Sources for the Kederminster Library Paintings

Abstract

Although a great deal has been written about the painted panelling in the Kederminster Library, there has been very little discussion of the influences and sources chosen by the patron and used by the painter.     

Female Representation in the Discipline of Geography

This report updates earlier findings of women's progress in the discipline of geography from a feminist perspective. A variety of data sources are used in the analysis, including survey data from doctorate-granting US geography departments. Results reveal that there has been progress; however, significant inequity remains in student and faculty representation, particularly in the upper levels of the discipline.     

Coalport Bridge: A Study in Historical Interpretation

Abstract

Industrial archaeologists frequently demand the preservation of monuments. Such preservation can be justified on the grounds that a monument has an educational function, or sometimes that it has potential for excavation. It is the purpose of this article to suggest that a surviving monument continually poses questions about its own past, and about wider historical issues, and to show how the understanding of one particular monument, the Coalport Bridge, has increased over the last twelve years, not just because new documentary sources have come to light, but because it has been possible to use the evidence of the structure itself to test the authenticity of other sources.     

Institutions,informality, and influence: explaining nuclear cooperation in the Australia-US alliance

ABSTRACT

Nuclear cooperation has been a consistent feature of the Australia-US alliance. In the 1950s and 1960s, Canberra explored transferring US nuclear weapons to Australian forces operating in Southeast Asia. Since the 1960s, Australian governments have supported hosting joint facilities that contribute to America’s ability to execute global nuclear operations. And Australia has regularly invoked the nuclear umbrella as part of the alliance. We explain the key sources of nuclear cooperation in the alliance by leveraging realist and institutionalist theories of alliance cooperation. While realism explains limits to US nuclear commitments in the 1950s, institutional explanations are more relevant in pinpointing the sources of nuclear cooperation and in explaining why Australia has often achieved its policy preferences as the junior partner.     

The Theophany and Meal of Exodus 24

ABSTRACT

The Hebrew Bible may give the impression that there was a clearly definable area called Geshur. The Biblical view is often adopted in scholarly literature. The kingdom of Geshur plays a role in the reconstruction of the political situation during the early monarchic period, especially during the reign of King David.

However, historical sources for Geshur are shaky. These Biblical traditions may contain an early core that may even preserve an ancient memory of Geshur, but their historical value is much smaller than what scholarly discussion would implicate. They do not justify many of the views found in scholarly discussion. Scholarship has also sought to corroborate the Biblical traditions with two external sources but the evidence is very problematic, and, in the worst case, its use is reminiscent of Biblicism, where the main function of external sources is to corroborate Biblical texts.     

Yorkshire's Southern Boundary

Abstract

Henry Bolingbroke allegedly swore not to usurp the throne in Yorkshire in 1399 before going on to do so. Whether he committed perjury has divided historians of the past fifty years. Understanding of some old sources has improved and a new source has been discovered. This article reviews the evidence. It itemises each source in its original language and a modern translation as a foundation for future study. It suggests that Henry swore several oaths in different parts of Yorkshire and that originally there were options other than replacement of Richard II by Henry IV. It finds that all nine sources are interrelated. All date from the Percy revolt of 1403 or later. Some definitely do re-use Percy propaganda and others may. They cannot therefore be regarded as independent accounts of Henry's perjuries, which may nevertheless be true.     

Botanical Bosom Serpent Traditions

Abstract

This article surveys examples of ‘botanical bosom serpents’; that is, stories where a plant, or some vegetable element, is said to enter and/or grow in the human body. These can be found in sources—for the most part European—from ancient times onwards. This is a preliminary study, as the topic is one that has been neglected by folklorists and historians of medicine.     

The Offham Chalkpit Tramway: its History and Archaeology

Abstract

Chalk was in considerable demand for agricultural use in the early years of the nineteenth century, and an inclined plane, including a tunnelled section, was built in 1809 to connect the chalkpits at Offham with the newly canalised River Ouse. Tom Evans has examined the Shiffner correspondence to investigate the sources of the iron plateway supplied to the Offham scheme, and Ron Martin, together with other members of the Sussex Industrial Archaeology Society, has surveyed the field evidence for this interesting industrial survival in rural Sussex.     

Prehistoric Survey in Central Afghanistan

Abstract

In August of 1976 the authors made an initial archaeological survey of the Dasht-i-Nawur, a highland volcanic-tectonic basin in Central Afghanistan. Two Epi-Paleolithic surface sites and one later hill fortification of uncertain date were discovered and investigated. An outstanding feature of the Epi-Paleolithic sites was that the source of virtually the entire tool industry was a locally available obsidian, a material that has not been found before in archaeological context in Afghanistan or nearby regions. The Dasht-i-Nawur, therefore, must be added to the short list of obsidian sources in Southwest Asia.     

Soft-Stone Sources on Crete

Abstract

Neutron activation analysis and other analytical techniques enable archaeologists to match certain stone artifacts with their sources in the living rock. Steatite, serpentinite, and chlorite, which are often called “soft stones,” have been matched with considerable success in tests on New World samples. Matching artifacts and sources helps the archaeologist in determining prehistoric exchange systems and thus gain considerable insights into ancient cultures.

In order to provide basic information on soft-stone sources on Crete with which samples from artifacts may be compared, a review of the literature and two field surveys were undertaken. The results indicate that soft-stone sources on Crete are more extensive than formerly believed. The correlation between soft-stone deposits and the location of ancient sites is also considered.     

Editorial

Abstract

The history and cult of the tomb of Habakkuk are discussed from the earliest references to the sacred site in Jewish sources of the 13th century to the present. The tomb is located near the biblical and Mishnaic-Talmudic village of Hukkok and the Arab village of Yaquq. After a survey of the site's early history, the sources that mention the venerated tomb are analyzed in detail. Since the 13th century, the place has been part of an itinerary of sacred sites visited by Jewish pilgrims, who performed prescribed rites at set times of the year, or paid homage as individuals. Side by side with these pilgrims was the local Muslim community, which participated both in the cult and in the upkeep of the sacred place — a participation that is not mentioned in the sources and may be deduced only from very late sources. In 1948, the village of Yaquq was abandoned, and the outcome of its abandonment and the history of the sacred site from the founding of the State of Israel to the present day are discussed in detail.     

Imago Mundi Bibliography

 

The information supplied by National Representatives has been supplemented from other sources. Readers are urged to send information, press releases, exhibition catalogues, etc. directly to the Chronicle Editor, Imago Mundi, 76 Ockendon Road, London N1 3NW, UK (tony@tonycampbell.info), so that the next Chronicle can be as complete as possible. Chronicle considers all information that is current or historical at its closing date. Events after 2018 are not included.     

Constructing the scaffolding: the National Census and the English landed gentry family in the Victorian period

Abstract

The family is the fundamental unit of society and was an important focus for identity, affection and sociability amongst landed élites. Historians of landed society have generally been reticent about studying the gentry family in any depth. This has been partly due to a general reliance on published biographical and genealogical sources as well as a focus on the estate rather than the family in archival material. A more fundamental understanding of gentry society will require greater levels and depths of knowledge relating to the structure and relationships of the family. In order to achieve this on a broad and representative scale new sources and methodologies will be required. This article provides an evaluation of the census enumerator's books as a source for studying landed society and suggests a number of avenues for future research.     

Testing Methods of Record Linkage on Swedish Censuses

Abstract.

Research benefits a great deal when different kinds of registers can be combined. Record linkage is an important tool for connecting sources to create longitudinal databases of individual data. In this article, researchers test and evaluate different methods of record linkage used when linking two censuses. By comparing the results of the census linkage with other continuous Swedish parish registers, they find that applying constructed name variables and household links considerably increases the success rate without the risk of introducing bias. Missing links are mainly related to name problems, and appear most frequently among children and when the family structure has changed between the censuses. Faulty links are very few and must be regarded as only a marginal problem for analysis. The study underlines the importance of adapting the linkage process to the special characteristics of the sources.     

ASPECTS OF DOMESTIC SERVICE IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND, 1841–1911

Abstract

Domestic service has been neglected by historians until comparatively recently. Partly the lack of attention has been due to the paucity of sources – although these tend to emerge when interest grows – and a lack of interest in women’s history. Some research has, however, been done and here a number of recent studies are discussed. These relate to the geographical origins of the servants employed in the six houses occupied by the 7^th Duke of Devonshire at the censuses of 1861-91; the changes in servant-keeping experienced by two upper-middle-class owners of a house in Hertfordshire, in the late 19^th century; aspects of ‘kin’ and ‘true’ servants in the Scottish textile town of Kilmarnock as revealed by the 1871 census; and some features of domestic servants working at the Roman Catholic seminary of St Patrick’s College, Maynooth, Ireland, based upon the household schedules of the 1911 census and a wages book

These and other studies reveal that it is from local, micro-level research that the most fruitful insights into the experience of domestic service in the past are likely to emerge. This is, in part, because of the variety of that experience; in part, because that is where the sources are to be found; and, in part, because the sources often require a local interpretation. For example, work on the census enumerators’ books is revealing that each 19^th-century census is best seen as a series of local censuses, often reflecting local interpretations of standard questions.     

New methods of power generation

Abstract

Future uses of fossil fuels (particularly natural gas), nuclear power, and renewable sources of energy such as hydroelectric and biomass, as well as solar and wind power, are reviewed. Looking further into the future, ocean power sources and possibilities for gravitational energy are identified.     

UNDERSTANDING COMPUTERS

Abstract.

Forensic accounting is used to reconstruct the data on emissions, redemptions, and bills outstanding for colonial New Jersey paper money. These components are further separated into the amounts initially legislated and the amounts actually executed. These data are substantial improvements over what currently exists in the literature. They also provide a more complete and nuanced accounting of colonial New Jersey's paper money regime than what has been done previously for any British North American colony. Enough detail of the forensic accounting exercise is given for scholars to reproduce the data series from the original sources.     

Comparison of two cluster life stages in a synthetic knowledge base

ABSTRACT

Knowledge flows in clusters are highly important since they are related to innovation. Types and spatial levels of knowledge sources have been studied by many scholars. This study examines knowledge sources from evolutionary perspective. Evolutionary Economic Geography suggests that regional industries and their dynamics co-evolve. While conceptual and empirical studies argue that network characteristics take different characteristics throughout time, and that knowledge sources are subject to change, little is known about in what way they change in a synthetic knowledge base. In this study, we examined the knowledge sources in a specific knowledge base throughout time. The study was applied to two clusters in Turkey in a synthetic knowledge base yet in different life stages: emergence and maturity. The network structure was analysed by social network analysis, hypotheses were tested by Mann–Whitney U-Tests. The findings show that although network structure and density change through maturity, the types and spatial levels of knowledge sources do not vary between the two life stages, they keep the same characteristics of their knowledge bases.     

Science Adviser to Government

Abstract

That Government works at all, should surprise us; it invariably has to deal with most difficult questions involving many imponderables, particularly in the technological field. Rendering scientific advice in the Ministry of Defence and other British Government Departments involves the conveying of various shades of uncertainty; invariably a difficult task not made easier by the lack of scientific background of senior politicians and senior civil servants. The sources and the costs of scientific knowledge are here discussed and two problem areas in the British Government system pointed out; as remedy a 'New Science Education' is advocated.     

The Role of Remote Sensing in Ethnohistorical Research

Abstract

Recent changes in ethnohistorical theory and methods have necessitated new research strategies. Remote sensing technology has a great deal to offer in constructing new research methods and consequently can play an important role in this transition. It is important, however, that the researcher first attempt to “demystify” remote sensing. This can be accomplished by learning the intricacies of various sensors and noting previous applications within ethnohistory, archaeology, and related fields. It is also important that the scholar know that national and international archival sources of imagery and aerial photography exist.