THE HISTORICAL MANUSCRIPTS COMMISSION: AN ARCHIVAL EVOLUTION

2020 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 15-31
Author(s):  
Philip Gale ◽  
Elizabeth Lomas
Keyword(s):  
Resource Constraints ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Public Records ◽  
Victorian Britain ◽  
The Social ◽  
National Archives ◽  
Historical Manuscripts ◽  
Institutional Renewal ◽  
Formed Part ◽  
Private Collections

The creation of the Royal Historical Manuscripts Commission formed part of a wider movement of institutional renewal and reform in mid-Victorian Britain, including growing professionalisation of both public administration and the academic study of history, particularly from the 1850s. Two features of the commission’s work continued to influence its development and The National Archives’ engagement with the archives sector today: first, the need to respect the legitimate rights and interests of both individuals and organisations, and second, the relationships by necessity based on collaboration with many partners. This has led to the evolution of a distinctive British mixed economy embracing public and private archives. This article considers the Commission’s evolution from surveying and publishing reports on the contents and locations of private collections to becoming the central advisory body on all issues related to archives and manuscripts not covered by the 1958 Public Records Act. The social and technological changes over this time have had a profound influence on the commission’s professional practices. In addition, the range and rights of stakeholders have evolved, presenting new challenges. Meeting all the demands and possibilities of the commission’s delivery needs to be seen in the context of frequently operating with significant resource constraints.

Early Debates

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel Llano
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Domestic Space ◽  
Limited Resources ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Conduct Manuals ◽  
The Public ◽  
Clear Cut ◽  
The Social ◽  
Undeserving Poor

This chapter provides an account of how organilleros elicited public anger because their activity did not fit into any of the social aid categories that had been in place since the late eighteenth century. Social aid in Spain relied on a clear-cut distinction between deserving and undeserving poor in order to rationalize the distribution of limited resources and reduce mendicancy on the streets. Organilleros could not, strictly speaking, be considered idle, since they played music, but their activity required no specific skills and was regarded with suspicion as a surrogate form of begging. The in-betweenness of the organillero caused further anger as it challenged attempts to establish a neat distinction between public and private spaces. On one hand, organillo music penetrated the domestic space, which conduct manuals of the nineteenth century configured as female; on the other, it brought women into the public space, which those manuals configured as male.

Glandy Cross: A Later Prehistoric Monumental Complex in Carmarthenshire, Wales

2000 ◽  
Vol 66 ◽  
pp. 257-295 ◽  
Author(s):  
Trevor Kirk ◽  
George Williams ◽  
A. Caseldine ◽  
J. Crowther ◽  
I. Darke ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Survey Data ◽  
Social Practice ◽  
Heritage Management ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Historical Process ◽  
Project Report ◽  
The Social ◽  
Formed Part ◽  
George Williams

Excavations at the Glandy Cross monumental complex during 1991 and 1992 formed part of an integrated programme of evaluation, rescue, and research by Dyfed Archaeological Trust (DAT). Enclosures, pit circles, standing stones, and cairns were excavated and their environs systematically surveyed. Radiocarbon dates show the monumental complex to have been constructed between c. 2190–1530 cal BC. However, the earliest activity at the site may date to c. 4470–4230 cal BC. A defended enclosure was constructed on the peripheries of the complex c. 830–510 cal BC.The 1991–92 excavation results are presented along with a summary of survey, salvage, and research spanning the period 1981 to 1992. This new data set is tentatively interpreted in terms of historical process and the social practice of monumental construction. A brief commentary on heritage management at Glandy Cross is also presented.A note on authorship: one of the authors (George Williams) directed the Glandy Cross excavations during 1991–92 and prepared an initial draft of the project report. Following his retirement from DAT a project editor (Trevor Kirk) was commissioned by Cadw: Welsh Historic Monuments to guide the project towards publication. This paper was largely penned by the project editor, though the excavation and survey data were produced by George Williams and his fieldwork team. The excavation and survey archives are held at the offices of DAT.

‘An old and faithful servand’: A Pair of Early Seventeenth-Century Gauntlet Gloves given by King Charles I to Sir Henry Wardlaw

Costume ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 8-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire Robinson
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
High Status ◽  
Social Significance ◽  
Charles I ◽  
The Social ◽  
King Charles I ◽  
Technological Developments ◽  
The University ◽  
Design And Manufacture ◽  
Private Collections

A pair of embroidered seventeenth-century gauntlet gloves, reputedly presented by King Charles I to his courtier Sir Henry Wardlaw, was donated to the University of St Andrews in 2001. This article sets out to uncover the truth behind this nearly four-hundred-year-old family legend by investigating Sir Henry’s royal connections and the social significance of the gauntlet gloves as a high-status, luxury clothing accessory. Based on the study of historic gloves in museum and private collections, it endeavours to date the gloves by discussing their design and manufacture within the context of seventeenth-century clothing fashion. This article also explores the symbolism behind the gauntlet gloves’ decorative scheme by unravelling some of the hidden messages that are conveyed about cultural, religious, political and technological developments and perspectives through seventeenth-century embroidery.

Archiving white community historical manuscripts in postcolonial Zimbabwe

2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 133-150
Author(s):  
Samuel Chabikwa ◽  
Nathan Mnjama ◽  
Maitseo MM Bolaane
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Regulatory Framework ◽  
Records Management ◽  
Recruitment And Retention ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
White Community ◽  
Community Associations ◽  
Management Standards ◽  
National Archives ◽  
Historical Manuscripts

This paper is premised on the observation that mainstream archival activities are the main cause and source of the “absences and silences” of the voices of the minority and the underrepresented in the archives. The aim of the study is to explain the context and documentation strategies of archiving and preservation of Historical Manuscripts (HM) of the white community in post-colonial Zimbabwe. In particular, the study seeks to: (a) Determine the legislative, regulatory framework for the management of HM in selected cultural heritage institutions in Zimbabwe; (b) Assess the acquisition policies and practices of mainstream cultural heritage institutions in Zimbabwe; (c) Describe the usage, purposes, and accessibility of both pre-archival and archival HM of the white community. The findings of the study revealed adequate provisions in the National Archives of Zimbabwe Act (2001) for the archiving of HM of the white community in Zimbabwe, although there were limitations of outdated policies for the institutions studied. The study also addressed the issue of limited funding and shrinking budgets which impeded on the operations of both selected cultural heritage institutions and white community associations. This resulted in failure to adhere to archiving/records management standards, and the upgrading of equipment and facilities, as well as the recruitment and retention of requisite and qualified staff. Overall, this endangers the HM collections to neglect and decay. HM were migrated from Zimbabwe to other countries regionally and abroad into private hands, and their extent, nature, condition of storage and status of preservation are undetermined.

Grafinscripties

Lampas ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-65
Author(s):  
Onno van Nijf
Keyword(s):  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Archaic Period ◽  
Social Strategies ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Frequent Type ◽  
The Social ◽  
Funerary Inscriptions ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Over Time

Abstract This article offers a brief introduction to the most frequent type of inscription: funerary inscriptions or epitaphs. The article offers a chronological overview from the Archaic period to late Antiquity, with an emphasis on Athens. It opens with a brief discussion of the archaeological and ritual contexts in which funerary inscriptions were set up, followed by a discussion of archaic epigrams and the social strategies that lay behind them. This is followed by a discussion of public and private graves that shows how epigraphic habits changed over time. The article continues with a discussion of funerary epigraphic habits outside Athens and closes with a few examples of Christian epitaphs.

New Data on the Luster Tiles of ʿAbd al-Samad’s Shrine in Natanz, Iran

2021 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 331-356
Author(s):  
Anaïs Leone
Keyword(s):  
Central Iran ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Available Information ◽  
Private Collections

Abstract This essay offers new data for identifying and reconstructing the original luster tilework decoration of the tomb chamber of the ʿAbd al-Samad shrine in Natanz, central Iran. The decorated complex around the tomb was likely built during the Ilkhanid period. The removal of Ilkhanid-period luster tiles from their original location has left very few buildings with their original decoration. Moreover, the stripping of an important number of monuments led to the arrival of thousands of tiles of unidentified or incomplete provenance in public and private collections. By cross-referencing available information about preserved revetments (e.g., dimensions, inscriptions, provenance, designs) with verifiable data collected at surviving monuments, it is possible to bridge the gap and unite formerly isolated elements. This study formulates new proposals about the luster tilework in the shrine of ʿAbd al-Samad, especially with regard to the complex ensemble of the mihrab. By locating and detailing the different zones of its decorative scheme, the ensemble becomes more coherent as a whole despite its remaining gaps.

‘The whole of the proceedings were very orderly’: Gunpowder Plot celebrations, civic culture and identity in some smaller Kent towns, 1860–1890

Urban History ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 517-538 ◽  
Author(s):  
IAIN TAYLOR
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Public Libraries ◽  
Civic Culture ◽  
Business Relationships ◽  
Local Variant ◽  
The Social ◽  
Gunpowder Plot ◽  
Formed Part

ABSTRACT:This article looks at how and why Bonfire Night celebrations became more peaceful in the later nineteenth century in some smaller Kent towns and what this process reveals about local civic cultures and identities. The drive towards respectability is seen both in the changing business relationships between participants, spectators and local tradesmen and in the evolving role of satire within processions. The ‘social energy’ visible at these events was channelled such that earlier class and other vertical conflicts within these towns were superseded by horizontal rivalries without, as they competed against each other (an important local variant of civic boosterism) to build free public libraries, for example. Moreover, more peaceful ‘Fifths’ and better reading facilities were linked, since both formed part of the much-altered prevailing civic cultures in these towns – their comprehensive, continuous, identity-driven efforts to present themselves in the best possible light against their rivals.

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