Providence,punishment and identity formation in the late-Stuart Quaker community,c.1650–1700

For centuries, Englishmen and women believed that any misfortune, from the smallest malady to a natural catastrophe, signified divine “justice.” Scholarship on providence and miracles has shown that beliefs in divine intervention were enhanced by the political and religious conflicts of the mid-seventeenth century. This article seeks to refine our understanding of the role of providence in confessional identity formation through an examination of Quaker providential interpretation between 1650 and c.1700. It explores the ways in which Quakers appropriated accounts of divine judgement, circulated them within their community and memorialised them for the benefit of future generations. The discovery of an attempt to create a nationwide record of judgements to befall Quaker persecutors shows that providential stories had a significant role in uniting, and ensuring the survival of a disparate and heavily persecuted religious community.     

New evidence for the establishment and management of the European fallow deer (Dama dama dama) in Roman Britain

The semi-domestic status of the European fallow deer (Dama dama dama) renders its ancient biogeography a reflection of human activity with the potential to provide important insights into the movement, trade patterns and ideology of past societies. Given this potential, fallow deer have received surprisingly little attention from scientists within the fields of archaeology, biology and zoology. Here we present new AMS radiocarbon dates, stable carbon and nitrogen isotope data and genetic evidence (the first ancient DNA sequences for the species) resulting from the analysis of a set of remains recovered from the Roman settlement at Monkton on the Isle of Thanet, Kent, UK. By viewing our results against the very limited available comparative data, this paper provides new information for the establishment and management of fallow deer in Britain. We argue that much more could be achieved with even a slight increase in sample sizes and a plea is made for greater research into this culturally significant species.     

Family migration decision-making,step-migration and separation: children's experiences in European migrant worker families

Intra-European family migration has extended the realm in which families live and work in Europe. This paper joins a limited number of recent attempts to analyse family migration using a children-in-families approach [Bushin, N. 2009. Researching Family Migration Decision-Making: A Children-in-Families Approach.” Population, Space and Place, 15: 429–443]. In contrast to existing studies on this theme, our focus is on children's migration decision-making, experiences of step-migration and experiences of separation from parents during processes of intra-European family migration. Little is known about children's views and experiences of step-migration and separation from their parent(s) during family migration. Such experiences have implications for the spatial and temporal construction of family and childhood in Europe, where transnational mobility is increasing. This paper discusses children's experiences of separation in two research contexts, Scotland and the Republic of Ireland, to illustrate common features of the phenomena. The paper analyses family relationships relevant to migration decisions and explains their effects on children's agency, as well as on family integrity itself.     

Measuring Museum Visitor Preferences Towards Opportunities for Developing Social Capital: An Application of a Choice Experiment to the Discovery Museum

This study investigates preferences of visitors to the Discovery Museum (in North East England) with respect to opportunities to develop social capital. The extent to which museums generate social capital is largely unknown, but museums have potential opportunities to develop this type of capital. This study uses a stated preference choice experiment (CE) technique to estimate museum visitor preferences towards social capital opportunities. The findings indicate that visitors have a preference for visiting a museum with another individual(s); and that the provision of participatory activities, extended opening hours and locally related displays would generate more social capital among visitors and in society.     

Music,antiquity and self-fashioning in the Accademia dei Lincei

The members of the Accademia dei Lincei are known chiefly for their achievements in early modern science, most notably supporting and funding Galileo’s projects. Their investigations of the natural world using both microscope and telescope were ground breaking, but potentially heretical. This article investigates aspects of their interest in the music of antiquity and its place in early modern Rome and Naples, presenting Fabio Colonna’s book La Sambuca lincea as a case study. The timing of the Lincean musical activities is juxtaposed with other significant events such as the injunctions against Galileo, throwing into relief some curious coincidences. The antique on the one hand evoked classical authority and was afforded due reverence, but could on the other, also provide the means of fashioning an outward identity different from internal intent. It will be suggested that elements of this antiquarian heritage are reflected in the patronage and cultural politics of the Accademia dei Lincei, whose participation in musica erudita, as evidenced in the work of Colonna, may have been part of a tacit display of corporate self-fashioning.