A826 progress w/c 05/08/13

August has to be archive month when i do the bulk of my primary source research, a visit to Kew is planned for later in the month but on Wednesday i went to Stratford's archives as i have already mentioned.

I'm starting to amass some economic data on the town's economy in the 19th century but how to visualise it? One thing i have tried is to create a map of the town using a lovely little app called MapEditor and then (in Photoshop) populating the map with industries to see how the town's economy changed between 1830 and 1850 using lists of trades in the Pigot's 1830 and White's 1850 trade directoies. Below is something i created yesterday (yes i know about the spelling mistake!)

I'm not necessarily going to include this in my thesis but its useful to help interpret the data, notice the much greater number of coal merchants in 1850.

Back to the archives!

August has to be archives month, i need to get my primary source research done this month as much as i can. Later in the month i plan to visit the National Archives in London but today i returned to Stratford's archives to do some deep analysis of trade directories. I am using this as a main data source to see how the economy in the town changed from 1820 to 1860 and have got some good finding now. Coal merchants doubled between 1830 and 1840 for example. I need to expand on this and try and find out why of course.

While i was in the town i took some photos of course (which you can see on my Flickr), i even saw Rosie and Jim...

The milk revolution

An interesting article in Nature magazine on how Europeans around 7500 years ago developed a mutation that allowed them to drink milk and consume other dairy produce including early cheese, evidence of cheese making has been found in fragments of pottery with tiny holes in it. The ability to drink milk up until then was lost in adulthood and lactose intolerance remains true for many people around the world.

Early farmers learnt how to reduce the lactose in dairy produce so it was not hazardous to adult health but the main breakthrough came when a genetic mutation called LP allele allowed adults to drink milk without ill-effect. The mutation is thought to have happened around 7500 years ago in what is now Hungary.

Those with the mutation had an advantage over those who remained intolerant, milk was a vital source of nutrition when harvests were poor. Those with the mutation were also more fertile. Most people who can drink milk now can trace their ancestry to Europe though in a few other areas similar mutations occurred such as in West Africa.

Shakespeare lived here n.b. horse and cart to let

While researching Stratford-upon-Avon's economy for my thesis i did a search of the British Library's 19th Century Newspaper Archive and came up with some interesting matches, plus a rather amusing snippet from the Morning Post of Thursday November 6th 1821.

We are told that the house Shakespeare lived in, in Stratford (perhaps the birthplace?) is currently owned by a butcher. The owner has put a sign up on the house over the door that says

"Shakepear lived here
N.B. horse and cart to let"

A826 progress w/c 29/07/13

A week spent mostly writing. I had to submit my sample chapter this week so i did that on Wednesday. I'm not that happy with it to be honest but it will likely change quite a bit once the rest of the thesis slots into place. The sample chapter is submitted as a TMA (though its doesn't count towards my final marks) and will likely be the last TMA i do as an Open University student (which i have been since 2005).

Next step might be a PhD... or i might learn a language... but lets get this thesis done first. August will be spent with primary sources.

Tucano done

The latest model project, a Shorts Tucano, has now finally been completed (apart from a varnishing). Its taken longer than usual to complete this one, mostly due to the heat! I wonder if i should have found a better and less temperature vulnerable place to build my models...