Notebook of Tristram Gilman, 1757-1761

The small volume holds the notebook of Tristram Gilman interleaved on unlined pages in a printed engagement calendar. The original leather cover accompanies the notebook, but is no longer attached. The inside covers of the original leather binding are filled with scribbled words and notes. The volume holds a variety of handwritten notes including account information, transcriptions of biblical passages and related observations, travel information, community news, weather, and astronomy. The volumes does not follow a chronological order, and instead seems to have been repurposed at various times.

Description of a College Chamber (manuscript copy), ca. 1744

This humorous, rhyming poem appears to have been co-authored by Thomas Handcock of Massachusetts and Richard Waterman of Warwick, Rhode Island. The document is also signed by Catharine Waterman. Neither of the authors attended Harvard College, and the circumstances of this poem's creation are not known. The poem suggests that they composed the poem while visiting - uninvited - the room of "honest Bob." The poem describes the contents of this college chamber, including the following items: an oak table with a broken leg; paper, a pen, and sand for writing; books, including "Scotch songs," philosophy, Euclid, a book of prayer, Tillotson, and French romances; pipes and tobacco; mugs; a broken violin; copperplate and mezzotint prints; a cat; clothes; two globes; a pair of bellows; a broom; a chamber pot; a candle in a bottle; tea; cups and saucers; a letter to Chloe, to whom the room's inhabitant apparently owed money; a powder horn; a fishing net; a rusty gun; a battledore; a shuttlecock; a cannister; a pair of shoes; and a coffee mill. The poem references events related to the War of Austrian Succession (1740-1748); British Vice Admiral Edward Vernon's siege of Portobello (in present-day Panama) in 1739; the "Rushian War" (perhaps the Russo-Swedish War of 1741-1743); and the War of Jenkins' Ear (the cat in the college chamber, like British Captain Robert Jenkins, has lost an ear).

Diary of Henry Flynt, 1723-1747

This diary, effectively a commonplace book, documents Flynt's daily activities and personal reflections from 1723 to 1747. Many entries concern his dealings with family members, business associates, acquaintances, ministers, and political officials. The diary includes a list of books Flynt loaned to others from 1723 to 1743 and detailed financial entries from 1724 to 1747. These entries provide information about the costs of goods and services, as well as Flynt's consumption habits; they detail where he traveled, what he ate and drank (including, apparently, many pounds of almonds), what he read, and many other aspects of daily life. The diary also contains entries related to Flynt's land holdings and other investments, as well as copies of meeting minutes from several sessions of the Harvard Board of Overseers.

Mid-Century Molecular: The Material Culture of X-ray Crystallographic Visualisation across Postwar British Science and Industrial Design

This thesis investigates the use and significance of X-ray crystallographic visualisations of molecular structures in postwar British material culture across scientific practice and industrial design. It is based on research into artefacts from three areas: X-ray crystallographers’ postwar practices of visualising molecular structures using models and diagrams; the Festival Pattern Group scheme for the 1951 Festival of Britain, in which crystallographic visualisations formed the aesthetic basis of patterns for domestic objects; and postwar furnishings with a ‘ball-and-rod’ form and construction reminiscent of those of molecular models. A key component of the project is methodological. The research brings together subjects, themes and questions traditionally covered separately by two disciplines, the history of design and history of science. This focus necessitated developing an interdisciplinary set of methods, which results in the reassessment of disciplinary borders and productive cross-disciplinary methodological applications. This thesis also identifies new territory for shared methods: it employs network models to examine cross-disciplinary interaction between practitioners in crystallography and design, and a biographical approach to designed objects that over time became mediators of historical narratives about science. Artefact-based, archival and oral interviewing methods illuminate the production, use and circulation of the objects examined in this research. This interdisciplinary approach underpins the generation of new historical narratives in this thesis. It revises existing histories of the cultural transmissions between X-ray crystallography and the production and reception of designed objects in postwar Britain. I argue that these transmissions were more complex than has been acknowledged by historians: they were contingent upon postwar scientific and design practices, material conditions in postwar Britain and the dynamics of historical memory, both scholarly and popular. This thesis comprises four chapters. Chapter one explores X-ray crystallographers’ visualisation practices, conceived here as a form of craft. Chapter two builds on this, demonstrating that the Festival Pattern Group witnesses the encounter between crystallographic practice, design practice and aesthetic ideologies operating within social networks associated with postwar modernisms. Chapters three and four focus on ball-and-rod furnishings in postwar and present-day Britain, respectively. I contend that strong relationships between these designed objects and crystallographic visualisations, for example the appellation ‘atomic design’, have been largely realised through historical narratives active today in the consumption of ‘retro’ and ‘mid-century modern’ artefacts. The attention to contemporary historical narratives necessitates this dual historical focus: the research is rooted in the period from the end of the Second World War until the early 1960s, but extends to the history of now. This thesis responds to the need for practical research on methods for studying cross-disciplinary interactions and their histories. It reveals the effects of submitting historical subjects that are situated on disciplinary boundaries to interdisciplinary interpretation. Old models, such as that of unidirectional ‘influence’, subside and the resulting picture is a refracted one: this study demonstrates that the material form and meaning of crystallographic visualisations, within scientific practice and across their use and echoes in designed objects, are multiple and contingent.

Re-fitting Etton: space, time and material culture within a causewayed enclosure in Cambridgeshire

This paper considers the dynamics of deposition around and across the causewayed enclosure at Etton, Cambridgeshire. As a result of detailed re-analysis (particularly refitting) of the pottery and flint assemblages from the site, it proved possible to shed new light both on the temporality of occupation and the character of deposition there. Certain aspects of our work challenge previous interpretations of the site, and of causewayed enclosures in general; but, just as importantly, others confirm materially what has previously been suggested. The quantities of material deposited at Etton reveal that the enclosure was occupied only very intermittently and certainly less regularly than other contemporary sites in the region. The spatial distribution of material suggests that the enclosure ditch lay open for the entirety of the monument's life, but that acts of deposition generally focused on a specific part of the monument at any one time. As well as enhancing our knowledge of one particular causewayed enclosure, it is hoped that this paper – in combination with our earlier analysis of the pit site at Kilverstone – makes clear the potential that detailed material analysis has to offer in relation to our understanding of the temporality of occupation on prehistoric sites in general.

LAGOA SANTA REVISITED: AN OVERVIEW OF THE CHRONOLOGY, SUBSISTENCE, AND MATERIAL CULTURE OF PALEOINDIAN SITES IN EASTERN CENTRAL BRAZIL

Lagoa Santa, a karstic area in eastern Central Brazil, has been subject to research on human paleontology and archaeology for 175 years. Almost 300 Paleoindian human skeletons have been found since Danish naturalist Peter Lund's pioneering work. Even so, some critical issues such as the role of rockshelters in settlement systems, and the possible paleoclimatic implications of the peopling of the region have yet to be addressed. We present some results obtained from recent excavations at four rockshelters and two open-air sites, new dates for human Paleoindian skeletons, and a model to explain the cultural patterns observed so far. It is also argued that the Paleoindian subsistence system at Lagoa Santa was similar to other locations in South America: generalized small-game hunting complemented by fruits, seed, and root gathering.

A short view of the history of the New England colonies, with respect to their charters and constitution.

First edition, London, 1769, published under title: A short view of the history of the colony of Massachusetts Bay.

Historical sources in schools; report to the New England history teachers' association by a select committee,

Mode of access: Internet.

New-England judged, by the spirit of the Lord. In two parts. First, containing a brief relation of the sufferings of the people call'd Quakers in New England, from the time of their first arrival there, in the year 1656, to the year 1660 ... In answer to the declaration of their persecutors apologizing for the same, MDCLIX. Second part, being a farther relation of the cruel and bloody sufferings of the people call'd Quakers in New-England, continued from anno 1660, to anno 1665. Beginning with the sufferings of William Leddra, whom they put to death.

Microfilm. Ann Arbor, Mich., University Microfilms [n.d.] (American culture series, Reel 498.8)

These things are alive: relationships between material culture, communities, and archaeological legislation

This paper deals with the relationship between different sets of archaeological legislation, material culture and communities. First it presents a historical sketch of the heritage legislation in the West and its contemporary uses. Secondly, it shows how alternative archaeological agencies, such as community archaeology, deal with these problems. The discussion is especially relevant in Brazil, where contract archaeology is presently overwhelming, and the issue is raised in the last part of the paper.

Knightly Masculinity, Court Games and Material Culture in Late Medieval Portugal: The case of Constable Afonso (c. 1480–1504)

This article explores the ways in which gender was used in order to transform an exiled and uneducated illegitimate child into a prince. Our study revolves around a member of the royal family, Afonso (c.1480–1504), who was brought up in hiding by peasants and who later, as a teenager, was reincorporated into the court. We argue that the keys to this process of rehabilitation were, on one hand, family politics centred around different configurations and on the other, his introduction into a court environment marked by the ideals of chivalry. Within this dynamic, material culture played a key role, because it gave the prince all the visual attributes of his new status, as well as allowing him the means to create a new self. We shall briefly introduce Afonso and his family context in order to give an insight into his life within changing political and dynastic contexts. Then, we will analyse the expression of manhood in the Portuguese court, using the spectacles at the court as a basis for observation, thus relating gender to material culture in a courtly environment.

Building communities through co-creative storytelling : sound walking in New England

The Story Project is a small, not-for-profit community media arts company based on the Sunshine Coast hinterland. It specialises in facilitating first-person storytelling. Since 2012 The Story Project has been collaborating with a small community arts organisation based in northern NSW, Uralla Arts, to record local heritage in first-person story form and to curate and present it ways that will appeal to new generations of listeners. The initial collaboration was funded by a Federal government Community Heritage program. The project successfully adapted a participatory method of life storytelling to this regional context and some 40 stories were contributed to a collection. A more ambitious suite of projects to develop soundwalks in a number of towns across the New England region has since grown from this initial collaboration. The soundwalks seek to combine local creative works in oral story, music and visual forms, and make them accessible through an application that can be downloaded to GPS-enabled mobile devices. While soundwalks are not new, the needs and challenges of creative community-building that New England soundwalks attempt to solve in this regional setting hold value for a broader range of interests than just those of the immediate project stakeholders. This paper reports on a research collaboration between The Story Project and QUT researchers that looked at The Story Project’s engagement with Uralla Arts and other New England community-based networks and organisations. It considers how this instance of story-centred, participatory media arts practice contributes to building population-wide capacity for creative expression.