Research – the three-legged stool

At the Tudor Tailor workshop in LA last year (or was that the year before? yesh, time flies) they mentioned that good research is a three-legged stool.

It’s based on extant item, paintings/drawings/illuminations of the items from the time period and writing about the item (wills, letters, etc).

I learned a lot that weekend (and if you get a chance to attend one of their workshops I highly recommend it) but this is the pithy statement that has stuck with me the most.