THE 20TH-CENTURY REVOLUTION IN TEXTILE MACHINES AND PROCESSES. PART 2: TEXTURED YARNS AND OTHER TECHNOLOGIES

Abstract

This is the second of a two-part study on the archaeology and technological development of the machine textile industry in the 20th century. The previous paper, Part 1 (IAR, 35·2), described the changes in two long-established textile technologies: the production of yarns from short fibres such as cotton and wool; and the weaving of fabrics. The main part of this paper describes completely new technologies that resulted from the manufacture of new continuous filament yarns. Other technologies are also mentioned.     

SELF-TAUGHT WRITERS,FAMILY CORRESPONDENCE,AND SOCIAL MOBILITY IN THE 19TH-CENTURY FINNISH ARCHIPELAGO

How can the private, everyday letters written by two literate members of a rural community be used as historical sources? How can they enhance understanding of the process of upward social mobility which took place in Finland in the latter part of the 19th century and produced a new, Finnish-speaking and nationally oriented university-educated gentry? A collection of nearly 150 letters written from 1858 to 1887 by country skipper Simon Jansson and his wife Wilhelmina document in great detail their daily life and thoughts as well as the news and the social life of their seafaring community. They attest to how non-elite families were able to grasp the opportunities that were opening up for them and to give their sons a university education. For a country skipper, the favourable economic conditions for peasant seafaring after the Crimean War were decisive. The process of social mobility and the rise of the new educated elite have been studied with the social status and occupation of the students’ fathers as a starting point. The Jansson letters show that the social and cultural capital brought into the family by the mother could be crucial.     

北洋袁世凯政府军用钞票样本与一九一三年“二次革命”

一、问题的提出1 91 2—1 91 3年民国初建 ,政局飘忽不定。有关这一时期国家的财政状况 ,见诸于文献档案及后人著述中比比皆是“府库如洗”、“罗掘俱穷”、“日以借款为生活”之语。据不完全资料 ,1 91 2— 1 91 3年中央政府的财政收入 (不含外债 )仅 2 0 0 0万元 ,而军费支出达到 2 9亿元① 。为摆脱“中央国库空虚 ,收入毫无”、财力极度匮乏的困境 ,袁世凯政府曾经主办过一次不成功的货币发行 ,1 91 2年 3月度支部大臣周自齐提出的以中华民国国库名义发行“中华民国度支部兑换券”呈文获准 ,但因信用不足 ,这个名称怪异的钞票行之不远 …     

FROM REVOLUTION TO MODERNIZATION: THE PARADIGMATIC TRANSITION IN CHINESE HISTORIOGRAPHY IN THE REFORM ERA

Chinese historiography of modern China in the 1980s and 1990s underwent a paradigmatic transition: in place of the traditional revolutionary historiography that bases its analyses on Marxist methodologies and highlights rebellions and revolutions as the overarching themes in modern Chinese history, the emerging modernization paradigm builds its conceptual framework on borrowed modernization theory and foregrounds top‐down, incremental reforms as the main force propelling China's evolution to modernity. This article scrutinizes the origins of the new paradigm in the context of a burgeoning modernization discourse in reform‐era China. It further examines the fundamental divides between the two types of historiography in their respective constructions of master narratives and their different approaches to representing historical events in modern China. Behind the prevalence of the modernization paradigm in Chinese historiography is Chinese historians' unchanged commitment to serving present political needs by interpreting the past.     

ORGANIC RESIDUE ANALYSIS IN ARCHAEOLOGY: THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL BIOMARKER REVOLUTION*

Organic residue analysis utilizes analytical organic chemical techniques to identify the nature and origins of organic remains that cannot be characterized using traditional techniques of archaeological investigation (because they are either amorphous or invisible). The field is founded upon the principle that the biomolecular, or biochemical, components of organic materials associated with human activity survive in a wide variety of locations and deposits at archaeological sites. The archaeological information contained in organic residues is represented by the biomolecular components of the natural products that contribute to the formation of a given residue. By applying appropriate separation (chromatographic) and identification (mass spectrometric) techniques, the preserved, and altered, biomolecular components of such residues can be revealed. Once identified, the Archaeological Biomarker Concept can be applied, wherein the structure and even isotopic composition(s) of a given biomolecule or suite of biomolecules (the ‘chemical fingerprint’) can be related to the compositions of organisms exploited by humans in the past. As the organic residue field emerges from its pre‐paradigmatic phase, and the organic residue revolution gathers pace, the way is open for challenging many long‐held archaeological hypotheses and offering new perspectives on the study of human activity in the past.     

THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEOLITHIC AND COPPER AGE SETTLEMENT IN THE GREAT HUNGARIAN PLAIN PART II: SITE SURVEY AND SETTLEMENT DYNAMICS

Summary. Within the region of the Great Hungarian Plain (discussed in the first part of this article) the processes of settlement change can be followed in greater detail from site survey in the Szeghalom area. This central part of the Plain, drained by the Körös and Berettyó rivers, was a major focus of settlement in Neolithic times (6000-4000 BC), and its rising importance can be followed in the emergence of a series of wealthy 'supersites'. During the succeeding Copper Age, the character of sites altered as the role of the area in relation to the rest of the region began to change. Around 3500 BC a dramatic shift in settlement patterns coincided with the appearance of large tumuli of steppe type, which mark a new phase of land use in this region.     

FAMILY,KINSHIP AND REVOLUTION: THE RUSSIAN NOBILITY, 1917-23

Abstract

This article examines the importance of family and kin to the Russian nobility during the Russian Revolution. It focuses on the experiences of four interrelated families to show how nobles used family connections for a variety of purposes prior to I9I7. This helped them to maintain their predominant position within tsarist society. The article argues that these links continued after the revolution, helping nobles survive everyday hardship and official persecution under the new regime; in some cases, surprisingly large family ‘communities’ of nobles emerged. These communities persisted into the I920S and even when they disbanded the wider family maintained its central position in noble life.     

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT TRENDS IN THE USSR, 1970-1988: PART I (PRODUCTION AND PRODUCTIVITY)

The first of two articles devoted to spatial and temporal trends in economic development and levels of living within the USSR focuses on changes in the pattern of absolute and per capita economic output—national income produced and gross value of industrial output (at the republic and economic regional level, respectively). It then investigates the question of whether divergence or convergence has occurred among republics and economic regions in terms of these indicators. Finally, it assesses patterns of change in labor and capital productivity across Soviet republics.     

GLASS RECIPES AND THE OUTPUT FROM A 19TH-CENTURY GLASS WORKS: EXAMPLES FROM PERCIVAL,VICKERS & CO. LTD,MANCHESTER

Abstract

Excavations by Oxford Archaeology North in 2003 revealed extensive structural remains of the former Percival, Vickers and Co. Ltd glass works, one of the principal 19th-century glass manufactories in Manchester. A detailed account of the excavated remains, focusing on the significant developments in furnace design inherent in the exposed structures, has already been published in volume 29.1 (2007) of the Review. However, an in-depth analysis of the 187kg of glass fragments recovered from the excavation was omitted, and this shortcoming is addressed in the present paper. Scientific analysis of the glass compositions revealed that a variety of recipes were used, and these related closely to the different ways that glass was being worked on site, as evidenced by the various types of waste. A relatively small but nevertheless significant number of vessel fragments were also recovered, allowing the output of the glass works to be characterised for the first time.