No resources like the real resources

I have had a nice day on the picnic table and have the pockets on in my beta test jeans, etc. and tomorrow am doing the fly. Remember I am doing this blind, without instructions, which is fine with a few mysteries.

For example the pattern says to cut three fly pieces and as well one largish zipper guard. I have been trying to figure out the three fly pieces and searching in my memory (it has been a long time since I sewed a traditional, versus a mock fly).

To refresh that memory I have been doing some surfing and pretty much have turned up about 47 versions of the mock fly.

Then bingo.

When you want old school, you go old school and refer to those who knew the Right Way to do things.

In this case I have found in the Digital Commons (where many university libraries use to upload archival materials or university research projects) of the University of Nebraska, Lincoln  Extension, these marvellous instructions for three kinds of fly zipper instructions. Save these instructions, they are like gold.

I think we are losing a precious resource here. 

In previous generations home economists took their work pretty seriously. Historically there was an argument to be made that as women became more educated, and vast numbers of them became empowered working out of the home during WW II, that it became necessary to find a socially acceptable (read this home based) way for women to use their brains and become professional and that fostered the development of Home Ec degrees.

I have written about this before.

In some cases this got a bit silly at times, here is something I read from the same archival collection, about scientific kitchen organization:

Now although this sort of stuff above was a waste of good woman time, I really regret all the good sewing knowledge that is now archived and lost.

I think of what was known, that is now not -  leaving bloggers, new and old sewers to flounder, and too often to hack together methods without the benefit of good solid knowledge.

If I had an endowment and decided to do a nutty retirement project I might just start visiting these archives in the old RV and pulling these materials together for sewers today.

Some excellent minds put their effort, their careers and some times their lives into creating this knowledge.

We shouldn't let it slip away.