35 Matching Annotations
  1. Nov 2023
    1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presentism_(historical_analysis)

      relationship with context collapse

      Presentism bias enters biblical and religious studies when, by way of context collapse, readers apply texts written thousands of years ago and applicable to one context to their own current context without any appreciation for the intervening changes. Many modern Christians (especially Protestants) show these patterns. There is an interesting irony here because Protestantism began as the Catholic church was reading too much into the Bible to create practices like indulgences.)

  2. Oct 2023
    1. Alter knows it ain’t Jesus.

      The colloquial use of the word "ain't" here very specifically pegs James Bruce, the author, as writing his argument for an audience of Christians in the Southern part of the United States. It's even more stark as most of his review is of a broadly scholarly nature where the word "ain't" or others of its register would never be used.

      How does the shift in translation really negate room for Jesus? If it was a truism that it stood for Jesus, then couldn't one just as simply re-translate the New Testament to make sure that the space for him is still there? Small shifts in meaning and translation shouldn't undermine the support for Jesus so easily as Bruce suggests, otherwise there are terrible problems with these underpinnings of Christianity.

      If one follows Bruce's general logic, then there's a hell of a religion based on Nostradamus' work we're all going out of our way to ignore.

      What would historical linguistics have to say about this translation?

  3. Aug 2023
    1. Science must find for every effect a single cause. The historian is rarely faced with the same requirement.Historians have the advantage of being able to live with explanatory ambiguity that would be unacceptable in science.
  4. Apr 2023
    1. 1881: Railroads [Statute] Railroad companies required to furnish separate cars for colored passengers who pay first-class rates. Cars to be kept in good repair, and subject to the same rules governing other first-class cars for preventing smoking and obscene language. Penalty: If companies fail to enforce the law required to pay a forfeit of $100, half to be paid to the person suing, the other half to be paid to the state’s school fund.

      Railroads/Transportation was a big thing as I am noticing a lot of laws were becoming effective in this time frame. Although the Jim Crow Laws were to promote segregation, this law at least ensured that colored people are recieving the services at the rate they are paying. They were able to sue companies if they were treated otherwise. The cars of the trains were to be in good condition and could not be different than the cars and services for white people.

    2. The State of Tennessee enacted 20 Jim Crow laws between 1866 and 1955

      Jim Crow Laws were set into place for years 1866-1955 in the state of Tennesee. These Jim Crow Laws were laws that outlawed miscegenation, transportaion and public accomodation of black people and white people. The 1869 Law stated that no person can be excluded from recieving an education from tne University of Tennesee due to race but mandated that black people receive the same education in a separate faciliity. These Jim Crow Laws in Tennesee would last until 1955.

    1. were almost wholly conducted by women;

      Fredrick Douglas observed that the convention was ran by mostly women. He says depsite the different opinions and view points, these women maintained good decorum. He says their proceedings were marked by ability and dignity. At this convention, he would see these women read grievances and other documents setting forth the rights for women.

    2. On July 19-20, 1848, 68 women and 32 men attended the First Women’s Rights Convention which was held in the upstate New York town of Seneca Falls

      When- July 19-20th, 1848 Who- 100 people (32males/68females) Fredrick Douglas attended and wrote his impressions about the convention in a newspaper. Article named, The North Star What- Very first womens rights conventions. Article : The North Star Where- NewYork, Seneca Falls.

    1. Fredrick Douglas was one of one hundred people who attended the very first womens rights conevention. Located in New York, Seneca Falls. Frederick Douglas is the author of the article, The North Star. Dated July 28th, 1848. Article is about

  5. Mar 2023
    1. Dass das ägyptische Wort p.t (sprich: pet) "Himmel" bedeutet, lernt jeder Ägyptologiestudent im ersten Semester. Die Belegsammlung im Archiv des Wörterbuches umfaßt ca. 6.000 Belegzettel. In der Ordnung dieses Materials erfährt man nun, dass der ägyptische Himmel Tore und Wege hat, Gewässer und Ufer, Seiten, Stützen und Kapellen. Damit wird greifbar, dass der Ägypter bei dem Wort "Himmel" an etwas vollkommen anderes dachte als der moderne westliche Mensch, an einen mythischen Raum nämlich, in dem Götter und Totengeister weilen. In der lexikographischen Auswertung eines so umfassenden Materials geht es also um weit mehr als darum, die Grundbedeutung eines banalen Wortes zu ermitteln. Hier entfaltet sich ein Ausschnitt des ägyptischen Weltbildes in seinem Reichtum und in seiner Fremdheit; und naturgemäß sind es gerade die häufigen Wörter, die Schlüsselbegriffe der pharaonischen Kultur bezeichnen. Das verbreitete Mißverständnis, das Häufige sei uninteressant, stellt die Dinge also gerade auf den Kopf.

      Google translation:

      Every Egyptology student learns in their first semester that the Egyptian word pt (pronounced pet) means "heaven". The collection of documents in the dictionary archive comprises around 6,000 document slips. In the order of this material one learns that the Egyptian heaven has gates and ways, waters and banks, sides, pillars and chapels. This makes it tangible that the Egyptians had something completely different in mind when they heard the word "heaven" than modern Westerners do, namely a mythical space in which gods and spirits of the dead dwell.

      This is a fantastic example of context creation for a dead language as well as for creating proper historical context.

  6. Jan 2023
    1. Another problem arises from the very nature of documentary material astexts not written for posterity. When reading Geniza letters, one is often in theposition of an uninvited guest at a social event, that is, someone who is unfa-miliar with the private codes and customs shared by the inner circle. Writersoften do not bother to explain themselves in a complete manner when they

      know that the recipient is already familiar with the subject. 17

      17 Indeed, writers often used this shared understanding to stress the relationship they had with the recipients.

  7. Oct 2022
    1. Hethus followed, over a wider range of data than any one man couldhope to use fully, the advice that he sometimes gave in reviews,that a historian should work fully through the background material.

      Frederic L. Paxson frequently advised that a historian should work fully through the background material.

    1. here are several ways I havefound useful to invite the sociological imagination:

      C. Wright Mills delineates a rough definition of "sociological imagination" which could be thought of as a framework within tools for thought: 1. Combinatorial creativity<br /> 2. Diffuse thinking, flâneur<br /> 3. Changing perspective (how would x see this?) Writing dialogues is a useful method to accomplish this. (He doesn't state it, but acting as a devil's advocate is a useful technique here as well.)<br /> 4. Collecting and lay out all the multiple viewpoints and arguments on a topic. (This might presume the method of devil's advocate I mentioned above 😀)<br /> 5. Play and exploration with words and terms<br /> 6. Watching levels of generality and breaking things down into smaller constituent parts or building blocks. (This also might benefit of abstracting ideas from one space to another.)<br /> 7. Categorization or casting ideas into types 8. Cross-tabulating and creation of charts, tables, and diagrams or other visualizations 9. Comparative cases and examples - finding examples of an idea in other contexts and time settings for comparison and contrast 10. Extreme types and opposites (or polar types) - coming up with the most extreme examples of comparative cases or opposites of one's idea. (cross reference: Compass Points https://hypothes.is/a/Di4hzvftEeyY9EOsxaOg7w and thinking routines). This includes creating dimensions of study on an object - what axes define it? What indices can one find data or statistics on? 11. Create historical depth - examples may be limited in number, so what might exist in the historical record to provide depth.

  8. Aug 2022
    1. Perspectiae and continuity. Correct perspective is es-sential t o sound critical malysis and interpretation. Thehistorical writer must always keep the time element clearlyin mind, and must recognize that an estimate of any histori-cal ersonage or event is determined in no small measureby t1e time or the conditions under which the person livedor the event occurred
  9. Jul 2022
    1. Ein grofer Teil der Regestenarbeit wird neuerdings demForscher durch besondere Regestenwerke abgenommen, nament-lich auf dem Gebiet der mittelalterlichen Urkunden. Daf diesebevorzugt werden, hat zwei Griinde: erstens sind die Urkundenfur die Geschichte des Mittelalters gewissermafen als festesGerippe von besonderer Wichtigkeit; zweitens sind sie so ver.streut in ihren Fund- und Druckorten, da8 die Zusammen-stellung derselben, wie sie ftir jede Arbeit von neuem erforder-lich wire, immer von neuem die langwierigsten und mtthsamstenVorarbeiten n&tig machen wiirde. Es ist daher von griéStemNutzen, da8 diese Vorarbeiten ein fir allemal gemacht und demeinzelnen Forscher erspart werden.

      Ein großer Teil der Regestenarbeit wird neuerdings dem Forscher durch besondere Regestenwerke abgenommen, namentlich auf dem Gebiet der mittelalterlichen Urkunden. Daß diese bevorzugt werden, hat zwei Gründe: erstens sind die Urkunden fur die Geschichte des Mittelalters gewissermafen als festes Gerippe von besonderer Wichtigkeit; zweitens sind sie so verstreut in ihren Fund- und Druckorten, daß die Zusammenstellung derselben, wie sie ftir jede Arbeit von neuem erforderlich wire, immer von neuem die langwierigsten und mtthsamsten Vorarbeiten nötig machen würde. Es ist daher von größtem Nutzen, daß diese Vorarbeiten ein fir allemal gemacht und dem einzelnen Forscher erspart werden.

      Google translation:

      A large part of the regesta work has recently been relieved of the researcher by special regesta works, especially in the field of medieval documents. There are two reasons why these are preferred: first, the documents are of particular importance for the history of the Middle Ages as a solid skeleton; Secondly, they are so scattered in the places where they were found and printed that the compilation of them, as would be necessary for each new work, would again and again necessitate the most lengthy and laborious preparatory work. It is therefore of the greatest benefit that this preparatory work should be done once and for all and that the individual researcher be spared.

      While the contexts are mixed here between note taking and historical method, there is some useful advice here that while taking notes, one should do as much work upfront during the research phase of reading and writing, so that when it comes to the end of putting the final work together and editing, the writer can be spared the effort of reloading large amounts of data and context to create the final output.

  10. May 2022
    1. Whig history (or Whig historiography), often appearing as whig history, is an approach to historiography that presents history as a journey from an oppressive and benighted past to a "glorious present".[1] The present described is generally one with modern forms of liberal democracy and constitutional monarchy: it was originally a satirical term for the patriotic grand narratives praising Britain's adoption of constitutional monarchy and the historical development of the Westminster system.[2] The term has also been applied widely in historical disciplines outside of British history (e.g. in the history of science) to describe "any subjection of history to what is essentially a teleological view of the historical process".[3] When the term is used in contexts other than British history, "whig history" (lowercase) is preferred.[3]

      Stemming from British history, but often applied in other areas including the history of science, whig history is a historiography that presents history as a path from an oppressive, backward, and wretched past to a glorious present. The term was coined by British Historian Herbert Butterfield in The Whig Interpretation of History (1931). It stems from the British Whig party that advocated for the power of Parliament as opposed to the Tories who favored the power of the King.


      It would seem to be an unfortunate twist of fate for indigenous science and knowledge that it was almost completely dismissed when the West began to dominate indigenous cultures during the Enlightenment which was still heavily imbued with the influence of scholasticism. Had religion not played such a heavy role in science, we may have had more respect and patience to see and understand the value of indigenous ways of knowing.

      Link this to notes from The Dawn of Everything.

    1. Chief among these is the need to understand scientific study and discoveryin historical context. Theological, philosophical, social, political, and economic factors deeply impact thedevelopment and shape of science.

      Science needs to be seen and understood in its appropriate historical context. Modern culture (and even scientists themselves) often forget the profound impact of theological, philosophical, social, political, and economic factors on how science develops and how we perceive it.

  11. Feb 2022
  12. blogs.baruch.cuny.edu blogs.baruch.cuny.edu
    1. ORA. We're to find out if it’s Michael’s they are, some time

      Historically, the knitting patterns of sweaters were used to help identify drowned men

  13. Dec 2021
    1. Hobbes and Rousseau told their contemporaries things that werestartling, profound and opened new doors of the imagination. Nowtheir ideas are just tired common sense. There’s nothing in them thatjustifies the continued simplification of human affairs. If socialscientists today continue to reduce past generations to simplistic,two-dimensional caricatures, it is not so much to show us anythingoriginal, but just because they feel that’s what social scientists areexpected to do so as to appear ‘scientific’. The actual result is toimpoverish history – and as a consequence, to impoverish our senseof possibility.

      The simplification required to make models and study systems can be a useful tool, but one constantly needs to go back to the actual system to make sure that future predictions and work actually fit the real world system.

      Too often social theorists make assumptions which aren't supported in real life and this can be a painfully dangerous practice, especially when those assumptions are built upon in ways that put those theories out on a proverbial creaking limb.


      This idea is related to the bias that Charles Mathewes points out about how we treat writers as still living or as if they never lived. see: https://hypothes.is/a/VTU2lFvZEeyiJ2tN76i4sA

    2. Most of the people we will beconsidering in this book are long since dead. It is no longer possibleto have any sort of conversation with them. We are nonethelessdetermined to write prehistory as if it consisted of people one wouldhave been able to talk to, when they were still alive – who don’t just

      exist as paragons, specimens, sock-puppets or playthings of some inexorable law of history.

      This is similar to a problem that Charles Mathewes has pointed out about history and historical writing: Too often we act as if the writer never died and also we forget that the writer ever lived in the real world.

      Peoples' context matters.

      Cross reference: Lecture 1 of [[[The City of God (Books that Matter)]]

  14. Sep 2021
    1. Us canonized for Love.

      Certain 16th-century editions of the Italian poet Petrarch's works were affixed with a woodcut of an urn containing the ashes of lovers, along with a Phoenix. Donne is credited with moving away from a Petrarchan tradition in poetry, and would have been well-acquainted with this work.

      Source: The Poems of John Donne: Volume One, edited by Robin Robbins (Routledge)

    2. eagle and the dove

      The eagle and the dove have been called upon by many different authors to represent a range of relationships. These include "predatory appetite and power versus submissive gentleness," "strength and tender purity," "pleasure and sorrow," and "the active and contemplative lives."

      Source: The Poems of John Donne: Volume One, edited by Robin Robbins (Routledge)

    3. Note on History of Poetry:

      Donne wrote The Canonization around the turn of the 17th century, a time when European poetry was ruled by Petrarchan sonnets. Some attempts, including by C.S. Lewis have been made to categorize poets of this era (Lewis used "drab and "Golden", others; "plain" and "eloquent") but the spectrum of poets defies easy categorization. One important aspect of the time period was the innovation of language itself. Poetry and literature were moving away from Latin and French, and vernacular English continued to develop.

      Source: English Poetry in the Sixteenth Century, Nasrullah Mambrol (Research Scholar, Department of Studies in English, Kannur University)

    4. The Canonization

      The final trick of this Donne poem comes from a historical impact he is unlikely to have predicted. After all, he never published his own poems. And yet, 400+ years later, his lyrics are still studied by scholars and students. He has been canonized in the literary sense. Furthermore, as love poems like this are some of his best-known, his love has in fact been canonized.

    5. General Historical Note:

      Donne likely writes this poem at the very beginning of the 17th century, though it could have been anywhere from the 1590s until the 1620s. This range came at the end of the Elizabethan period and contains the reign of James I, the first Stuart monarch. This was a period of great growth for England, with increasing naval power leading to the formation of the East India company, as well as the colony of Jamestown, expanding the power of the British empire in both hemispheres.

      Sources: The Late Tudors, England 1547-1603; British Museum

  15. Dec 2018
    1. one family of children who came from London for sea air after the whooping cough

      In the 18th century English physicians would prescribe cold sea water and sea air to cure a variety of sicknesses. It was common for ailing people to be dunked in the freezing sea, as "the adrenaline from the shock of cold was thought to have soothing effects on the body, calming anxiety and restoring the body-soul balance".

      https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/08/the-historic-healing-power-of-the-beach/279175/

      This historical question has been debated up to the twenty-first century:

      Does the Sea Air Have Curative Powers? - WSJ https://www.wsj.com/articles/does-the-sea-air-have-curative-powers-1407797285

      Does the sea air have healing powers? | Fox News https://www.foxnews.com/health/does-the-sea-air-have-healing-powers

      Out of the blue: The healing power of the sea - ABC News www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-26/could-sea-help-manage-mental-illness/8343932

    2. physic

      (old-fashioned term) a medicine that purges; cathartic; laxative.

      https://www.dictionary.com/browse/physic

    3. chamber-horse

      An eighteenth-century exercise machine.

      "…A special type of chair, commonly called a 'Chamber Horse', because the motion made as you sat on it was similar to that of a trotting horse."

      http://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/objects/uIVOye4BRy-Sh5k7_PF_iQ

    4. liberal

      what are the connotations of this in this historical context? I'm not sure how to look this up but I'd like to know.

  16. May 2018
    1. Irish dance halls were very popular during the 1950's amongst Irish-Americans. They allowed people to have fun, dance, and also meet possible romantic partners. The image above parallels this moment in the text because it showcases how women tended to stay together in groups (like Patty, Diana, and Eilis) and wait for men to ask them to dance.

    1. Bartocci’s, the department store Eilis works at was likely inspired by Abraham and Strauss. Abraham and Strauss, also known as A&S, was a famous department store located at the corners of Hoyt and Fulton in Brooklyn. Abraham and Strauss was unlike the small and specialized shops (like Miss Kelly’s general store) that an Irish immigrant would have been used to at this time. A&S sold many different kinds of products, including clothing for all ages, furniture, and sporting goods. This was done in order to compete with other Brooklyn retailers and offer customers one-stop shopping.

  17. Feb 2018
    1. chúige

      ‘what you yourself and the late John O’Daly, following in the footsteps of Edward Walsh, to some extent accomplished for Munster, more than thirty years ago’ (iv)

      John O’Daly (1800-1878) was an editor and publisher. He published Edward Walsh’s Reliques of Irish Jacobite Poetry (1844), as well as two series of Poets and Poetry of Munster, the first by James Clarence Mangan (1849), and the second by George Sigerson (1860). In another of his works, Mise agus an Conradh (1937), Hyde wrote ‘Ní raibh éinne, lena linn, a rinne níos mó ar a shlí féin chun Gaeilge a leathnú agus a shaothrú’ (There was noone, during O’Daly’s time, who did as much as he did to popularize Gaelic’, my trans.) The most comprehensive biography of John O’Daly is that in Beathaninéis, vol. 2, by Diarmuid Breathnach and Mairéad Ní Mhurchú. It is available online at https://www.ainm.ie/Bio.aspx?ID=1193

      The most comprehensive biography I have found in English is the entry in The Oxford Companion to Irish Literature, edited by Robert Welch.

    2. grádh

      ‘My Dear Dr. Sigerson’ (iv)

      The Dr. Sigerson in question is George Sigerson (1836-1925), a physician and an eminent translator of Gaelic poetry. When the Gaelic League was founded in 1893, Hyde was elected as its present, and so absented his role as president of the National Literary Society. Sigerson succeeded him, and was the society’s incumbent present when Love Songs of Connacht was published.

      A direct address to the National Literary Society was famously performed by Hyde in 1892. The central idea of his speech titled ‘The Necessity for De-Anglicising Ireland’ was that there was an indissoluble link between a nation’s language and its culture, and that it was a sign of cultural weakness to mimic English ways and habits of thought.

      The beginning of Love Songs of Connacht reminds us of the ideological backdrop from which the book emerges. For in-depth accounts of the development of the idea that language and nationhood are inextricably linked, see Diarmuid Ó Giolláin’s Locating Irish Folklore: Tradition, Modernity, Identity (2000), and Joep Leerssen’s National Thought in Europe: A Cultural History (2006). You can read the text of Hyde’s 1892 speech to the National Literary Society at http://historymuse.net/readings/HYDENecessityforDeAnglicizingIreland1892.html

  18. Jun 2017
    1. December 29, 1931.

      Consider this date. What of importance was going on around the time that Carl Becker gave this speech before the American Historical Association?

  19. Apr 2017