Wednesday 29th July 2009 – Something Old, Something New

I felt a draught on my elbow one night last week, and noticed I'd torn my shirt, so when I came back from the laundromat, I put it to one side to mend.  It was a nice cross-shaped tear, so it was quite easy to stitch up.  When I wore it a couple of nights ago, I felt a draught on my elbow, and when I looked, it had pulled apart where I'd stitched it.

Next morning I convened the Repairs and Renewals Committee: they reckoned the shirt was OK, apart from the elbow.  Well, and the collar: apart from the elbow and the collar.  Well, and the cuffs: apart from the elbow, and the collar, and the cuffs. 

The committee could see there was some case for replacement, but they reckoned it would be pretty difficult to find one made from the same, or similar, material. 

I was, I told them, going, in any case, to a nearby town big enough to have a clothes shop.  That was the clincher: I was empowered to find a replacement, if a similar one could be found.

 

I was actually going down to Columbia, about 40 miles away, to visit the University of Missouri, where the Western Historical Manuscript Collection is kept.  I was going to rummage through it, to see if there was anything interesting about Glasgow.  Actually (and naively, as it turned out) I was hoping they might have the originals of the deeds of sale, and the Act of Incorporation, perhaps even some flyers advertising the creation of the town.

The collection is very well organised, with lots of indexing.  And very helpful staff, ever eager to explain and advise.

It is clear that the Collection has what has been saved and given to it.  One of the things they have been given is the papers of a prominent local lawyer.  And James Glasgow had written a few times to this man.

The letters were nothing to do with the town, but it was really exciting to see, and hold, very old letters, in Glasgow's own hand.  I was allowed to handle them, but not to photograph them.  I could have photocopies if I wanted.

Photocopies are not as good as photographs, particularly digital photographs.  They lose a lot of definition. 

For example, one of the letters was badly blotted, and I think the blots showed that Glasgow was left-handed.  But the evidence had vanished from the photocopy.

 

My Walmart Atlas showed me where there were likely to be shopping malls, and Dulcie directed me to one on the way out of town. 

There was a clothes shop.  It was considerably bigger than the premises of the Manuscript Collection, with considerably fewer staff.  In fact there were no staff at all, except at the register (which is what they call the till here).

I bought an orange shirt.  The receipt doesn't mention the colour.  I don't expect the Repairs and Renewals Committee will bother to look at the actual shirt.

Oh, and on the way out, I suddenly decide to buy a pair of pants (trousers).  I don't know how I'm going to explain that.