I have been an avid reader of both historical and period fiction since I was a child and was a history major in college. My college thesis was actually about stuff going on in the US Revolutionary War in New Hampshire. I have pieced together how I thought things would have worked both from present day homesteader types (they still follow some of these recipes), a lot of research, and also used Jane Austen's England by Roy and Lesley Adkins. Believe it or not, there are actually sites devoted to such things as the history of laundry. I have some books from places like Old Sturbridge Village, in Massachusetts, that are such things as an herbiary from 1840 and some other historic references that I have read over the years. For the rest, based on having been reading books from the period and about the period, I am extrapolating. Hope this helps.
