A view from my accommodation of Long Mountain, St Andrew.
Parish taxes and West Indian historiography
I have not visited any repositories of intellectual resources in Jamaica this week, other than the Main Library on campus. This week has been marked by my first classes, one on West Indian Historiography, and the other on History and Heritage: Theory and Practice. There are overlapping elements, though that is no harmful thing, and both classes have graded assignments that can be incorporated into my thesis (a historiographical essay on a topic of my choosing, and a grant proposal) so I am not too worried about them dominating this semester. I have found Erna Brodber's work particularly interesting. I found Patrick Bryan's history of Wolmer's Schools to be a little on the tedious side, although valuable, while I thought that J. H. Hexter's writing on historiography was quite pretentious (I found reading M. G. Smith's annotations on the particular article in WISC to be quite cathartic).
One of the most interesting discoveries for my thesis, following on my blog post last week, was Jack Greene's Settler Jamaica in the 1750s: A Social Portrait. In this work, Greene has dedicated one chapter to Kingston: an economic/social analysis of its middle-upper classes based on the 1753 parish tax roll. It was a great relief to find that my proposal of an analysis of the parish/poll taxes in the Kingston Vestry Minutes was not unbroken ground, and while Greene's work was limited, it means I have a basis to build from, rather than dreaming it all up anew, which is somewhat daunting.
I believe that the ideal historical study of the kind I am proposing to do should have a rigorous quantitative basis, and on top of that a generous qualitative analysis. I would feel much more comfortable making claims about Kingston in the eighteenth century with some numbers to back it up, and so carrying out a study beginning with the parish/poll taxes would be my ideal approach. I am glad to see that it is feasible.
Aspirations for this year
I am particularly keen to take advantage of the myriad grants that exist for postgraduates (graduate students in the US) to visit archives and libraries. I am particularly keen to apply for an Eccles Centre Visiting Fellowship at the British Library, which as well as being a remarkable opportunity for study, would also be a pleasant excuse to return to the UK for a few weeks. Before I can really think hard about that, I need to consult Ingram's bibliographies of Jamaican sources to ascertain what relevant material is at the BL which has not yet been digitised. There are a much greater number of American archives, too, and to visit one or two of them over the next couple years would be a fantastic opportunity (especially as I have never visited the United States before).
To visit a conference would be a very valuable experience, especially after reading Small World by David Lodge. The Association of Caribbean Historians, which I recently joined, is having their June 2023 conference in Puerto Rico, although that is reasonably expensive to get to from Jamaica. Another option might be the Conference of Florida Historians, in January, which would at least be cheaper to get to. There are many other choices, like the Consortium on the Revolutionary Era in Texas in February. I will be keeping an eye open. Some financial support should be available from UWI, although I doubt their coffers run deep.
It would also be good to write something for submission somewhere. A book review, if nothing else, and this forthcoming publication looks like a good place to start. I have also been eyeing the New American Antiquarian as a place to publish some of the unpublished letters I have from Liverpool Record Office. We'll see.
This coming week brings more work and hopefully a first visit to the National Library of Jamaica.
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