James,
The firearms are easy, they have introduction dates. Clothes, etc. are a different, at least much less defined, situation, even more so for someone whose persona is that of an immigrant working in a mine owned and operated by fellow immigrants. I can and am documenting those items, nearly exclusively from old country sources, a rather easy task in this case because of all the documentation developed there since about 1960.
Should I ever make it "all the way" with clothes, etc., I will look like I recently arrived to work in the mine near Telluride, Colorado, owned by fellow Swedish-speaking Finlanders from Österbotten, Finland. Dates for the situation to which my persona belongs are from about 1880 to 1910 or later -- it is totally connected to the glory days of hardrock mining in Colorado.
While this is my goal as regards clothing, etc. I currently doubt that I will bother to get it approved for the Originals. Shooting is what really interests me most, so long as it is challanging of one's marksmanship, that is, at least as much so as at the 2005 GAF Muster. It is most unlikely that I will buy more guns, just for NCOWS. Currently, the dates of my persona have been adjusted to fit with the guns I would use -- right now, I am leaning strongly toward totally decoupling them -- let my persona evolve as it will, independent of the NCOWS-legal guns I use.
I think that this solution might suit many NCOWS members, especially those of us not into reinacting. Not to take anything away from the Originals or those to who it is desired.
Lars