Possession: Objects and Ownership in Early Modern England, 1650-1750 - Semester 1 - HIS00207H

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Module summary

Between 1650 and 1750 English society saw the emergence of a new world of goods which transformed many areas of people’s lives. Some even say that this period saw the birth of the consumer society. This field has inspired exciting and innovative research and this period is at the forefront of work incorporating analysis of material culture into accounts of ordinary people’s lives. Drawing on this work we will explore the buying, stealing, borrowing, inheriting, giving and display of objects in England in 1650-1750. The seminars focus not only on the ways in which objects were acquired, but also at the ways they were adapted and used, at patterns of ownership in different social groups, and at what objects and their acquisition can tell us about the ties between people, the history of emotions, global connections and notions of luxury, necessity, comfort and connoisseurship.
The sources drawn upon will be very diverse, and we take full advantage of the extraordinary range of primary material available in York. We will draw on diaries and letters, on printed texts (through Early English Books Online and Eighteenth Century Collections Online) as well as newspapers and tradecards (available online). We will also work with court records (in particular the Proceedings of the Old Bailey online), and with original inventories and wills through seminars in the Borthwick Institute. We will consult the collections of national museums using their websites, and we hope to work with objects in York museum collections.

Related modules

Students taking this module must also take the second part in Semester 2.

Module will run

Occurrence	Teaching period
A	Semester 1 2024-25

Module aims

The aims of this module are:

• To introduce students to in depth study of a specific historical topic using primary and secondary material;
• To enable students to explore the topic through discussion and writing; and
• To enable students to evaluate and analyse primary sources.

Module learning outcomes

Students who complete this module successfully will:

• Grasp key themes, issues and debates relevant to the topic being studied;
• Have acquired knowledge and understanding about that topic;
• Be able to comment on and analyse original sources;
• Be able to relate the primary and secondary material to one another; and
• Have acquired skills and confidence in close reading and discussion of texts and debates.

Module content

Students will attend a 1-hour briefing in week 1 and a 3-hour seminar in weeks 2-4, 6-8 and 10-11 of semester 1. Weeks 5 & 9 are Reading and Writing Weeks (RAW). Students prepare for and participate in eight three-hour seminars in all.

Seminar topics are subject to variation, but are likely to include the following:

1. People
2. Introducing Approaches and Debates
3. Books
4. Shops, pedlars, auctions, markets
5. Clocks and mirrors
6. Patterns of ownership
7. Furniture
8. Wills and probate inventories in the Borthwick

Indicative assessment

Task	% of module mark
Essay/coursework	100.0

Special assessment rules

None

Additional assessment information

For formative work, students will produce a text commentary.

The summative assessment will consist of two parts, to be submitted together:
a) Two text commentaries of 500-750 words; and
b) One 1,500-word essay.

The commentaries comprise 50% and the essay 50% of the overall mark for this module. Summative assessments will be due in the assessment period.

Indicative reassessment

Task	% of module mark
Essay/coursework	100.0

Module feedback

Following their formative task, students will typically receive written feedback that will include comments and a mark within 10 working days of submission.

Work will be returned to students in their seminars and may be supplemented by the tutor giving some oral feedback to the whole group. All students are encouraged, if they wish, to discuss the feedback on their formative work during their tutor’s student hours. For more information, see the Statement on Feedback.

For summative assessment tasks, students will receive their provisional mark and written feedback within 25 working days of the submission deadline. The tutor will then be available during student hours for follow-up guidance if required. For more information, see the Statement of Assessment.

Indicative reading

For semester time reading, please refer to the module VLE site. Before the course starts, we encourage you to look at the following items of preliminary reading:

• Hamling, Tara and Catherine Richardson, eds. Everyday Objects: Medieval and Early Modern Material Culture and its Meanings. Farnham: Ashgate, 2010.
• Overton, Mark. Production and Consumption in English Households, 1600-1750. London: Routledge, 2004.
• Pennell, Sara. The birth of the English kitchen, 1600-1850. London: Bloomsbury, 2016.