From Universalism to Nationalism: Italian Freemasonry and the Great War

Abstract

During the period from 1914 to 1915, prior to Italy’s entry into the First World War, Freemasonry was a powerful force in Italian public life with a strong presence in every part of the nation and in the most vital organs of the State (parliament, public administration, the armed forces). Between them, the Grand Orient and the Grand Lodge of Italy counted 25,000 members and more than 500 lodges. Freemasons played a critical role in the campaign to mobilize Italian public opinion and political parties in support of Italy’s intervention in the war as an ally of France and Great Britain. To do so, they abandoned the movement’s traditional cosmopolitan and pacifist stances and adopted instead the objectives of the nationalists, a shift that would be consolidated during the war. Nonetheless, from 1917 onwards Italian Freemasons joined their counterparts in other European countries to press for the creation of a League of Nations to promote a new post-war universal order premised on the peaceful coexistence of independent and democratic nations. In examining the initiatives taken by Italian Freemasons in this period, this article focuses on the principles that inspired them, the language they adopted and the forms of communication and mobilization they used.     

Anthropology and the British Museum: A conversation with John Mack

John Mack is Keeper of Ethnography at the British Museum, and until recently was also Senior Keeper. He curated The Museum of the Mind: Art and Memory in World Cultures as part of the British Museum's 250th anniversary programme. Major changes have taken place at the museum, including the return of the Museum of Mankind to the British Museum's Bloomsbury site. This site will by next year also house the Anthropology Library, one of the largest anthropology libraries in the world, the holdings of which were greatly enhanced by the gift of the Royal Anthropological Institute (RAI) Library to the British Museum Ethnography Department Library in 1976. John Mack can be contacted at J.Mack@british-museum.ac.uk .     

On-line computing and radiocarbon dating at the British Museum

This paper describes the way in which the Hewlett Packard 2100A computer installed at the British Museum Research Laboratory is used by the Radiocarbon Dating Unit. A system of programmes and files has been developed to register sample count rates, calculate age estimates and monitor the performance of the counting equipment. The system was designed to be simple and convenient to use and has fulfilled our expectations.     

Western Tibet and the British Borderland

EUROPE

The Irish in Scotland (1798–1845). By James Edmund Handley. Demy 8vo. Pp. ix+313+xix. Cork : University Press, 1943. Price 10s. 6d.

British Woodland Trees. By H. L. Edlin. Demy 8vo. Pp. ix+182. 133 illustrations. London: B. T. Batsford Ltd., 1944. Price 12s. 6d.

Brenva. By T. Graham Brown. Demy 8vo. Pp. xv+227. 72 photographs. 4 maps. London : J. M. Dent and Sons Ltd., 1944. Price 25s.

British Survey Handbooks. 2. Rumania. By C. Kormos. Fcap. 8vo. Pp. vii+122. Map. Cambridge : University Press, 1944. Price 3s.

British Survey Handbooks. 3. Greece. Compiled by Kathleen Gibberd. Fcap. 8vo. Pp. vii+106. Map. Cambridge : University Press, 1944. Price 3s.

The U.S.S.R. : An Economic and Social Survey. By S. P. Turin, D.Sc. (Econ.). Demy 8vo. Pp. xiii+219. 8 maps, 16 diagrams, 63 statistical tables. London : Methuen and Co. Ltd., 1944. Price 16s.

ASIA

China. By A. G. Wenley and John A. Pope. Med. 8vo. Pp. v+85. 25 plates. 7 sketch maps. 3 figs. Smithsonian Institution War Background Studies No. 20. Washington, D.C. : Smithsonian Institution, 1944.

AUSTRALASIA

Mew Zealand: A Working Democracy. By Walter Nash. Demy 8vo. Pp. vii+290. Frontispiece. 1 map. London : J. M. Dent and Sons Ltd., 1944. Price 8s. 6d.

GEOMORPHOLOGY

Volcanoes as Landscape Forms. By C. A. Cotton. Demy 8vo. Pp. 416. Frontispiece. 223 figs. Christchurch, N.Z., and London : Whitcombe and Tombs Ltd., 1944. Price 32s. 6d.

OCEANOGRAPHY

Pacific Ocean Handbook. By Eliot G. Mears. 7x4 inches. Pp. x+198. 58 figs. 7 maps. Stanford University, California : James Ladd Delkin, 1944. Price $2.00.

EDUCATIONAL

The British Isles : A School Certificate Geography. By S. J. B. Whybrow, B.Sc, F.R.G.S. Crown 8vo. Pp. x+196. 66 sketch maps. 20 photographs. London : J. M. Dent and Sons Ltd., 1944. Price 3s.

GENERAL

International River and Canal Transport. By Brig.‐Gen. Sir Osborne Mance, K.B.E., C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O., assisted by J. E. Wheeler. Demy 8vo. Pp. viii+115. 2 maps. Issued under the auspices of the Royal Institute of International Affairs. London : Oxford University Press, 1944. Price 10s. 6d.

Heresies and Humours. By Major C. S. Jarvis, C.M.G., O.B.E. Demy 8vo. Pp.176. Illustrated by R. A. Young. London : Country Life Ltd., 1943. Price 8s 6d.     

On the Additions to the Collection of National Antiquities in the British Museum

The evidence for prehistoric occupation in the area of the modern City of London is re-assessed. Two myths surrounding the city's prehistory are examined: a literary myth of a glorious Trojan past and a modern archaeological myth of the absence of prehistory. Having drawn a ‘traditional’ distribution map of prehistoric artefacts, the authors attempted to improve its reliability by quantifying the impact of Roman groundworks on the surviving prehistoric deposits. Topographic models of the area in prehistory and in the Roman period were drawn, and the methodology of the interpolation is discussed. The relative value of in situ, residual and stray finds are considered in the light of this new information. While there is good evidence for Late Bronze Age occupation in the City, the evidence for Neolithic activity is considered to be heavily skewed by Roman activity. The data are used to suggest areas of the City where there is particularly good potential for the survival of prehistoric deposits. The City provides a case study for analysing prehistoric material in a ‘difficult’, deeply stratified, urban context more associated with Roman and medieval archaeology.     

从精英掌控到大众文化空间——19世纪上半叶大英博物馆的建构与功能转换

19世纪上半叶,英帝国的强盛将大英博物馆推向新纪元,馆藏规模得到极大扩充,书籍、手稿、自然和人工制品的收藏增长迅速。这一时期,英国议会对大英博物馆更加重视也更加慷慨,愿意花费公共资金来扩充藏品。另一方面,严厉的参观规则得以变更,进入博物馆参观或学习的限制被放宽,繁杂的参观时间规定得以改进,阅览室的空间不断扩充。作为大众文化空间,博物馆为公众服务的宗旨和理念随着国家的重视和精英人物的努力逐渐由虚设变为现实,其由国家掌控的特性及作为国家文化工具的使命第一次得到明确的认可和界定。     

以瓷为媒的中西文化交流

瓷之韵——大英博物馆、英国国立维多利亚与艾伯特博物馆藏瓷器精品展展览的策划和筹备历时一年多,经过双方策展人的多次讨论,才形成最终的展览内容。大英博物馆和维多利亚与艾伯特博物馆的策展人为此挑选了148件套的精彩展品,为中国观众讲述明清时期中,     

Captain Cook upon Changing Seas: Indigenous Voices and Reimagining at the British Museum

ABSTRACT

This article reviews the British Museum exhibition, Reimagining Captain Cook: Pacific Perspectives, 29 November 2018–4 August 2019. It situates the exhibition within a global context of exhibitions held around the 250th anniversary of Cook’s first voyage, and critically considers its attempt to reframe dominant narratives surrounding Cook, his voyages and more broadly the colonization of the Pacific through a focus on Pacific Islander perspectives within a changing museum sector.