Search

The Bridg(e)water Family Papers is a substantial archive that details the history of an African American family who left the American South in the late nineteenth century for freedom in the American West. In the early twentieth century, the family eventually arrived in Montana, where they experienced both degrees of freedom and unfortunate forms of racial discrimination. Both the family matriarch and her daughter—Mamie and Octavia Bridgwater, respectively—were the main architects of the family archive. These two Black women constructed a collection that provides insight into the history of the Black West. Utilizing their archive, this article shows how the Bridgwaters departed from the South in search of social and economic advancement through participation in the military, membership in Black organizations, and landownership. Although they were out of the South, the Bridgwaters still encountered racially discriminatory practices that are indicative of the African American experience throughout the United States. The struggle of the Bridgwater family and their descendants to navigate this ambivalent terrain in the West is the consistent theme of their archive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using historical source material such as photographs, albums, and scrapbooks, the author explores the material culture of mothering for twentieth-century families of Southern England. The article considers family archives created by mothers Thelma Newton held at the East Sussex Records Office, Edith Vidler of Rye in Kent, and Sarah Doreen Budd, best known as Doreen (1908–1993) held at the Hampshire Record Office.

This article examines memories of the births of feudal heirs to consider both what witnesses remembered from their past and how they remembered it. It argues that in the early sixteenth century jurors' memories revolved around the life-course markers of birth, marriage, and death, and were recalled in parallel with the same events in the lives of their neighbors. By the later sixteenth century written records came to play a greater role in the process of proving age, as witnesses were increasingly likely to present and witness a father's record of his son's birth rather than recall their own involvement in the event. This shift reflects the ways in which both literacy and family records were rooted within the household, and allows us to see the ways in which the bureaucratic process of proving age changed in response to the changed literacies of English jurors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to report on a collaborative project that investigated the value and use of the contents of estate archives. Context is provided by outlining the type of information often found within estate records, its potential value to a wide range of users, indicating some of the initiatives which have helped to open up estate archives, before exploring some of the difficulties associated with accessing these records and making optimal use of them. This is followed by a description and evaluation of the initial stage of the project, which collected data about the significance, discoverability, accessibility and use of estate archives. This was achieved by inviting a purposive sample of archive users to attend one of the three knowledge exchange workshops in different parts of Wales. Participants were asked for their views on the value of estate archives, current and potential uses of estate records, and they were asked to suggest ways in which these records could be promoted more widely and used more effectively. Finally, opinions were gathered about the desirability of creating an online toolkit for estate records. Data gathered at these events was used to create a detailed blueprint of the proposed toolkit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Age‐heaping‐based numeracy indicators have served as valuable tools to derive basic human capital estimates, especially for periods where other indicators are unavailable. However, the accuracy of individual age statements usually remains unknown, and due to the lack of precise information it can only be assumed that excessive occurrence of multiples of five in age distributions reflects inferior numerical skills. This article addresses this lacuna by identifying 162 individuals in two independent data sources: self‐reported age statements and independently kept records which are based on family heritage books and church registers. This method makes it possible to identify individual misreporting and the degree of accuracy of each individual. Findings show that not everyone who reported a multiple of five was reporting an incorrect age, nor was it the case that everyone who reported an age that was not a multiple of five was reporting an accurate age. The empirical analysis shows that the commonly used binary numeracy indicator is correlated with the observed degree of accuracy in age statements, and that a more sophisticated occupational background reduces this inaccuracy. These results tentatively suggest that the commonly used binary indicator measuring age heaping is a valuable proxy for numerical skills and occupational background in a population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Renaissance & Reformation / Renaissance et Réforme is the property of Iter Canada and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Two notable sets of marginalia family records seem to have been written for and by the Sidney family. Henry and Mary Dudley Sidney had records added commemorating family events in the margins of The Sidney Family Psalter now at Trinity College Cambridge (MS R.17.2). These undated annotations in this Psalter provide a record of the births and marriages of three generations, apparently written in 1583. These additions look like a gift written in an elegant professional hand, perhaps from Mary Sidney Herbert, Countess of Pembroke. Four 1584 additions in another hand, perhaps by Lady Mary Sidney herself, end with the death of her little granddaughter Katherine Herbert. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reading someone's diary can feel like an invasion of the writer's privacy, but it can also be one of the most difficult kinds of books to put down. Diaries, after [...]

Among the growing number of domestic writings in Provence from the end of the Middle Ages, livres de raison comprised a heterogeneous corpus, combining elements of account books, family records, journals, and sometimes chronicles. Their writers, men and women from diverse social backgrounds, drew on complex and varying skills. While avoiding any teleology about the supposed "birth of the individual," this article explores this heterogeneity to interrogate the specific textual and graphic procedures that reveal the subjective forms of the appropriation of the world and self in daily life. The livre de raison inscribes the individual within familial and social ties; at the same time, however, it constructs a space of personal writing where one could turn within oneself. Thus, behind its ordinary appearance and its collective vocation, the livre de raison established, on a daily basis, one's ordering of the world and reflective capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses historical research on the Schwarz family archives in Dresden and Lüneburg, Germany. An overview of the family's genealogy is presented, an overview of the contents of the archive and its library and art collection is offered including its family record books, paintings, and manuscripts.

Unlike fourteenth and fifteenth century chroniclers, Sâlih Ibn Yahyâ dedicated his work to recording his family history. His work is important because it is essentially based on family records kept by the Buhtur emirs who ruled a region of Mount Lebanon called al-Gharb.The archives include official documents, letters patent, iqṭâ‛ deeds, decrees and court orders received by the Buhtur emirs from the courts of Egypt or Damascus and even from the Mongols and Franks.The archival materials cover a period from the twelfth to the fourteenth century. Their presentation and analysis provide very interesting information on the use and rules of writing in the chancelleries of the Zinghîde, Ayyubid and early Mamluk sultans.

In 1457, the Florentine merchant, Giovanni Rucellai, started to compose a family records and commonplace book, the Zibaldone Quaresimale. His goal was to transmit knowledge to his sons. This article is a report on the computer-assisted analysis of the Zibaldone and the knowledge Giovanni intended to transmit. The 2nd and 3rd sections treat the theoretical framework applied for knowledge structure analysis and the technical requirements this imposed. In the 4th section, I explain how I transformed the manuscript into a semantically and linguistically annotated corpus with the help of semi-automatic procedures. I also discuss the integrated research environment that I developed to store and link information from secondary and primary sources. In the 6th section, through a concrete research problem, the analysis of social perception, I demonstrate the practical application and the power of the digital environment. This section also presents how the knowledge system described in the codex is reconstructed with the help of a Web Ontology Language ontology. Finally, I argue that a project in Digital Humanities can bring new insights only if a comprehensive theoretical model directs the design and the use of the digital environment; one that functions as a framework to interpret the data that the digital environment produces. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article discusses the role of women in the domestic sphere in rural León, Spain, during the Early Modern Period. The author comments on the social life and conditions experienced by women who took a measure of control as head of the household during this time period. She references contemporary sources, especially the Libros de Familia, a census of family records dating from the mid-18th century, as well as several other registers. A regional analysis of women's roles is provided and the evolution of women's responsibilities over time is also explored.

This article examines the treatment of family papers in a sample of specialist repositories in the UK. It is suggested that there is an inherent tension between thematic collecting policies and traditional archival theories concerning the preservation of provenance. This conflict has sometimes been more broadly characterized in archival thought as the choice between serving the needs of users and that of fulfilling archival requirements. Family papers can serve to highlight these difficulties, due to their often complex provenance and wide-ranging content. It is argued that, through arrangement and description, archivists have sometimes simplified and, in some cases, distorted information about records in their care in order to meet the perceived interests of their users. It is concluded that authority records, if properly developed, could protect provenance, enable easier access and minimize the privileging of information within multifaceted collections such as family papers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is the result of extensive investigation of the archives of the Dundas family of Arniston, Midlothian. It uncovers significant roles played in the organization of David Watson and William Roy's Military Survey of Scotland (1747–1755) by successive generations of the Dundases and suggests that the introduction of Watson, an established military engineer, to the young civilian Roy, was facilitated by that family. The Dundases' patronage of the Military Survey encourages us to understand the project as a private-public partnership and supports contentions that Enlightenment mapping resulted from complex social networks straddling military and civilian life. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article deals with family records/archives from the territory of Polish Galicia--specifically, their history and their state of preservation. The author notes that estate/inheritance records constituted the bulk of record-keeping kept by the territory's noble families. The majority of these records remained private until the end of Austro-Hungarian rule. Post-1817, such records increasingly became part of the collections of libraries such as the Ossoliński Library (Polish records), the Shevchenko Scientific Library (Ukrainian records), and the National Home Library in Lwów. Many of these private/public collections were lost during the First World War (1914-1920) and again in the Second World War (1939-1945). After 1945, many private records/archives were also lost/destroyed due to Poland's boundary changes, ethnic expulsions, and seizures of former noble estates/properties.

Copyright of Journal of the Institute of Croatian History / Radovi Zavoda za Hrvatsku Povijest is the property of Zavod za Hrvatsku Povijest, Filozofski Fakultet and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article presents an overview of the family reconstitution methodology of reconciling and centralizing data from historical parish records in British demographic research. The development and evolution of this technique of demographic analysis at the Cambridge Group for the History of Population and Social Structure is charted from the 1970s to the present. The theoretical paradigm of the method is discussed along with mention of several challenges and innovations in the practice of implementation.

A personal narrative is presented which explores the author's experience looking at family photographs. He compares personal photographs to the more impersonal documentary images produced by the U.S. Farm Security Administration (FSA). Photographs with captions of the author's family are presented.

The article provides an overview of the family archives of the House of Liechtenstein in Vienna, Austria. The author briefly outlines the history of the archives before describing the holdings in detail. Issues addressed include the manuscript collection, family and government records relevant to the history of Liechtenstein, and exchange of archival materials pertaining to the House of Liechtenstein that were held in Moscow, Russia, for documents collected by Russian official Nikolai A. Sokolow pertaining to the Russian Civil War that were held in Liechtenstein, in 1997.

Using a political economy analytical framework, the present paper examines the hukou system reform in China. The potential unification of the social welfare system of rural and urban areas is discussed. The paper reviews the progress of hukou system reform since 2004. It is suggested that since China met its Lewis turning point in about 2004, and a labor shortage became a limiting factor in production, there has been stronger demand for hukou system reform. In the meantime, various levels of government have a point where incentives are compatibile for carrying out reforms. The paper also explores some limitations of the currently implemented reform in certain regions and puts forward relevant policy suggestions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the Medieval archival records of the family history of Middle Eastern historian Sâlih Ibn Yahyâ. It describes the records kept under the administration of the Buhtur emirs in al-Gharb, Mount Lebanon, along with the document types in the archive, which include the official documents, letters patent, iqtâ' deeds, decrees, and court orders. The documents recording the legal relations between the Buhtur emirs and the courts of Egypt, Damascus, and the Mongols are also discussed. Other subjects under discussion include Zinghîde, Ayyubid, and Mamluk chancelleries.

Copyright of International Journal of Maritime History is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revista de Musicologia is the property of Sociedad Espanola de Musicologia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)