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Matchcoats: Cultural Conservatism and Change in One Aspect of Native American Clothing

West Chester University

Abstract.

The English term matchcoat derives from an Algonquian root word relating to clothing or dress in general. During the seventeenth century matchcoat came to refer to European-made units of woolen cloth, generally about two meters (a "fathom") long, that were traded to natives who wore them as loosely wrapped cloaks. Some English-speaking scholars have erroneously emphasized the word match, inferring that "matchcoats" were garments that were pieced together from small units, or matched in a way that resembled techniques used by natives to make cloaks from pelts. The common "blanket" worn by the stereotypical "Indian" of that period also was called a matchcoat. Native-made garments, often described in the early literature, were rapidly replaced by these pieces of trade cloth. The term matchcoat was being applied to "made up" or off-the-rack tailored sleeved coats by the 1680s. The use of increasingly elaborate trade-cloth coats reveals progressive adoption of European garments among all of the native peoples of the Northeast.

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