Project Outreach Session: The Eighteenth Century Gin Craze
The project did another bit of outreach on 2 April when I led a session on early modern intoxicants for Year 12 students during a University of Sheffield open day....
Wellcome Library, London (CC BY 4.0) and Wikimedia Commons.
One of our key research themes is intoxicants, politics, and governance. We’re especially interested in the role of early modern governors in determining which intoxicants were consumed where, by whom, at what cost; in the relationship between intoxicants and political debate, conflict, and mobilisation; and in the role of intoxicants in the development of the early modern state, especially through the project of alehouse licensing (see James’s recent blog post for more details). Another theme, closely connected to governance, is the importance of cultural practices that either underlie or undercut the actions of those who seek to control the production and consumption of intoxicants. We’re therefore delighted to share the details of this combined conference and musical reception, which will bring historical research on intoxicants, regulation, and policy by the project and other scholars to the heart of government.
The 1684 alehouse licence of Chester widow Katherine Booth. Cheshire Archives and Local Studies, ZQRL/13.
The post-conference reception features two short musical sets, courtesy of the AHRC Hit Songs of the Seventeenth Century Database project (for which I am also a Co-I). Together, they briefly (and interactively!) explore the close relationship between drink, song, and politics, past and present. Songs will be performed by members of The Carnival Band, led by Andy Watts, also a Co-I on the Hit Songs project.
Wellcome Library, London (CC BY 4.0).