notes for final project

History Boys has three teachers: one emphasizes facts, one emphasized eclectic interest, one emphasizes new theory. Which is history? I always suggest that history is discussion and argument about the past. History cannot be reduced to a set of agreed upon facts (can anything?, can biology?). History cannot be whatever in the past takes your fancy. History cannot be changed completely with each new theory just because one student needs to get into a posh school or one professor needs tenure. But no history paper is going to convince without being buttressed by relevant facts (evidence) with quotes and/or citations that suggest they are true facts. No paper is going to hold the reader’s/professor’s interest if it doesn’t hold the author’s/student’s interest. No list of facts or interesting gobbets from the past is worth our time unless it (they) are in service to a theory or argument about the past. So the reason I found the movie interesting–besides the subject matter of a middling grammar school for upwardly mobile working and lower middle class students deciding that the top students need a special push if they are to compete with the public (elite) school students for places at Oxbridge (Oxon. and Cantab.–notice that the abbreviations are in Latin; the subtle markers of “class” are everywhere)–is that it suggests how history is all three approaches (and, I fear, your final paper for this course should draw from all three approaches).

So you are writing a paper about British society in Moll Flanders, Persuasion, Hard Times, or Down and Out in Paris and London (Michelle, Jim, and Krystal have slightly different projects). For theory, you may restrict yourself to David Cannadine if you wish (or, rather, Cannadine’s three approaches–which historian thinks which approach fits Defoe’s early 18th century, Austen’s late 18th–early 19th century, Dickens’s mid-19th century, Orwell’s early 20th century?). You may also use Cannadine as well as a collection of relevant quotes from your period which you should compare and contrast with your chief text for aspects of class, hierarchy, social relations.

But you are seeking to contextualize discussion of social relations, hierarchy, class, status, etc. in one of these books. Context is provided by other contemporary sources (literary, statistical, material) as well as by historians’ views based on same. We have two sets of easily searchable online primary sources for the 18th-20th centuries: the Old Bailey online (for Moll), and the Times of London (for Persuasion, Hard Times, and Down and Out). I describe below how you might use them. You don’t need to use all of the suggestions below for your particular text. But if you plan to use none of them you’d better have a pretty compelling reason.

I took an extra couple of days in getting this out, so let’s say August 3rd is the deadline.

1. Context for specific texts
a. Defoe, Moll (1722)
i. "Cloth, Clothing, and Cloth-theft in Defoe's England" (a student paper) http://www.eiu.edu/%7Ehistoria/1999/moll99.htm
ii. Complete etext (for ease of cut-and-paste quotes; I still need a page number from your edition) http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/370
iii. The Proceedings of the Old Bailey, London 1674 to 1834 (criminal court which Moll found herself before; try searching women, or “Moll,” or clothing for the early 18th century and you will find real-life Molls) http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/
iv. Fiennes, Celia. The North Journey and the Tour of Kent (1697) (EIU, Booth Library, eReserves, for contrast with a woman of means)
v. Houghton Hall, Norfolk; Darby House, Ironbridge; Geffrye Museum; East End/West End; Cambridge (she went to Oxford)
vi. Hogarth
vii. Articles from History Today (a popular, illustrated, reputable journal available online from Booth Library, EBSCO Host)
(1) “Hogarth's London,” review of an exhibition by Christine Riding, History Today, Feb2007, Vol. 57 Issue 2, p12-20, 8p, 8c, 2bw
(2) “Hogarth's Four Times of Day,” analysis of the four pictures, History Today, Feb2007, Vol. 57 Issue 2, p18-18, 1p, 1c
(3) “From Rank to Class: Innovation in Georgian England,” by Penelope J. Corfield, History Today, Feb87, Vol. 37 Issue 2, p36, 7p, 14bw
b. Austen, Persuasion (1816, 1818)
i. Complete etext (for ease of cut-and-paste quotes; I still need a page number from your edition) http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/105
ii. Times (London) Digital Archive (Info trac online from Booth Library; Requires Library ID when used off-campus) full-text articles, editorials and advertising. (1785-1985) {Recommended: but note that if you do a search, the answer appears down the page; for example, searching Bath between 1816 and 1826 retrieves 74 articles (a few are adverts for bath lotion), but you have to scroll down and then click on the 74 for them to appear; then click on article (or page) for the pdf to appear.}
iii. Bath Abbey; Museum of Costume, Assembly Rooms, and Pump Room, Bath; Darby House, Ironbridge; Geffrye Museum
iv. The Republic of Pemberley http://www.pemberley.com/ (perhaps too much on Jane Austen, but includes lots on Persuasion
(1) including an Advertisement for Gowlands' Lotion (recommended by Sir Walter Elliot)! http://www.pemberley.com/janeinfo/gowlands.gif
v. Articles from History Today (a popular, illustrated, reputable journal available online from Booth Library, EBSCO Host)
(1) “The Naval Career of Jane Austen's Brother,” by David Hopskinson, History Today, Sep76, Vol. 26 Issue 9, p576
(2) “Britain 1800,” by Jeremy Black, History Today; Nov2000, Vol. 50 Issue 11, p29, 7p, 11c
(3) “Georgian Bath,” by Penelope Corfield, History Today, Nov90, Vol. 40 Issue 11, p26, 8p, 5c, 7bw
(4) “From Rank to Class: Innovation in Georgian England,” by Penelope J. Corfield, History Today, Feb87, Vol. 37 Issue 2, p36, 7p, 14bw
vi. “A Class Act: Persuasion and the Lingering Death of the Aristocracy,” by Paul A. Cantor, Philosophy and Literature 23.1 (1999) 127-137 (available online Project Muse from Booth Library)
c. Dickens, Hard Times (1854)
i. Complete etext (for ease of cut-and-paste quotes; I still need a page number from your edition) http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/786
ii. Tocqueville, Alexis de. Journey to England (1853) (EIU, Booth Library, eReserves, use like Cannadine for theories of class to compare with Dickens)
iii. Times (London) Digital Archive (Info trac online from Booth Library; Requires Library ID when used off-campus) full-text articles, editorials and advertising. (1785-1985) {Recommended: but note that if you do a search, the answer appears down the page; for example, searching Dickens between 1854 and 1864 retrieves 26 articles, but you have to scroll down and then click on the 26 for them to appear; then click on article (or page) for the pdf to appear.}
iv. Coalbrookdale, Ironbridge; East End/West End London; National Portrait Gallery; Geffrye Museum; Victoria & Albert, British Galleries; Houses of Parliament (Gradgrind as an MP; social status of an MP in 18th c., in 19th c.)
v. Great Exhibition, 1851 http://spencer.lib.ku.edu/exhibits/greatexhibition/
vi. Articles from History Today (a popular, illustrated, reputable journal available online from Booth Library, EBSCO Host)
(1) III: The changing face of 19th-century Britain,” by Gareth Stedman Jones, History Today; May91, Vol. 41 Issue 5, p36-40, 5p, 1c, 5bw
(2) The Industrial Revolution: Ironbridge: The Cradle of Industrialisation,” by Barrie Trinder, History Today; Apr83, Vol. 33 Issue 4, p30, 5p, 9bw
vii. Articles available online from Jstor, Booth Library
(1) “The England of Marx and Mill as Reflected in Fiction,” by William O. Aydelotte, The Journal of Economic History > Vol. 8, Supplement: The Tasks of Economic History (1948), pp. 42-58 http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0022-0507%281948%298%3C42%3ATEOMAM%3E2.0.CO%3B2-6
d. Orwell, Down and Out (1933)
i. Complete etext (for ease of cut-and-paste quotes; I still need a page number from your edition) [this is from a russian website] http://www.orwell.ru/library/novels/Down_and_Out_in_Paris_and_London/english/e_dopl
ii. East End, Mile End, Limehouse, Geffrye, Spitalfield
iii. Times (London) Digital Archive (Info trac online from Booth Library; Requires Library ID when used off-campus) full-text articles, editorials and advertising. (1785-1985) {Recommended: but note that if you do a search, the answer appears down the page; for example, searching Limehouse between 1923 and 1936 retrieves 35 articles, but you have to scroll down and then click on the 35 for them to appear; then click on article (or page) for the pdf to appear.}
iv. Mass-Observation. Doing the Lambeth Walk (EIU, Booth Library, eReserves, MO was very important in collecting material on everyday life from the 1930s to 1950s http://www.massobs.org.uk/index.htm and this article suggests working poor as opposed to the
v. Articles from History Today (a popular, illustrated, reputable journal available online from Booth Library, EBSCO Host)
(1) “Down but not out,” review essay on works on early 20th century poor, by Pat Thane, History Today; Dec96, Vol. 46 Issue 12, p54, 3/4p
(2) “Sweep Them off the Streets,” article on attitudes towards the poor in London, by John Marriott, History Today, Aug2000, Vol. 50 Issue 8, p26, 3p, 1b
(3) “Retrieved riches: Charles Booth's Life and Labour of the People in London,” on a work published in 1903, by Rosemary O'Day, History Today; Apr89, Vol. 39 Issue 4, p29-35, 7p, 5 illustrations, 1 map, 9bw
vi. Articles available online from Jstor, Booth Library
(1) “Social Class and Social Observation in Edwardian England,” by R. I. McKibbin, Transactions of the Royal Historical Society > 5th Ser., Vol. 28 (1978), pp. 175-199 http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0080-4401%281978%295%3A28%3C175%3ASCASOI%3E2.0.CO%3B2-L

Readings for British Rulers & British Ruled since 1700

1. David Cannadine, The Rise and Fall of Class in Britain, introduction (by 5 June), ch. 1 on 18th c. (by 6 June), ch. 3 on 19th c. (by 21 June), ch. 4 on 20th c. (by 28 June)
2. Daniel Defoe, Moll Flanders, there are no chapters but from her birth in Newgate Prison, to be taken by gypsies to Colchester, Essex, and then the countryside near Colchester, a perhaps too long part of the book, to London where she meets her gentleman-tradesman (by 5 June), to Oxford, to the Mint (part of London where insolvent debtors hide), to Redriff (Rotherhithe) near London, then to Virginia (York River), before returning to Milford Haven, London again (by 11 June), Bristol, Bath (we will return to this on our Bath week), Gloucester, Reading, Hammersmith, London (Bloomsbury, the Bank), Lancashire (Warrington to Liverpool), Chester (Black Rock), Dunstable (within 30 miles of London), London (St. Jone's near Clerkenwell), to end (by 13 June)
3. Celia Fiennes, “The North Journey and the Tour of Kent (1697),” part (e-Reserves, by 6 June).
4. Bruce Feiler, “Prologue: Coming Up,” part; & “Matriculating: Town and Gown,” part (e-Reserves, by 11 June).
5. Jane Austen, Persuasion (by 18 June)
6. Alexis de Tocqueville, “Journey to England (1835)” (e-Reserves, by 25 June).
7. Charles Dickens, Hard Times (by 25 June)
8. Mass-Observation, “Doing the Lambeth Walk” (e-Reserves, by 28 June).
9. George Orwell, Down and Out in Paris and London, esp. London part (by 28 June)
10. John Lydon, Segments 01-03 from Rotten (e-Reserves, by 4 July).

pre-departure query three (Cannadine, "The Eighteenth Century")

The third of the four pre-departure questions refers to Cannadine, "The Eighteenth Century: Class Without Class Struggle." Cannadine's title is an inversion of E. P. Thompson's view of the 18th-century (the long eighteenth century dates from the Glorious Revolution, 1688-89 to the Great Reform Act of 1832; in Cannadine's version, it dates to 1776). But in this chapter (as in most of his chapters) he notes that there are 3 models at play of what English and British society looked like (both then and by historians now):

• a two-class, polarized model ("us" versus "them," "rich" vs. "poor," "patricians" vs. "plebeians");
  
• a three-layer model (elite-middle-lower; "landowning sort," "middling sort," "labouring sort");
  
• and a hiearchical, layered, continuous chain model (from a Great Chain of Being in which people are ranked between and even within a myriad of stations). (Cannadine introduces them in the opposite order.)
  

Your job is to come up with an understanding of which model William Hogarth used and which group or rank or class he valued most. (The following picture is The Four Times of Day Plate I, Morning, 1738; the church the one woman appears to be going to is still in Covent Garden; there also appear to be a number of drunks--in the morning?)

I ask you to look at Hogarth

1. because his paintings and engravings are easily available on the web; and
   
2. because Cannadine does not give you too many examples of what happened within the 18th century (and I certainly don't expect that you all have had a class on 18th-Century Britain).
   

Cannadine is correct to note that England was one of the most urbanized countries in 18th-century Europe: London housed perhaps 10% of the English. But, compared to 19th and 20th century Britain, this was a rural, agricultural country. And landed values remained dominant. "A nobleman, a gentleman, a yeoman; the distinction of these, that is a good interst of the nation, and a great one!": thus said, Oliver Cromwell in a speech in 1654. His 18th-century descendants would understand the values embraced in that. One distinction that Cannadine does not make much of is the contemporary distinction between the landed interest (the gentry, the "acre-ostracracy"--to use the title of a 19th-century book) and the new, monied interest (the latter centered mainly in "the City"--London).

Again, the assignment for this chapter is to read it, decipher what the three models of class are, then examine several paintings or engravings by Hogarth, and tell what model you think he is using in two of them, why you think this is the model, and which group he tends to support. Hogarth prints are available at:

• William Hogarth and 18th-Century Print Culture
• Web Gallery of Art
• William Hogarth--Gallery
  

pre-departure query two (alternative)

For the second of the four pre-departure questions (you should already have read, Cannadine, "Chapter One, Introduction: Beyond Class - Forward to Class?"), I have two options:

• Marx discusses class "in itself" and "for itself" (summarized in Rise and Fall of Class in Britain, 1999, pp. 2-4). What does Marx mean? Give two examples [either "in itself" and "for itself" from either history or private life; or either "in itself" or "for itself" from both history and private life, or....] of what he means. That is, can you describe an example from history that shows class "in itself" at work or as a factor, one from history that shows class "for itself," one from your own life or that of your family that shows class "in itself," or from your own life/family that shows class "for itself." Those drawn from British history would be nice, but not necessary.
  
• Alternately, Cannadine gives several reasons why historians have become less interested in class explanations since 1980. Explain three of them in your own words and then state which reason you find most compelling and why.
  

pre-departure query two (on Cannadine, Introduction)

For the second of the four pre-departure questions (you should already have read, Cannadine, "Chapter One, Introduction: Beyond Class - Forward to Class?"), I am basically repeating one I made last year about Marx's concepts of class "in itself" and "for itself" (summarized in Rise and Fall of Class in Britain, 1999, pp. 2-4). What does Marx mean? Give two examples [either "in itself" and "for itself" from either history or private life; or either "in itself" or "for itself" from both history and private life, or....] of what he means. That is, can you describe an example from history that shows class "in itself" at work or as a factor, one from history that shows class "for itself," one from your own life or that of your family that shows class "in itself," or from your own life/family that shows class "for itself." Those drawn from British history would be nice, but not necessary. Finally, why do you think historians have become less interested in class explanations since 1980?

• This is the first one so I'll start. In history, I might give the example of the sans culottes in the French Revolution. The sans culottes were a group of artisans and small shopkeepers who became briefly influential in the revolution in Paris, during the radical phase, 1792-94. They demanded fixed prices which helped them compete and able to earn a living. Because many of them were of this one social level (lower bourgeoisie?), they (or many of them) were objetively a class "in itself." But they also defined themselves as the sans culottes (or, "without breaches") which means that they saw themselves as without breaches and fine stockings which were the clothes of the nobility. This class consciousness meant they were to some extent a class "for itself."
  
• In my own life, my father was a junior officer when I was young, so we lived in fairly small houses. But not only did he save his money a rise through the ranks, he inherited a small ranch and stocks. So, even though I did not attend private prep schools, it was unsuprising that I attended and succeeded at a fairly elite college. Shorthand, I was from upper, or lower upper, middle class "in itself," and so my college career reflected that. As far as class "for itself," while in London in the mid-70s living with my parents, I adopted the phrase "ta" (meaning, "thank you, very much"). A British friend of my father's told him that I probably shouldn't use that slang as it was very lower class ("'kyou," pronounced "kew," was probably a bit more elevated). My father's friend, then, seems to have been aware of his class "for itself."

OK, you aren't going to want to go on at that length (and I haven't answered the question of why I think there is a decline in interest in class), but that is the sort of thing I am looking for.