wasn't viable. Take a workshop to get over the
hump. Talk with other writers about what it took for them to reach "The
End."

Both my sons have attained the rank of Life Scout. My older
son, a senior in high school, completed the physical portion of his Eagle
project at the end of August. Now he must document the project, submit the paperwork,
complete the two remaining merit badges he lacks, and pass his Eagle Board of
Review — all by his eighteenth birthday in a few months.

Between now and then, he doesn't have the leisure to devote
sole attention to his Eagle project. His younger brother is watching him,
learning from him. We're all encouraging him to finish what he started as a Cub
Scout over a decade ago, despite less-than-ideal circumstances.

The truth is that if you wait for optimum circumstances,
what you're trying to complete will never happen. Most people who finish what
they start admit that they didn't have ideal circumstances.

What stops you from finishing what you start?

Encore of “Of Fairy Tales and Dragons”

Today author K.D. Easley posts my essay "Of Fairy Tales and Dragons" on her blog. If you missed the essay when it was originally posted on "Meanderings and Muses," please join me today, learn what crime fiction and fairy tales have in common, and let us know what you think. Thanks for this opportunity, K.D.

Marketing Mantras and Social Networking at Killer Nashville 2010

Mystery authors have mantras for the tools they use to
market their books. At Killer Nashville 2010, five authors on the panel
"Lightning in a Bottle: Marketing and Promotion" shared their mantras
with the audience.

  • Sunny Frazier: Embrace marketing. Learn to love it.
    Start marketing when you first write the book.

  • Susan Whitfield: A professional online presence is
    crucial.
  • Rick Robinson: Does it push people to make a
    purchase?
  • Steven Womack: What really works?
  • Matthew Funk: Reverse-engineer your career. Look at
    what the author you most resemble is doing. Try to replicate that.


LightningBottlePanel01  L – R Sunny Frazier, Susan Whitfield, Rick Robinson,
Steven Womack, and Matthew Funk.

How do these authors use social networking?

  • Frazier promotes her work with the help of what she calls a
    "posse." In addition to using her web site as a promotion tool, she
    markets on 35 sites such as book blogs. The site owners generate traffic and
    awareness for each other.
  • Whitfield interviews authors by the hundreds on her blog.
    The authors get exposure, and she gets traffic (thus exposure).
  • Robinson is partial to Facebook and suggests that authors who
    have at least 300 friends on a regular page switch to a Fan page. The Fan
    page allows authors to generate pay-per-click ads for their works. Also, many
    bookstores have a Facebook presence. He encourages authors to
    "friend" bookstores.
  • Womack is skeptical that a Facebook presence really translates
    into sales.
  • Funk advises authors to promote the work of peers far more
    than their own work. The concept of creating a core group of supporters who
    assist each other and raise awareness for each other's work appeals to him.

What's your marketing mantra? What social networking tools
work for you?

Jeffrey Deaver on “Combat Writing”


AdairDeaver Prior to Jeffrey Deaver's presentation at
Killer Nashville 2010 on how he writes thrillers (check here and here for a recap of his presentation points), Clay Stafford conducted
an interview with him. One question Deaver is asked often is how he finds time
to write, given his traveling schedule.

He says there's a difference between writing books and
living a writer's life. The life of a writer is about more than writing books.
A professional writer has a partnership with his or her publisher. Therefore,
the writer's life includes travel and promotion. A writer must be prepared to
write in the midst of those activities.

Deaver cannot afford to wait for inspiration. He engages in what he calls "combat writing." He
writes, researches, and edits wherever his circumstances take him, such as in
the hotel room and on the plane.

Maybe you're thinking, "Wow, what a skill to
have!" But let's consider Deaver's "combat" concept more. It
shouldn't be foreign. All too often, life demands that we not wait for ideal
circumstances to act. If you parent young children, you might have skills that
include the following:

  • Combat sleeping
  • Combat cleaning
  • Combat lovemaking

If you manage a marketing department, your skills might
include the following:

  • Combat budgeting
  • Combat product design
  • Combat customer relations

The curious thing about not holding back, not waiting for inspiration, is that when you trust yourself and give of yourself wholly
in the moment, often what you produce is more than good enough. It's great.
And that's living.

What are your combat skills?

Life Lessons from Sherrilyn Kenyon at Killer Nashville

At Killer Nashville 2010, conference founder Clay Stafford asked
paranormal romance author Sherrilyn Kenyon how it felt to have sold more
than 24 million copies of her books. She responded dryly, "It don't
suck." Thus began Ms. Kenyon's Friday morning session "From the
Bottom Up: How I Started From Nothing and Became a New York Times
Bestselling Author." Although she tailored her talk to an audience
comprised mostly of writers and readers, her underlying message signaled a seminal philosophy for anyone to consider.

In a roller-coaster career spanning decades, Ms. Kenyon did what she could during dark times to stay visible and connected in the
publishing industry. She didn't restrict herself to prose but also wrote short stories and magazine articles. She performed copyediting and
taught herself HTML. In other words, she was flexible.

The "downs" of her career include a period of time
when she was homeless with an infant, and a period of mourning after her brother died
at a young age. At one point, her husband's faith in her ability as a writer
wavered. Yet she continued to write and send out query letters. She persevered
with her career.

Vampires fell out of favor in the industry after she
had several books written about them. She renamed her vampires
"daimons" and pitched them as something new, different. The Dark
Hunters series became published because Ms. Kenyon demonstrated innovation
and the capacity for reinvention. This series catapulted her book sales
into the realm of bestsellers.

While the importance of flexibility and perseverance in
attaining goals in any career seem obvious, my imagination was stimulated by
discussion of the importance of innovation and reinvention. Flexibility and
perseverance help you hold down a job. Add innovation and reinvention, and you
might make it to the New York Times bestseller list.

How have you demonstrated innovation and reinvention lately?

Interview in the Nashville Examiner for Killer Nashville

With the approach of the Killer Nashville conference, the Nashville Examiner graciously interviewed me about the Revolutionary War in the South and the craft of writing.

Currently they're experiencing technical difficulties with the links in the interview — and I'm credited with writing Paper Moon instead of Paper Woman :-). I hope they can correct the errors soon.

In the meantime, facts in the rest of the interview appear to be correct,
so enjoy!

In the Moment

Foreshadowing with an iron fist isn’t the way to tighten suspense. Please join me in the discussion today at Buried Under Books, Lelia Taylor’s blog. What are some excellent uses of foreshadowing that you’ve seen?

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