History Blogs

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Edwardian Promenade

An Era of Progress and Promise - Fri, 30 Jul 2010
I want to thank Rebecca Hyman, Reference and Outreach Librarian, and Lisa A. Gregory, Digital Projects Liaison, for their much appreciated assistance and patience with my numerous attempts to read this e-book! This book, An Era of Progress and Promise, was compiled by W.N. Hartshorn of Clifton, Massachusetts to celebrate the “religious, moral, and educational [...]

Lynnewood Hall, a Regal Ruin - Mon, 26 Jul 2010
Lynnewood Hall, a century-old stunner of a building just outside Philadelphia, silently, almost invisibly, languishes 200 feet beyond a two-lane blacktop road like a crumbling little Versailles. The graceful fountain that welcomed hundreds of well-heeled visitors, President Franklin Roosevelt among them, was dismantled and sold years ago. Its once meticulously sculpted French gardens are overgrown [...]

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The Early Modern Intelligencer

CFP: The Arts and Sciences of Progress, Aberdeen, July 2011 - Fri, 23 Jul 2010
CFP: The Arts and Sciences of Progress 24th Annual Conference of the Eighteenth-Century Scottish Studies Society 7–10 July 2011 University of Aberdeen Hosted by the Research Institute of Irish and Scottish Studies In 2011 ECSSS will hold its first conference in Aberdeen since 1995. The conference theme, The Arts and Sciences of Progress, is meant [...]

Universal Reformation: Intellectual Networks in Central and Western Europe - Mon, 19 Jul 2010
Booking is now open for the conference ‘Universal Reformation: Intellectual Networks in Central and Western Europe, 1560-1670’ (St Anne’s College, University of Oxford, 21-23 September 2010). Organised by Howard Hotson and Vladimír Urbánek, the event will showcase the work of a diverse group of emerging and established scholars, many from east central Europe, who will [...]

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Cardinal Wolsey’s Today in History

London Lives 1690-1800 - Thu, 22 Jul 2010

London Lives 1690-1800 is a new searchable directory of over 240,000 contemporary primary sources relating to the lives of 3 million 18th century Londoners at the lower end of the social spectrum.

The project manager is Sharon Howard, who writes Early Modern Notes and is one of the coordinators of the long-running history blog carnival Carnivalesque.

The site is based around workhouse records, criminal registers, coroners' reports and court orders, and the London these documents describe is one where the death penalty was standard for run-of-the-mill thieving.

In many cases individuals with reasonable education and prospects fell in with wrong'uns and ended up on the wrong side of the law, and the consequences were often fatal or involved transportation "down under".

The Keyword search facility is itself evocative - who could resist exploring CopesMadhouse and HardLabouronHulks ?

Documents relating to the same individual are assembled into biographies or lives, with historical background written by the project team. This is one of the most powerful features of the site, and will expand as more biographies are added.

I decided to have a look at the fate of Margaret Larney, an Irish mother of five who was sentenced to death for "degrading the coin of the realm". This involved filing down gold coins, selling the filings, then passing off the "light" coin.

For women the death penalty even in this century was burning at the stake, but in this case there is no surviving record of how Larney perished.

This is an excellent resource that gets under the skin of 18thC London.

The Guardian/Observer has a glowing review too.

The picture is Hogarth's portrait of Sarah Malcolm, hanged for her part in the murder of three women in 1733 (also featured in the Observer review above)

I'm back - Thu, 15 Jul 2010

Cardinal Wolsey is back, and must apologise to loyal followers for having neglected to blog since February.

"Off with his head!" I hear you cry. If there are any readers still out there, I promise to resume regular posts forthwith.

I have consulted the foremost experts in the land on the subject of Writer's Block, and have the following explanation. The blame clearly lies at the feet of the French.

My enemies across the Channel caused mendacious vapours to float across to England on the breeze. On reaching Court, these vapours served to stifle original thought and render the palace keyboard useless.

This state of affairs was only resolved when the prevailing winds changed and the vapours were dispersed.

I must away now to survey the state of the early modern blogosphere....

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History News Network

Koh-i-Noor diamond 'staying put' in UK says Cameron - Thu, 29 Jul 2010

Source: BBC (7-29-10)

David Cameron has rejected calls for the famous Koh-i-Noor diamond, which has been part of the Crown Jewels for 150 years, to be returned to India.

The diamond, which was mined in India, was seized by the East India Company in 1849 and presented to Queen Victoria.

Indian politicians have long urged the 105-carat treasure's return....

German Nazi suspect Samuel Kunz 'may be tried as minor' - Thu, 29 Jul 2010

Source: BBC (7-29-10)

An 88-year-old man charged with taking part in the killing of 430,000 Jews at a Nazi death camp may be tried as a minor, officials say.

Samuel Kunz is also charged with personally shooting dead 10 Jews at Belzec in occupied Poland in 1942-43.

The retired civil servant was 20 when he is alleged to have started working as a guard at the camp.

He has confirmed being at Belzec, but denied being involved in any killings, officials say....

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