"No One Can Be Caught In Places He Does Not Visit"

 Or what to expect when visiting an 18th century coffee house or its 21st century recreation.

Mad Dog in a Coffeehouse, Thomas Rowlandson, 1809.

One cold day in December 1663, Samuel Pepys did what many men before him, and even more after him, would do; he went to the coffeehouse. He was greeted upon entering the central room of the Coffeehouse by a rotund yet energetic coffee man with an exclamation of “What news sir?” and the offer of a steaming dish of coffee, which Pepys took happily, adding just a bit of sugar to sweeten the bitter brew. From here he wound his way through the crowd to a heavy worn table which filled the center of the otherwise open room. Scattered across the wooden surface were various newspapers, a well-worn copy of the French play “Heraclius, Emperor of the East. A tragedy”, three flickering candles despite the daylight hour and, mixed among it all, dishes of coffee in every state of consumption. Surrounding the table Pepys found an assortment of men with whom he would share “very good discourse” some that he was well acquainted with, having shared conversations in the past, others that he had not yet met, a fact that did not limit their discussions in any way.

Among the coffeehouse patrons Pepys found the flamboyantly dressed “Secretary of the Virtuosi of Gresham College” with whom he would enjoy a “very fine discourse” concerning a newly invented instrument to be tried at the college the following day. Next his attention was drawn to a less academic but no less enthusiastic “discourse with an Iron Merchant” where Pepys discovered the difficulties experienced in that trade between the Swedes and English. A thin boy, no more than 12 years old scurried among the crowd, ensuring that the men's dishes of coffee remained well supplied. At the cost of only one penny a dish, the men were unlikely to complain about this constant attention, preferring instead to continually sip at the hot liquor without interrupting their adamant discussions.

The Discomfited Duellists, 1784.

From across the crowded room Pepys saw his good friend, taking his dish of coffee he left the iron merchant and crossed to “[sit] by Mr. Harrington, and some East country merchants” whom he found “talking of the country about Quinsborough” and “the manner of putting their nets into the water” during winter. Soon his attention was distracted by the vociferous argument at another table, as the patrons dispute the suggestion that “all the opinion now is that the Dutch will avoid fighting with us at home. . . ” Finally, Pepys found his acquaintance Mr. Harris, who he “was to meet” at the coffeehouse for business. The two eventually leave the coffeehouse but most certainly returned another time for the latest news, freshest advices and camaraderie of other gentlemen such as had been enjoyed that day.

Widow Black's Coffeehouse, 2012.

I can not promise that if you happen "to stroll into a little coffee-house", perhaps on the edge of a green field, the checkered floors & a lot hanging roof, that you will find such entertaining friends as Mr. Pepy's did, or the excitement that Mr. Rowlandson drew. However, I can promise a constant supply of the finest true English coffee, the freshest advices from around the colonies & indeed, across the seas. But most of all, I can promise an experience as true to that of the original English coffeehouses, an experience that no other reenactor or historian has attempted to duplicate purely for the enjoyment of their fellow reenactors. I look forward to seeing many of you at the Widow Black's Coffeehouse "this year", whether that is 1650, 1760 or 1812.

For more information on visiting the Widow Black's coffeehouse, the Widow's lecture schedule or to bring the coffeehouse to your event; Please Visit the Widow Black Coffeehouse on Facebook.

~~~
Works Cited

Chole White, Camaraderie of the Cup: The 18th century English coffeehouse & the development of an enlightened public sphere (2011). 

Thomas Rowlandson, Mad Dog in a Coffeehouse, 1809 (Museum of Fine Arts Boston).

Samuel Pepys, Mynors Bright, and Henry B. Wheatley, The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Transcribed by the Rev. Mynors Bright from the Shorthand Manuscript in the Pepysian Library at Magdalene College Cambridge Vol. 1 (New York: Heritage Press, 1942), 8 March, 1663/4.

Joseph Addison & Richard Steele, The Spectator, Volume 5 (Philadelphia: Robert Desilver, 1819).

“You will find it a very good practice always to verify your references, sir.”

A Guide to Proper Citations for Historic Bloggers.

It has been suggested recently that historic blogs should include proper citations of their research. The idea is to encourage good research techniques on the part of the writers, while also reassuring historic sites and museums that we writers respect their copyrighted property, be it a book, artifact or image.

While this is a great suggestion, which any of my regular readers will notice I've been practicing for several years, there is one glaring problem with the suggestion; the majority of bloggers don't have much, if any experience with proper citations! Frankly, unless you've spent years writing historic research or have been subjected to an anal retentive professor, most of us don't use citations in our daily lives. Adding to the problem are the sheer number of citation styles, from the more common Modern Language Association (MLA), American Physiological Association (APP), and Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS) systems, to the specialized and obscure Bluebook style used in Law, Modern Humanities Research Association (MHRA) common in the United Kingdom, and the Vancouver System suggested for scientific and mathematical research. You could spend nearly as much time deciding how to cite your sources as you did finding them in the first place. It's enough to make even a dedicated researcher run for the hills!

As a way to aid my other blogging friends and encourage more writers to share references, I offer this simple citation guide specifically geared towards historic bloggers. This guide follows Chicago Manual of Style's Author-Date system, since this is both an easy system to use and remember while not overwhelming the typically shorter articles found on historic blogs. The information included within the text also encourages readers to notice the reference and increases the spreading of these important details.

There are two parts to a proper citation using Author-Date style, the shorter in text portion and the bibliography or works cited at the end of the article.

Quotations and The In Text Citation

Following any quotation within the text of your post include the author, editor or artists last name, the year of publication or creation and the page number in parenthesis. “This is the easy part” (Black, 2011) of in text citations. Quotations should be worked into the text of the sentence as much as possible rather than left free floating. The exception to this is longer quotations which comprise several sentences or even a full paragraph. While they too can be incorporated into the text, it is often easier to separate them from the main body as a block quote. Most citation styles have suggestions for how and when to use block quotations based on number of words or lines.

“a hundred words or more – or at least eight lines – are set off as a block quotation.” (Chicago Manual of Style, 2003, 447)

Whether to use block quotations in a blog entry is really a personal choice. Ultimately, it is the effect of the quotation and how the information is presented to the readers that matters more than any arbitrary rule. When in doubt, develop your own style and maintain that pattern through out all blog posts. This makes reading an article easy to follow and can even make writing them easier.

The Bibliography or Works Cited

At the end of any post include the full reference for each quotation in the appropriate format for the type of work being referenced. References should be listed in alphabetical order, however in shorter blog posts order of inclusion can also be acceptable. This is where things get a little tricky, especially considering the types of objects and information being referenced by most historic bloggers. Following are a few of the most common citations and variations specifically geared to the types of objects and media frequently used in blogs.

Book with one or more authors or editors:
Last name, First name of first author or editor, First Name, Last name of subsequent authors or editors. Year. “Chapter of the Book if used”, Book Title in italics. City of Publication: Name of Publisher. Web link if published electronically.

Article from Magazines, Newspapers or Journals:
Last name, First name of first author, First Name, Last name of subsequent authors. Year. “Title of Article”, Magazine or Journal Title in italics, date of magazine or publication for newspapers, edition number for journals or magazines if available: all pages of the article referenced. Web link if published electronically.

Website:
Last Name, First Name of websites author or Website title or Owner of website. “Title of web page,” Link to site (date accessed, optional).

Painting or image especially those found in an online source:
Last Name, First Name of artist. Title of Art Work in italics, medium, date of piece. (Name of institution where piece is housed, city where housed). Link to where the image was found.

Item in a Museum or Historic Collection especially those from online sources:
I have not been able to find any information on how to document an extant example from a museum collection. The following is a suggested format based on the method used for paintings and other artistic pieces. However, if anyone knows the proper way to cite an extant piece in Chicago style, please let me know and I will update this guide.

Last Name, First Name of artist or creator if available. Title or description of piece in italics, medium, date of piece. (Name of institution where piece is housed, city where housed). Link to where the object was found.

Paper, speech or presentation given at a conference or event:
Last Name, First Name of presenter or speaker. Year presented. “Title of presentation, speech or paper.” Paper presented at the Name of organization or event, City, state presentation was given, Month and date of presentation.

Hints:
** Dictionaries are cited like books with authors or editors.
** Online database, such as The Old Bailey, are best cited as websites, including a link to the database main page.
** Google books are cited like books, with a link to the Google books page.
** Hyperlinks are nice but do not stay with an article if it is copied into another form. To maintain the connection between information and references, it's best to use written citations with links as a bonus.

I hope this quick guide will help other historic bloggers to use proper citations in their entries and encourage the continued sharing of resources, research and references. While not exhaustive, most of the basics have been covered and of course, if anyone wants to read more on proper citations, you can always look up all the references in the works cited.

***
Works cited:

"BibMe: Fast & Easy Bibliography Maker - MLA, APA, Chicago, Turabian - Free." BibMe: Fast & Easy Bibliography Maker - MLA, APA, Chicago, Turabian - Free. http://www.bibme.org/

Bonnor, Thomas. Junius. Etching, 1770. (Lewis Walpole Library, New Haven, Connecticut). http://images.library.yale.edu/walpoleweb/oneitem.asp?imageId=lwlpr02960

"Purdue OWL: Chicago Manual of Style 16th Edition ." Welcome to the Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL). http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/717/01/

"The Chicago Manual of Style Online: Chicago-Style Citation Quick Guide." The Chicago Manual of Style Online. http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html

"“There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out."

As many of you who follow this blog, or have at the chance to talk to me in person, may know, my particular bailiwick is the social history of women during the 18th century. I am also a lover of primary source research. What you might not know however is that I have a particular fondness for reading through old laws & statutes. I find a certain satisfaction in not only being able to say "here's how they did it" but in also being able to back that up with "because here's the law that says so."

For the past several years I have searched for one, very specific piece of information. Sometimes vigorously, sometimes half heartedly, yet I was always looking. I knew it was out there. I even knew the dates & location it was coming from, but I was never able to actually find what I wanted.

Wouldn't you know I found it the one time that I wasn't actively looking!

What exactly is this mythical "thing" that I've spent nearly 3 years hunting you might ask?

The 1717 Pennsylvania Act Concerning Feme Sole Traders (!)



The full text of the statute is included in The Legislative Reference Bureau of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's on-line archive which includes laws dating back to the beginning of Pennsylvania in 1682.

I can not even begin to express my excitement at finding this document. It's the perfect "final piece" to all the research I've gathered on feme sole traders in the era.

Hopefully at least some of you, my faithful blog readers & fellow history fanatics, will appreciate my joy!


***
works cited:

Sansom, Joseph. Silhouette of Mary Pleasants. c. 1800. Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia, PA.

An Act of February 22, 1717-18 (3 St.l. 157-59, Ch.227). "Pennsylvania Session Laws, Introduction to Statutes at Large." Pennsylvania Session Laws Homepage. N.p., n.d. Web. http://www.palrb.us/stlarge/index.php.

A life well spent brings happy death.

On cold, snowy days like today I frequently find myself enjoying one of my favorite pastimes; research.

Most recently I have been browsing the Farber Gravestone Collection, a fascinating database of nearly 9,000 gravestone images. What is even more interesting is that the majority of the database is of graves prior to 1800. Talk about an amazing resource!

Whether you're a genealogist looking for specific family names, a historian interested by the dates on the stones, an artists looking for inspiration or simply have a morbid fascination with graves there is sure to be something of interest within this amazing collection.


***
Works Cited:

Farber Gravestone Collection American Antiquarian Society. http://luna.davidrumsey.com:8280/luna/servlet/FBC~100~1 .

"A day well spent brings happy sleep, A life well spent brings happy death." Leonardo da Vinci. 1452-1519.

All the News That's Fit to Print

My current pet project for Black's Coffeehouse; newspapers.

18th Century coffeehouses were repositories of information, much of it in printed form, newspapers, broadsides, mail. True to that, I've been researching, reading, scanning, altering & printing historic newspapers for the visitors at Black's to enjoy. The initial response was exactly as I had hoped; people loved them. In fact, we did as I have read was done in period, we sat around in the coffeehouse reading bits out loud to each other (most still use the medial S, so the reader was frequently someone comfortable with the text), passing the pages back & forth, pointing out interesting advertisements & engaging in discussions about the news. They turned out to be the ideal fuel for first person interpretation and conversations.

I initially stared this research using the internet. The Virginia, Maryland & London Gazettes all host on-line archives of their historic papers. With a bit of Photoshop work & the industrial printer I was able to come up with several period approximate editions for the years our events revolve around. I have since focused on a single year for simplicity sake and because for all except one event we do, that year is appropriate.

However, those three papers were not enough to satisfy either Black's customers or myself. After all we taut that visitors can enjoy "the latest news from London & around the colonies". Through a bit of research and cross referencing I was able to make a small list of mid 18th century newspapers from New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Massachusetts as well as another imported paper from London. But most importantly, all of these papers are archived on microfiche and available through Inter Library Loan courtesy of the State Historical Society . All that remains now is some dedicated time with the computer aided microfiche machine, flash drive and photo editing program.

I simply can't express the enjoyment that I am getting from this project. I find the period articles to be endlessly educational, the advertisements to be a wonderful glimpse into day to day lives and being able to share so much authentic "history" with friends and the public, well it just brings me countless joy. I am seriously considering further research into these papers and the information they contain. It seems a shame to have them so easily accessible and not do something extensive with them.