Peer-Reviewed Articles by Vaughn Scribner
Agricultural History, 2018
This article utilizes a scientific definition of “work” to shift enslaved laborers and the enviro... more This article utilizes a scientific definition of “work” to shift enslaved laborers and the environments within which they toiled to the heart of the historical conversation. Though British plantation owners and consumers often figure prominently in historical analysis of Caribbean sugar plantations and rum production, this article’s perspective necessarily relegates them to the fringe of the historical conversation. The preponderance of work on early modern sugar plantations took place at the nexus of human labor and environmental processes. When we understand work as a form of energy transfer, and place it at the center of sugar production, then the Atlantic world emerges as a series of interconnected energy flows rather than merely a collection of shared human experiences. Just as in the present day, early modern sugar agroecosystems were organized around the goal of creating products for blissfully unaware consumers in order to extract as much profit as possible from the work of humans and the environment, often with devastating outcomes for both.
Itinerario, 2017
While a thick vein of scepticism marked Enlightenment thinkers' studies, such investigations cann... more While a thick vein of scepticism marked Enlightenment thinkers' studies, such investigations cannot be divorced from their concurrent quest to merge the wondrous and the rational. Perhaps nowhere is this more apparent than in philosophers' investigations of merpeople. Examining European gentlemen's debates over mermaids and tritons illuminate their willingness to embrace wonder in their larger quest to understand the origins of humankind. Naturalists utilized a wide range of methodologies to critically study these seemingly wondrous creatures and, in turn, assert the reality of merpeople as evidence of humanity's aquatic roots. As with other creatures they encountered in their global travels, European philosophers utilized various theories-including those of racial, biological, taxonomical, and geographic difference-to understand merpeople's place in the natural world. By the second half of the eighteenth century, certain thinkers integrated merpeople into their explanation of humanity's origins, thus bringing this phenomenon full circle.
Urban History, 2018
Privately owned, for-profit, seasonal, walled-off venues that boasted a variety of flora and faun... more Privately owned, for-profit, seasonal, walled-off venues that boasted a variety of flora and fauna in addition to other services like stages, buildings, thespians, musicians, exhibits and victuals, New York City's Vauxhall and Ranelagh commercial pleasure gardens blossomed by the mid-eighteenth century. An in-depth analysis of these pleasure gardens not only contributes to how we understand colonists’ endeavours to support a more complete leisure sector, but also reveals the nuanced nature of the ‘rural vs. urban’ or ‘wilderness vs. civilization’ dyads. Ultimately, urban colonists hoped to embrace the rural nature of their surroundings to make their ‘cities in the wilderness’ more accessible, healthy places.
Atlantic Studies: Global Currents, 2013
This article investigates the tavern interactions of colonial elites to gain a deeper understandi... more This article investigates the tavern interactions of colonial elites to gain a deeper understanding of the multiple meanings of cosmopolitanism in the eighteenth century. It reveals that the pursuit of cosmopolitanism helped colonial gentlemen entrench their own notions of social exclusion and national superiority to become “citizens of the world.” Such an identity was indeed based upon genteel conceptions of exclusivity and nationalism as much as – if not more than – the goal of a wider humanism. Gentlemen's experiences in taverns – perhaps the most widespread, accessible, and globally-connected public spaces in the colonies – highlight the complications and opportunities of cosmopolitanism in the eighteenth-century British American colonies as well as providing an informative lens through which to understand larger processes of Enlightenment, globalization, social conflict, and gentility. Aspiring cosmopolites could barricade themselves in private tavern rooms (well-stocked with books, maps, prints, and consumer goods) to engage in sophisticated clubs, debate cosmopolitan matters with men from across the globe, sip exotic beverages such as coffee, tea, chocolate, and wine, and above all distinguish themselves as separate, superior members of the world community. Ultimately, this article reveals that colonial gentlemen utilized taverns to adjust cosmopolitanism to fit their goals of gentility and exclusivity.
Early American Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 2016
Although colonial American spaces of genteel leisure like taverns, theaters, and coffeehouses hav... more Although colonial American spaces of genteel leisure like taverns, theaters, and coffeehouses have recently received considerable scholarly attention, mineral spas have largely eluded historical analysis. Those historians who have studied colonial spas have primarily used these spaces to uncover the roots of American republicanism, technological development, and changing perceptions of early modern cleanliness. But America’s mineral waters have more to reveal. In particular, these supposedly healing waters provide important insights into British imperialists’ efforts at mediating seemingly contradictory notions of civilization and wilderness. While a significant body of literature has shown that Europeans altered the natural world around them for personal gain, their interaction with mineral springs demonstrates how these imperialists adjusted themselves, as well as the environment, to suit their ideals of bodily health, scientific advancement, and imperial development. Thus, while mineral springs became key spaces to exploit both the natural world and Native American assets, the waters also became part of a larger civilizing mission dependent upon Europeans’ ability to modify their own principles and thrive in a strange New World.
Journal of Social History, 2016
George Whitefield's ability to enthrall audiences through a potent combination of drama, religiou... more George Whitefield's ability to enthrall audiences through a potent combination of drama, religious rhetoric, and imperial pride is well documented, as is the Hallam Theater Company's successful mid-eighteenth century tour of North America. Yet, as historian Odai Johnson recently asserted, scholars have almost always placed the two performers (and the larger movements they represented) in opposition. This article demonstrates that George Whitefield and Lewis Hallam Sr.—lead purveyors of the pulpit and the stage in mid-eighteenth century colonial America—should be understood as mutual contributors to the development of early American performance and, ultimately, professional theater. Both rose to prominence during a specific period (the mid-eighteenth century) in a specific place (the British American colonies) for a shared reason: to use professional performance to entrance the most colonists as possible. Ultimately, Whitefield and Hallam were quite different men who, through common pursuit of fame in North America, demonstrated just how much theatricality and religion—despite imagining themselves as oppositional forces—became entangled by the mid-eighteenth century.
Journal of Early American History, 2015
Book Reviews by Vaughn Scribner
Journal of Southern History, 2016
Papers by Vaughn Scribner
Eighteenth-Century Studies
Early American Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal
Early Modern Literature in History, 2021
Itinerario, 2017
While a thick vein of scepticism marked Enlightenment thinkers’ studies, such investigations cann... more While a thick vein of scepticism marked Enlightenment thinkers’ studies, such investigations cannot be divorced from their concurrent quest to merge the wondrous and the rational. Perhaps nowhere is this more apparent than in philosophers’ investigations of merpeople. Examining European gentlemen’s debates over mermaids and tritons illuminate their willingness to embrace wonder in their larger quest to understand the origins of humankind. Naturalists utilized a wide range of methodologies to critically study these seemingly wondrous creatures and, in turn, assert the reality of merpeople as evidence of humanity’s aquatic roots. As with other creatures they encountered in their global travels, European philosophers utilized various theories—including those of racial, biological, taxonomical, and geographic difference—to understand merpeople’s place in the natural world. By the second half of the eighteenth century, certain thinkers integrated merpeople into their explanation of human...
Urban History, 2017
ABSTRACT: Privately owned, for-profit, seasonal, walled-off venues that boasted a variety of flor... more ABSTRACT: Privately owned, for-profit, seasonal, walled-off venues that boasted a variety of flora and fauna in addition to other services like stages, buildings, thespians, musicians, exhibits and victuals, New York City's Vauxhall and Ranelagh commercial pleasure gardens blossomed by the mid-eighteenth century. An in-depth analysis of these pleasure gardens not only contributes to how we understand colonists’ endeavours to support a more complete leisure sector, but also reveals the nuanced nature of the ‘rural vs. urban’ or ‘wilderness vs. civilization’ dyads. Ultimately, urban colonists hoped to embrace the rural nature of their surroundings to make their ‘cities in the wilderness’ more accessible, healthy places.
Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, 2017
Shima: The International Journal of Research into Island Cultures
Beginning in the mid-19th Century, American boosters, business owners, and city planners fostered... more Beginning in the mid-19th Century, American boosters, business owners, and city planners fostered various mermaid-themed/named destinations. In doing so, these men and women contributed to the modern American tourism complex, which relied upon Americans’ efforts to commodify the natural world for market purposes and, in turn, distinguish their locales among a burgeoning network of tourist destinations. This article details 19th Century attempts to mermaid brand particular locations and, subsequently, the development of mermaid themed tourist attractions in the 20th and early 21st centuries.
Shima: The International Journal of Research into Island Cultures
This article builds upon recent research on early modern Anglo-American maritime culture to demon... more This article builds upon recent research on early modern Anglo-American maritime culture to demonstrate how mariners used shared mermaid iconography (such as spaces, symbolism, objects, superstitions, and songs) to cultivate an ‘imagined community’ that linked their lives at sea to that on land, and vice versa. Ships and taverns were key to such efforts, as these public spheres – themselves branded by mermaid iconography – served as well-recognised nodes of maritime identity-ways. Ultimately, early modern Anglo-American sailors claimed mermaid iconography as critical symbols of maritime culture that transcended space and time, thereby helping diverse constituents of global empires to create connections wherever they travelled.
History: Reviews of New Books
emphasize only that he is thankful for his health. While at Libby Prison, he condemns Confederate... more emphasize only that he is thankful for his health. While at Libby Prison, he condemns Confederate authorities for the lack of shelter provided enlisted captives at nearby Belle Isle, but, when his captors later threaten to treat returned officer escapees like enlisted prisoners, he sees the pending policy change as more insulting than dangerous. Escape was possible at Libby and the outdoor compounds where Weaver endured. Guards could be bribed, but he knew that most escapees were either caught and returned or shot, so he did not try. Even in the worst conditions, he read voraciously—everything from Virgil to Bulwer-Lytton, with Shakespeare the apparent favorite—received mail, sometimes wrote several letters a day, and supplemented his issued rations with food purchased from locals. While at Libby, he also received food from the North courtesy of the US Sanitary Commission, although southerners often punctured the cans so that the contents would spoil. Weaver’s worst enemy was not the fighting southerner. Writing about when J.E.B. Stuart visits Libby, the diarist remarks only that Stuart is “a pretty good looking officer” (111). Nor does Weaver aim any diatribes at the hoi polloi; once the general prisoner exchange of February 1865 began, diary entries highlight the Unionist sentiments of North Carolinians, often suggesting that those sentiments were more genuine than situational. Soon after his crossing back into Union lines on March 1, any residual hard feelings that might have survived disappear from a narrative more focused on a general sense of relief and having enough to eat. It is the wartime bombast of southern politicians and editors that draws Weaver’s harshest criticism. Richmond newspapers, including the anti-Davis Daily Examiner, offer the most inviting targets. Writing of hints that the enforced starvation of Union prisoners is being considered, Weaver notes only that cooler heads have prevailed so far. Having read that Nathan Bedford Forrest’s command had killed negro prisoners at Fort Pillow and that a certain Richmond editor thought too many prisoners had been taken, Weaver sneers that “[t]he stay at home Gen’ls are for the Black Flag” (110). Contempt only turns to hope when editor Edward A. Pollard is captured en route to England. “Oh that he may reap the reward of his treason,” muses Weaver (120). Perhaps because Weaver’s repatriation happened incrementally, the last few entries comprise a denouement without a climax. Once he was back in Pennsylvania and connecting with prewar acquaintances, there is little indication of the post-traumatic stress and alienation that post–Vietnam era readers would expect. Instead, even with that era’s socially ingrained reserve taken into account, we see a veteran who is genuinely relieved to be alive and healthy. Free of what Frank L. Byrne has termed the polishing of Union captivity accounts that surfaced 1865–1900, Weaver’s neither waves a bloody shirt nor reconciles. Such equanimity makes for healthy historiography, too.
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Peer-Reviewed Articles by Vaughn Scribner
Book Reviews by Vaughn Scribner
Papers by Vaughn Scribner