Boats, Bikinis, and Brittle Paper

[CathyCA]

I have been biting my tongue for some time, and this is not going to come across kindly, but the thing about pictures of scantily-clad women stopped being funny quite a while ago.
I included the bit about bikinis solely in pursuit of an alliterative title to the thread. While I am enjoying the sight of bikini-clad women in my spare time, it has nothing to do with my work (I really didn't anticipate having to explain this).
This thread was meant as a means of sharing something about which I care very deeply, and as a way of demonstrating (like Lavabe) why I do what I do. If you're only interested in women in their swimsuits, then there are plenty of avenues here to discuss that sort of thing. Hell, I'm interested in that too, and will jump in on the discussion, but not here. If you're not interested in my work, that's fine, but please offer your comments in some other thread.

Putting on my mom hat here:

You named the thread. You knew your audience when you did so. Are you really that surprised at their reactions?

[wilson]

I have been biting my tongue for some time, and this is not going to come across kindly, but the thing about pictures of scantily-clad women stopped being funny quite a while ago.
I included the bit about bikinis solely in pursuit of an alliterative title to the thread. While I am enjoying the sight of bikini-clad women in my spare time, it has nothing to do with my work (I really didn't anticipate having to explain this).
This thread was meant as a means of sharing something about which I care very deeply, and as a way of demonstrating (like Lavabe) why I do what I do. If you're only interested in women in their swimsuits, then there are plenty of avenues here to discuss that sort of thing. Hell, I'm interested in that too, and will jump in on the discussion, but not here. If you're not interested in my work, that's fine, but please offer your comments in some other thread.

Putting on my mom hat here:

You named the thread. You knew your audience when you did so. Are you really that surprised at their reactions?

Frankly, yes. I kind of am. See my comment above re: alliterative titles. Would have thought this crowd would pick up on that.

[OZZIE4DUKE]

I have been biting my tongue for some time, and this is not going to come across kindly, but the thing about pictures of scantily-clad women stopped being funny quite a while ago.
I included the bit about bikinis solely in pursuit of an alliterative title to the thread. While I am enjoying the sight of bikini-clad women in my spare time, it has nothing to do with my work (I really didn't anticipate having to explain this).
This thread was meant as a means of sharing something about which I care very deeply, and as a way of demonstrating (like Lavabe) why I do what I do. If you're only interested in women in their swimsuits, then there are plenty of avenues here to discuss that sort of thing. Hell, I'm interested in that too, and will jump in on the discussion, but not here. If you're not interested in my work, that's fine, but please offer your comments in some other thread.

Putting on my mom hat here:

You named the thread. You knew your audience when you did so. Are you really that surprised at their reactions?

Frankly, yes. I kind of am. See my comment above re: alliterative titles. Would have thought this crowd would pick up on that.

I/we picked up your fumble and ran with it. Sorry to upset you. I'll stop now. But if you'd just post some dang beachbikinibabe pictures ...

[devildeac]

You are correct. If he was a TRUE pirate, he would be pillaging and plundering. There will be NO direct mention of the typical intro to that phrase...[/quote]
I have been biting my tongue for some time, and this is not going to come across kindly, but the thing about pictures of scantily-clad women stopped being funny quite a while ago.
I included the bit about bikinis solely in pursuit of an alliterative title to the thread. While I am enjoying the sight of bikini-clad women in my spare time, it has nothing to do with my work (I really didn't anticipate having to explain this).
This thread was meant as a means of sharing something about which I care very deeply, and as a way of demonstrating (like Lavabe) why I do what I do. If you're only interested in women in their swimsuits, then there are plenty of avenues here to discuss that sort of thing. Hell, I'm interested in that too, and will jump in on the discussion, but not here. If you're not interested in my work, that's fine, but please offer your comments in some other thread.[/quote]

Oops. Sorry. Seriously. My apologies. No kidding. No smilies.

I have been reading about your trip/work in Charleston and have been fascinated so far. We've been there several times over the last decade and were most interested as we took the self-guided historical tour along the Battery about 3 years ago. Great stuff.

[rockymtn devil]

OK, this is hilarious. I'm sitting here with an account sheet showing balances between a Bristol merchant and a Charleston client, dated 1741. It includes entries for upholstery, the sales of some sundries in Bristol, and lottery tickets. Yes, lottery tickets. 15 pounds' worth. Folks, 15 pounds was a lot of money in 1741. Methinks old Thomas Eveleigh was a degenerate of sorts.
But the funniest bit on the sheet was a little shred of marginalia jotted all the way at the bottom. The following is a verbatim transcription:

Is poor Fido still alive, how does he do
Tell all the house and field people [this is a really sanitized way of saying slaves] howdy.

I really hope "poor Fido" pulled through whatever misfortune he had met with, and that he enjoyed a long and happy life.

What was the 18th Century lottery like? Is lottery something that has undergone drastic changes (beyond, obviously, inflationary changes) over the last 300+ years?

And, given your baseball allegiances, are you as bored as I am waiting out this rain delay?

[colchar]

Spellings are also, um, interesting. It's totally normal to encounter the same word (or name) spelled about 5 different ways in the same document.
Syntax can also be a challenge. Some things are basically two pages of a run-on sentence...no paragraph divisions, no periods, very few commas or other punctuation.

Are you finding it difficult to decipher the handwriting? I'm a modernist and I sometimes still have trouble deciphering the marginalia in official documents from the 1945-1970 period. I can't imagine having to read handwriting from your era - the combination of syntax and penmanship must make it quite a chore. Did you take a course to help you with this before embarking on your research trip? A friend of mine did so before joining us in London last year. Then again, she is an early modernist so I expect that the handwriting she was looking at would be much worse than the stuff you are reading.

[colchar]

I have been biting my tongue for some time, and this is not going to come across kindly, but the thing about pictures of scantily-clad women stopped being funny quite a while ago.
I included the bit about bikinis solely in pursuit of an alliterative title to the thread. While I am enjoying the sight of bikini-clad women in my spare time, it has nothing to do with my work (I really didn't anticipate having to explain this).
This thread was meant as a means of sharing something about which I care very deeply, and as a way of demonstrating (like Lavabe) why I do what I do. If you're only interested in women in their swimsuits, then there are plenty of avenues here to discuss that sort of thing. Hell, I'm interested in that too, and will jump in on the discussion, but not here. If you're not interested in my work, that's fine, but please offer your comments in some other thread.

Some of us are interested in the research (had this place existed last summer I would've posted a thread about my research in London). Actually, I'm even more interested in the research process itself than I am in the topic (although that is also interesting). Then again, you'd probably expect that of a fellow historian.

[wilson]

Oops. Sorry. Seriously. My apologies. No kidding. No smilies.

I have been reading about your trip/work in Charleston and have been fascinated so far. We've been there several times over the last decade and were most interested as we took the self-guided historical tour along the Battery about 3 years ago. Great stuff.

No worries guys; I'm not really upset. It's just that the joke had been run into the ground. Thanks for being penitent, and for taking an interest in my research.

What was the 18th Century lottery like? Is lottery something that has undergone drastic changes (beyond, obviously, inflationary changes) over the last 300+ years?

And, given your baseball allegiances, are you as bored as I am waiting out this rain delay?

I really dunno how the lottery worked back then, though I suspect it was more or less the same. As for the rain delay, it didn't bother me too much. I had actually been invited to Kiawah Island for the day/evening with a good friend from Duke. We entertained ourselves during the delay with cocktails and the ten-foot alligator just steps off the back deck.

Are you finding it difficult to decipher the handwriting? I'm a modernist and I sometimes still have trouble deciphering the marginalia in official documents from the 1945-1970 period. I can't imagine having to read handwriting from your era - the combination of syntax and penmanship must make it quite a chore. Did you take a course to help you with this before embarking on your research trip? A friend of mine did so before joining us in London last year. Then again, she is an early modernist so I expect that the handwriting she was looking at would be much worse than the stuff you are reading.

The handwriting is very difficult, especially when we're dealing with stuff that may or may not have held up very well over the years. I'm in a decent rhythm with it, and haven't yet really been stumped on anything, though there are times when a) it's really slow, difficult going and/or b) I just have to throw my hands up and confess that I have no idea what a given word (or smudge, as the case may be) is. I did not take a class for this before I came, so I'm learning on the fly, but it really hasn't been much of a problem.

[colchar]

Being forced to read through the material while in the archives might be rather time consuming but it will benefit you later on. I copied everything with a digital camera and therefore didn't really read anything - I skimmed materials and nothing more. You, however, will be far more familiar with your sources coming out of the archives than I was. Because of this, when you sit down to plan out the project in more detail, you will be much further ahead than I was. I came back with 18,000+ images and still haven't read through all of them. You, on the other hand, will have a far greater familiarity with your sources which will be of great benefit to you. I envy you that.

I was wondering if you are familiar with the historiography related to the British empire's effects on Britain? I'm thinking of works such as Jonathan Schneer’s London 1900: The Imperial Metropolis, Andrew Thompson’s The Empire Strikes Back?, and Bernard Porter’s The Absent-Minded Imperialists: Empire, Society and Culture in Britain. If you are familiar with the relevant historiographical debate(s) I've got a couple of questions that would tie these in with your specific research.

[wilson]

Being forced to read through the material while in the archives might be rather time consuming but it will benefit you later on. I copied everything with a digital camera and therefore didn't really read anything - I skimmed materials and nothing more. You, however, will be far more familiar with your sources coming out of the archives than I was. Because of this, when you sit down to plan out the project in more detail, you will be much further ahead than I was. I came back with 18,000+ images and still haven't read through all of them. You, on the other hand, will have a far greater familiarity with your sources which will be of great benefit to you. I envy you that.

I was wondering if you are familiar with the historiography related to the British empire's effects on Britain? I'm thinking of works such as Jonathan Schneer’s London 1900: The Imperial Metropolis, Andrew Thompson’s The Empire Strikes Back?, and Bernard Porter’s The Absent-Minded Imperialists: Empire, Society and Culture in Britain. If you are familiar with the relevant historiographical debate(s) I've got a couple of questions that would tie these in with your specific research.

The above thought has definitely occurred to me with regard to my sources. Being really immersed in it all is really helpful, and slowly but surely reveals a nice, comprehensive mental image of the story I'm trying to tell.
As for those books, they're situated a bit later than most of the material I know best, but I'm definitely interested in the idea of the empire's effect on the homeland. For instance, David Hancock's Citizens of the World, about the transformative social and economic effects of London's eighteenth-century merchant class, has been a big influence on me. PM me and let's talk more.

[colchar]

The above thought has definitely occurred to me with regard to my sources. Being really immersed in it all is really helpful, and slowly but surely reveals a nice, comprehensive mental image of the story I'm trying to tell.

Must be nice! I am still trying to piece my narrative together

As for those books, they're situated a bit later than most of the material I know best, but I'm definitely interested in the idea of the empire's effect on the homeland. For instance, David Hancock's Citizens of the World, about the transformative social and economic effects of London's eighteenth-century merchant class, has been a big influence on me. PM me and let's talk more.

I knew the monographs I mentioned were situated after your era of expertise but mentioned them anyway as they (particularly Thompson and Porter) are some of the better known works in the field and I thought you might have heard of them even if you weren't familiar with the rest of the historiography. I have a BBQ and some Sunday afternoon drinking to take care of but I'll pop you a PM as soon as I get the chance.

[wilson]

I left early today. I had a Eureka moment of sorts, and generally when that occurs, it's best for me to put whatever I'm doing aside for a little while and just let things marinate for a little while.
The embryo of my true dissertation project arrived in today's moment. The very short version is that it is gradually occurring to me that merchants were the community around which the rest of 18th-century Charleston pivoted. They served as the social, economic, and financial center of the web, as it were. As such, a portrait of that community should provide insight into goings on in numerous other communities.
This is not a departure from my original plan at all; if anything, it's just further crystallization thereof. Even if it doesn't sound like progress in this very short version, though, something just happened in my brain this morning. This is a terribly nebulous way of trying to impart what I mean here, but I suspect that colchar and Lavabe (and probably a bunch of the rest of you) can attest to what I'm talking about.
It's incredibly exciting and gratifying to have one of these moments, and also pretty nice to know that "letting it marinate" is part of the whole game, that I'm not losing time here at all. A profession that requires such large amounts of ruminating on one's ideas very much agrees with me.
More as things continue to take shape.

[TillyGalore]

I left early today. I had a Eureka moment of sorts, and generally when that occurs, it's best for me to put whatever I'm doing aside for a little while and just let things marinate for a little while.
The embryo of my true dissertation project arrived in today's moment. The very short version is that it is gradually occurring to me that merchants were the community around which the rest of 18th-century Charleston pivoted. They served as the social, economic, and financial center of the web, as it were. As such, a portrait of that community should provide insight into goings on in numerous other communities.
This is not a departure from my original plan at all; if anything, it's just further crystallization thereof. Even if it doesn't sound like progress in this very short version, though, something just happened in my brain this morning. This is a terribly nebulous way of trying to impart what I mean here, but I suspect that colchar and Lavabe (and probably a bunch of the rest of you) can attest to what I'm talking about.
It's incredibly exciting and gratifying to have one of these moments, and also pretty nice to know that "letting it marinate" is part of the whole game, that I'm not losing time here at all. A profession that requires such large amounts of ruminating on one's ideas very much agrees with me.
More as things continue to take shape.

When you say you're going to let things marinate, will you write down thoughts on where you want to go in terms of research, will you draw up an outline, or will you just think more about you're Eureka moment and formulate things in your brain?

[wilson]

When you say you're going to let things marinate, will you write down thoughts on where you want to go in terms of research, will you draw up an outline, or will you just think more about you're Eureka moment and formulate things in your brain?

All of the above. Whenever one of these thunderbolts arrives, I jot down as much as I can or want to about it. This morning, I was sitting right in front of my computer, so I just typed up about 15 bullet points regarding this latest inspiration. Later, I'll go back to it and use it as inspiration for a broader framework for my dissertation (or at least a portion thereof).
I will also make a point of just keeping these thoughts in the back of my mind and letting more ideas emerge as they may. I'll definitely get out into the city on another couple of my big, long walks and seek that kind of inspiration in the next few days.

[TillyGalore]

When you say you're going to let things marinate, will you write down thoughts on where you want to go in terms of research, will you draw up an outline, or will you just think more about you're Eureka moment and formulate things in your brain?

All of the above. Whenever one of these thunderbolts arrives, I jot down as much as I can or want to about it. This morning, I was sitting right in front of my computer, so I just typed up about 15 bullet points regarding this latest inspiration. Later, I'll go back to it and use it as inspiration for a broader framework for my dissertation (or at least a portion thereof).
I will also make a point of just keeping these thoughts in the back of my mind and letting more ideas emerge as they may. I'll definitely get out into the city on another couple of my big, long walks and seek that kind of inspiration in the next few days.

I never thought I'd say this, or write, but I envy both you and Lavabe and your research. I am intrigued by both topics. I love this thread, and Lavabe's, as I can live vicariously through you.

[CathyCA]

I left early today. I had a Eureka moment of sorts, and generally when that occurs, it's best for me to put whatever I'm doing aside for a little while and just let things marinate for a little while.
The embryo of my true dissertation project arrived in today's moment. The very short version is that it is gradually occurring to me that merchants were the community around which the rest of 18th-century Charleston pivoted. They served as the social, economic, and financial center of the web, as it were. As such, a portrait of that community should provide insight into goings on in numerous other communities.
This is not a departure from my original plan at all; if anything, it's just further crystallization thereof. Even if it doesn't sound like progress in this very short version, though, something just happened in my brain this morning. This is a terribly nebulous way of trying to impart what I mean here, but I suspect that colchar and Lavabe (and probably a bunch of the rest of you) can attest to what I'm talking about.
It's incredibly exciting and gratifying to have one of these moments, and also pretty nice to know that "letting it marinate" is part of the whole game, that I'm not losing time here at all. A profession that requires such large amounts of ruminating on one's ideas very much agrees with me.
More as things continue to take shape.

I love those Eureka moments! Mine usually occur in morning in the shower after I've spent the previous evening working on a problem. As soon as I step in the shower and the warm water relaxes me--BINGO! The solution to the problem crystallizes and I emerge from the shower energized and ready to face the day. You wouldn't believe how many things I've worked out for my clients (or my PTA when I served as PTA President) in the shower over the past 25 years.

Congratulations!

And, I don't know a thing about your research, other than what you've told us, but it does make sense that the merchants are the center of that community. Money does make the world go 'round!

[DevilAlumna]

All of the above. Whenever one of these thunderbolts arrives, I jot down as much as I can or want to about it. This morning, I was sitting right in front of my computer, so I just typed up about 15 bullet points regarding this latest inspiration. Later, I'll go back to it and use it as inspiration for a broader framework for my dissertation (or at least a portion thereof).
I will also make a point of just keeping these thoughts in the back of my mind and letting more ideas emerge as they may. I'll definitely get out into the city on another couple of my big, long walks and seek that kind of inspiration in the next few days.

How exciting for you!

Do you listen to music on your walks, or absorb the sounds around you? If the former, may I suggest some Debussy? I have found his music to be good for letting your thoughts meander then converge, especially Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune (Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun.)

[wilson]

How exciting for you!

Do you listen to music on your walks, or absorb the sounds around you? If the former, may I suggest some Debussy? I have found his music to be good for letting your thoughts meander then converge, especially Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune (Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun.)

Normally, I just walk and listen to the rhythm of the city. I really appreciate the above recommendation, though; while I really enjoy classical music, I don't know the first thing about it, and I often just don't know where to start. I'll definitely give it a shot.

[colchar]

When you say you're going to let things marinate, will you write down thoughts on where you want to go in terms of research, will you draw up an outline, or will you just think more about you're Eureka moment and formulate things in your brain?

All of the above. Whenever one of these thunderbolts arrives, I jot down as much as I can or want to about it. This morning, I was sitting right in front of my computer, so I just typed up about 15 bullet points regarding this latest inspiration. Later, I'll go back to it and use it as inspiration for a broader framework for my dissertation (or at least a portion thereof).
I will also make a point of just keeping these thoughts in the back of my mind and letting more ideas emerge as they may. I'll definitely get out into the city on another couple of my big, long walks and seek that kind of inspiration in the next few days.

I'll comment on your previous post later this evening (and will also PM you about the stuff we mentioned earlier in this thread) but just wanted to add a recommendation here. I highly recommend grabbing a digital recorder. This doesn't have to be anything elaborate or expensive as a nice cheap one works just as well. But I recommend having one and keeping it with you as often as possible so that you can capture things as soon as they pop into your head. This is primarily of use when writing up your dissertation because, in my experience, the perfect way to say something always pops into my head when I am nowhere near a computer. With the recorder I can get the thought down before I lose it. This could also be beneficial at this stage in your project as it will enable you capture eureka-type moments even if you aren't around a computer or pen and paper.

[OZZIE4DUKE]

I highly recommend grabbing a digital recorder. This doesn't have to be anything elaborate or expensive as a nice cheap one works just as well.

It is quite likely that your cell phone will serve this purpose without a new purchase. That way you can use the saved money on a camera...