Social History Book Advent Calendar Day 19 – life on the farm

by thehistoryinterpreter

I could not compile a list of social history books and omit the ‘Farm’ series. They have already warranted a couple of passing references in other posts but today’s belongs solely to them. Many people, especially in Britain, are family with BBC TV’s living history series Victorian Farm/Edwardian Farm/Tudor Monastery Farm/Wartime Farm. All of these are now available on DVD and are a wonderful insight into rural life in the period specified. What is less well known is that each series also has an accompanying book; I have them all. These are ‘coffee table’ books: beautifully produced hardbacks with lavish coloured illustrations. There are contemporary illustrations as well as scenes from the programme. I have no idea how well this translates to the e-reader editions. The books are nonetheless well researched and the insight into the experimental archaeology carried out by the authors, Peter Ginn, Ruth Goodman and Alex Langlands, is invaluable. For those who are unfamiliar with the series, three historians/archaeologists spent a year recreating life in a farm of a particular period. The books describe the highs and lows of their experiences.

I have decided to focus on Wartime Farm. The war referred to in the title is the Second World War, so this volume features the struggle to increase production during the conflict and the on-going tussles with officialdom, in the shape of the ‘War-Ag’. The book goes beyond the difficulties of the small-scale mixed farmer to describe the role of the farmer’s wife, giving and added female perspective. There are sections devoted to rationing, machinery, evacuees, home defence, labour, digging for victory and making do and mending, along with many others. The book does talk about the making of the series and this aspect may be less relevant to some. There are however ‘how to’ sections; so between the pages you will find a recipe for plum duff, instructions for making a mop, details of how to dance the foxtrot and how to make shampoo. In summary then, a good, general introduction to life on the wartime farm, well written and beautifully produced. Insider tip – there was a low-key, forerunner to these programmes, Tales from the Green Valley, focusing on the seventeenth century. I think this is the best of the lot. There is no book for this one but you can still get it on DVD, either as a stand alone or, at very little extra cost, as a companion with Victorian Farm and yes, I have that too.

 

Social History Book Advent Calendar Day 18 – a trip to Elizabethan England

by thehistoryinterpreter

Another favourite pops out from behind today’s advent window, Ian Mortimer’s Time Traveller’s Guide to Elizabethan England. In a similar vein to Ruth Goodman’s How to be a Tudor, this guide takes you back, to explore ordinary life in the sixteenth century. Here are the sights and smells of Elizabethan England in all their raw glory. We learn what to wear, what to eat and how to keep healthy. There are hints on avoiding committing a faux pas in this religiously turbulent age, along with valuable advice on manners and travelling by road. We are regaled with likely punishments should we, the visitor, transgress in some way. Being a country bumpkin, I might have wished for a slightly greater emphasis on rural life but this is a very minor point.

There are coloured plates in the book but I did feel a bibliography would have been useful, even though there are many sources mentioned in the detailed notes. As an inveterate note reader I do find endnotes irritating and I am assuming that this would be even more tricky on an e-reader. To me, readers either look at notes or they don’t and if they do, flicking back and forth is a pain, even though it does allow me to utilise two book marks! Footnotes rule – ban endnotes!

This is yet another volume that demonstrates the fact that well researched history does not have to be boring. I enjoyed the time-traveller format. I do of course actually travel to the sixteenth century on a not infrequent basis. Next time I will take this as a guide. I once had to do a seventeenth century presentation in front of Ian Mortimer – that was daunting, all I can say is that he didn’t walk out!

I have chosen this particular book but there are similar volumes on Medieval England and Restoration Britain by the same author. His books, along with many others, feature on our website’s list of books about the sixteenth and seventeenth century.

Social History Book Advent Calendar Day 17 – working lives

by thehistoryinterpreter

Useful Toil is a collection of autobiographies of working people, edited by John Burnett. There are narratives, diary extracts or interview transcripts from twenty seven individuals, whose working lives spanned the period 1820-1920. These include both men and women, labourers, domestic servants and skilled workers. One is Winifred Foley, whose books about life in the Forest of Dean are a delight. Although all are working people, they come from a range of social and geographical backgrounds, from Lancashire cotton weavers and workhouse inmates to professor’s sons. These first-hand accounts of the lives of miners, scullery maids, shop assistants and cabinet makers, to name but a few, are invaluable. There are also short biographies about each of the contributors. Burnett provides lengthy introductions to each of his three sections, which provide useful context for the specific memoirs. Here we learn more about wages, working conditions, industrial developments and the manage changes of the Victorian period.

 

Social History Book Advent Calendar Day 16 – History of Medicine

by thehistoryinterpreter

Product DetailsNow for the second offering from Sara Read, this one co-authored by Jennifer Evans. I would like to introduce you to Maladies and Medicine: exploring health and healing 1540-1740. After an introduction that explains the theories underpinning medical practices at the time, the book is arranged on an ailment by ailment basis. The authors look in turn at head complaints, abdominal maladies, whole body ailments and reproductive maladies. Each condition is discussed in terms of ‘causes’, as understood at the time, preventatives and ‘cures’. The authors have used a wide range of contemporary sources, medical treatises, letters, herbals, diaries and case notes, to help the reader understand attitudes to and treatments of, diseases and conditions in the early modern era. The book is enhanced by black and white illustrations and a bibliography of written and online sources.

This is another book that is comprehensible to the interested amateur, whilst being underpinned by serious academic research. The writing style is accessible and amusing at times, although perhaps not for the fainthearted, as historical medical treatments were not pretty. This book had obviously appeal to me in my Mistress Agnes mode and I particularly enjoyed writing the health and medicine chapters in my own Coffers, Clysters, Comfrey and Coifs and Remember Then. The former even has a medical procedure on the cover! When Maladies and Medicine hit the shelves earlier this year, I had no hesitation in adding it to the reading lists for the students on my online In Sickness and in Death – researching the ill-health and death of your ancestors course. It only doesn’t feature in Til Death us do Part: causes of death 1300-1948 (or for ebook fans) because I wrote it before Maladies and Medicine was published.

And in ordinary life, what ever that is, the great cover debate for Barefoot on the Cobbles continues. It now looks very different from yesterday’s version. Amidst addressing Christmas cards and anguishing over cover designs, I have been writing the Barefoot inquest scene and wishing there were forty eight hours in a day.

Social History Book Advent Calendar Day 15 – Tudor Women and the Anguish of choosing a Book Cover

by thehistoryinterpreter

How to be a Tudor: A Dawn-to-Dusk Guide to Everyday Life by [Goodman, Ruth]Behind today’s advent ‘window’ is a true social history by Ruth Goodman, of Victorian/Edwardian/Wartime etc. Farm fame. In How to be a Tudor: a dawn to dusk guide to everyday life, the author takes us through an average day for sixteenth century ordinary folk. From waking in the morning and washing – or not – Ruth moves on to getting dressed, eating meals, working life, for men and women and leisure before putting her Tudor folk to bed. The author’s experiences as an experimental historian mean that she has a personal, practical, knowledge of the processes that she describes. Her attempts at cooking, cleaning and living in Tudor times are described and it is clear that her insight into the period is far greater than that of most non-contemporaries. This book is grounded in serious historical study but it is written in a very accessible style. There are coloured plates but I don’t feel that these are really necessary, as inevitably, most of them portray life for a social strata that deviates from the focus of the book. The black and white illustrations are more relevant. The bibliography is also useful and will lead to yet more book purchases. This volume should be required reading for anyone setting a novel in this period. If your interests lie in a different era, then there is a companion ‘Victorian’ volume. Probably the greatest compliment I can pay this book is to say that I wish I had written it.

BotC-coveridea4-1Yesterday I managed to complete a very harrowing chapter of Barefoot on the Cobbles. Elation was short-lived with the realisation that there is still a long way to go. Then there was the thorny issue of the cover. I am well aware of how important this is and because Barefoot is so difficult to pigeonhole, conveying what is inside in a single image is particularly tricky. After a few preliminary attempts the publisher and I had a version we were pretty pleased with – for five minutes. I should point out that to get to this stage there had been plenty of ‘up a bit’, ‘down a bit,’ ‘make it bigger/smaller/darker’ moments. Then we threw the suggested design to the wolves of Facebook. Even though they don’t always make east reading, I am really grateful for all the comments. The fact that they weren’t all complementary, is exactly what we wanted. I was pleased that some of the themes were picked up by those looking at the cover. The consensus was though that these initial ideas were over complicated and that we need a slightly different font, which actually I was pleased with until someone pointed out that a key capital letter was ambiguous.

The rethink will be rather different and will incorporate the general feeling of those who expressed an opinion. It is incredibly difficult to come up with a design that will tempt the right readers (i.e. ones who will actually enjoy the book) to turn it over and read the blurb. It is all about managing expectations. I need the cover to be suggestive of the content. It is no surprise to me but if anyone thinks that being an author just means writing a book, you are oh so wrong!

Social History Book Advent Calendar Day 14 – Farming Surveys

by thehistoryinterpreter

Another one for those interested in agricultural history today and it is a whole series of books, rather than just one. Most family historians I speak to have agricultural labourers hidden somewhere in the boughs of their family tree. What we need to realise is that these are not some amorphous group whose experiences were all very similar. Farming practices differ according to soil, terrain and climate. The Book of the Farm, that I mentioned earlier in the month, is a general account; you also need something more specific. To find out what life would have been like for a farm labourer in a particular part of the country you cannot do better than consult the appropriate volume of the General View of Agriculture. These county volumes were commissioned by the Board of Agriculture and were produced on the cusp of the agricultural revolution, in the 1790s, although some ran to more than one edition. I have a facsimile edition of Charles Vancouver’s General View of the Agriculture of Devon with observations on means of its improvement. Vancouver wrote the second edition for Devon and was also responsible for some other counties. I can only write about the Devon volume but I suspect that the others are similar, as they were part of a national survey.

The coverage is comprehensive and in the case of Devon, is broken down in to six regions, so the characteristics of a fairly small area can be discovered. The topics cover: soil, climate, crops, livestock, tools, terms of service for labourers, buildings, roads, markets and ways in which productivity could be improved. My edition had line drawings, a map and tables covering such things as parish by parish lists of population, amounts paid in poor relief, occupational structure, number of houses in the parish and other valuable goodies such as the menu for Exeter House of Industry (the forerunner of the workhouse) and the characteristics of different breeds of sheep. There are line drawings illustrating farm implements and livestock.

In short, if you only read one book to help you understanding the farming practices of your ancestors, or your locality in the past, then it should be the appropriate county volume of this series. The full list can be found here. If all this sounds a bit too good to be true, it is because there is a downside. Although some of volumes are available as internet downloads, others have to be purchased in hard copy and are not always cheap. My advice is to shop around because you and your agricultural labouring ancestors, need these books.

On the subject of agricultural labourers, for some strange reason, one of the most popular posts on my blog is one that I wrote about agricultural labourers. Every year there is a sudden spike in hits on this page via the site of an Australian University. I can’t see the actual page containing the link as it is in a ‘students only’ area but apparently they have been directed to me. I would have thought that there were far more in-depth accounts that they could go to but there it is.

Social History Book Advent Calendar Day 13 – Women’s Work

by thehistoryinterpreter

A Woman's Work is Never Done: History of Housework in the British Isles, 1650-1950As I sit down, having just finished the washing up and sticking what may well turn out to be onion-flavoured marzipan on my Christmas cakes (short but sad story), what better than to introduce you to a book about housework. Caroline Davidson’s A Woman’s Work is Never Done: a history of housework in the British Isles 1650-1950, takes us through three centuries of women’s unpaid labour. There are interesting chapters on ‘utilities’ – water, heating and lighting and the impact that the provision of these had on women’s lives. She considers the specifics of cooking, of cleaning and of laundry. There is also a section on servants. Her final chapters, which look at the time spent on housework (more in a day than I spend in the average month – unless of course I have visitors) and women’s attitudes to housework are particularly thought provoking. This book, with over 100 black and white illustrations, is a fascinating read for both men and women. Yet again it is a volume that will provide family historians with crucial context for those often overlooked female ancestors.

Housework really isn’t high on my list of priorities – too many books to read and write – too little time. When I was editing eighty women’s memories for Remember Then, it was no co-incidence that there was little editorial voice in the housework chapter. Despite being serially undomesticated I really enjoyed this book. Sadly it seems to be out of print but you should be able to pick up a cheap second-hand copy.

Social History Book Advent Calendar Day 12 – Food in History

by thehistoryinterpreter

Reay Tannahill is probably better known as an historical novelist but her Food in History is described as ‘a serious overview of food as a catalyst of social and historical development.’ Her account of what we have eaten over the centuries begins in the pre-historic period. The earlier sections will be of interest to social historians, to foodies (since when has that been a word?) and to anyone setting a novel in ancient Egypt or sixth century China (surely someone must be attempting the latter). From a family historian’s point of view, it is the last two parts (of six), covering 1492 onwards, that will be most relevant. Many foods that we take for granted were not available in Britain until comparatively recently. The impact of the age of exploration on our diet was unparalleled. It is not a coincidence that section five begins in 1492, when Columbus was sailing blue (or more plausibly grey) oceans. Tannahill also looks at the influence of the European Grand Tour, the industrial revolution and the use of pesticides, on what we ate and how we produced, prepared and stored food.

If you want to make sure that the characters in your novel are not chomping on an anachronistic tomato, if you want to know what great great granny might have served for dinner or if you are interested in the way in which food and historical events interrelate, I can recommend this book. There are line drawings, notes on sources and an extensive bibliography to take you further. I particularly like the way in which the author weaves the history of food in to the wider historical context. This is a true social history.

Social History Book Advent Calendar Day 11 Women and Work and a bit about the History of the early Twentieth Century

by thehistoryinterpreter

The Working Life of Women in the Seventeenth Century (e-Book) book coverThis comprehensive account was first published in 1919 and was written by Alice Clark, of the Quaker shoemaking family. Clark (1874-1934) herself is an interesting character, rising to become a director of the family firm in an era when this would have been very unusual. Her Working Life of Women in the Seventeenth Century is, justifiably, still regarded as a key work on this topic. Sadly it is not currently in print, although the publishers, Routledge, do offer a Kindle edition. You can get copies on online auction sites and various facsimile reprints are available.

The book considers the vital role of women in the family economy, in a century when we tend to imagine that all women were downtrodden housewives. Women’s roles in business, in agriculture, textiles, crafts and the professions are all considered. Clark’s stance is that seventeenth century women enjoyed an equality with men, that their role was complementary, rather than identical and that they played an invaluable part in the family economy. She has used account books, diaries, letters and other sources to illustrate the central role that some women played. She goes on to argue that women began to lose their place in the economic world with the rise of capitalism. By the end of the seventeenth century, she feels, women were increasingly constrained by household duties. The author’s feminist stance and her interest in economics and I suspect socialism, is in evidence but does not detract from the narrative. My Routledge edition has an valuable introduction and bibliography, contributed by Amy Louise Erickson. These enhance Clark’s own list of contemporary and secondary sources.

I enjoyed this book because it provides information about my favourite (well one of my favourites) century. Although this book is about the seventeenth century, it does also give us an understanding of aspects of the early twentieth century too. Clark was actively involved in the women’s suffrage movement and unusually, was a mature student at the London School of Economics. That a woman could write a book like this at this time is insightful.

A couple of things about the early twentieth century while I am here. First of all, it seem likes a long way away because of the seasonal celebrations in between but it is just five weeks before my online course about researching your family and/or locality in the early twentieth century begins. To save you clicking through to the blurb I will copy it here (see how I look after you). “Family historians often neglect the twentieth century as being ‘not really history’ but there is plenty to be discovered about individuals and the communities in which they lived between 1900 and 1945. Twentieth century research brings with it the difficulties of larger and more mobile populations as well as records that are closed to view. This course sets out to provide advice for finding out about our more recent ancestors and the context for their lives. This course would be of interest to those undertaking one-place studies as well as family historians.” It may surprise you how much there is still to be found about a comparatively recent period and the course contains plenty of hints for investigating the social history of the time. What ever time period you choose, focusing on just a few years really pays dividends, whether you are a family historian or a local historian. Sign up, you know you want to. Put a course on your Christmas list.

The early twentieth century is of course when Barefoot on the Cobbles is set. In between writing these blogs, which take more time than you might think, I am of course writing further chapters (I put that in in case my publisher is reading this). No, I really am writing. This week it is the harrowing death scene of one of the main characters. I am also trying to compose something that I can add to my Barefoot page on this website, to give you more information about what you can expect. The first attempt may even be there by the time you read this.

 

Social History Book Advent Calendar Day 10 – for those with an interest in agriculture

by thehistoryinterpreter

Henry Stephens's Book of the Farm: concise and revised edition by [Langlands, Alex]This one is for all those family historians with agricultural labouring ancestors and for writers of historical fiction who are using a nineteenth century rural setting. The lavish production and copious illustrations also make it ideal for history lovers in general to browse. Henry Stephens’ Book of the Farm, was first published as a guide to mixed farming in the 1840s. It became the handbook used by the historical interpreters working on BBC TV’s Victorian Farm (DVDs of this excellent series are available). One of the presenters, Alex Langlands, had an abridged version of Stephens’ work reprinted to accompany the TV series. He included an introduction and many coloured illustrations that I assume were not in the original. There are also copious line drawings, which may have been part of Stephens’ work. If you require regional farming specifics, you will need to look beyond this book but here is a wonderful general introduction, written at the dawning of the age of agricultural mechanisation. You will find a season by season account of the many and varied duties on a farm. You can learn how swine were fattened, driven and slaughtered and there are clear instructions for forming a dunghill (always useful). There are sections on training sheep dogs, sowing flax and hemp and making butter. Amazon have a ‘look inside’ feature, so you can see the full extent of the contents. A few short chapters in to this lovely book and you will be treading in the footsteps of your farming ancestors – but beware of the dunghills.