Petitions in Social History (International Review of Social History Supplements (No. 9))

On 31 December 1870, the Swiss philosopher, Henri-Frédéric Amiel (1821–1881), petitioned the municipal authorities of Geneva on behalf of his neighbours and himself. They lived in a street called the Rue des Belles Filles (“beautiful girls' street”) and wanted to have the name of their street changed because it alluded to prostitutes. This is just one among a multitude of historical facts that have come down to us because humble (or not so humble) suppliants put them on paper in the form of a petition, and the authorities to which these petitions were addressed took care to preserve them. Writing petitions was a common human experience. “Everybody is free to write petitions and have a drink of water”, as a traditional German saying would have it. However, as opposed to drinking water, writing petitions is an act which produces historical sources, many of which have survived. The aim of this volume is to give an overview of their importance as sources for social history. Voices From Among The Silent Masses/ Andreas Würgler -- Supplications Between Politics And Justice / Cecilia Nubola -- Power Of Petitions : Women And The New Hampshire Provincial Government, 1695-1700 / Marcia Schmidt Blaine -- Officially Solicited Petitions / Gilbert Shapiro And John Markoff -- Revolt, Testimony, Petition : Artisanal Protests In Colonial Andhra / Potukuchi Swarnalatha -- Deference And Defiance : The Changing Nature Of Petitioning In British Naval Dockyards / Kenn Lunn And Ann Day -- Petitions And The Social Context Of Political Mobilization In The Revolution Of 1848/49 : A Microhistorical Actor-centered Network Analysis / Carola Lipp And Lothar Krempel -- Image Of Jews In Byelorussia : Petitions As A Source For Popular Consciousness In The Early Twentieth Century / Oleg G. Bukhovets -- Begging The Sages Of The Party-state : Citizenship And Government In Transition In Nationalist China, 1927-1937 / Rebecca Nedostup And Liang Hong-ming -- Private Matters : Family And Race And The Post-world-war-ii Translation Of American / Nancy K. Ota. Edited By Lex Heerma Van Voss. Includes Bibliographical References. This book looks at petitions over the last five centuries to reconstruct the lives and opinions of "humble" petitioners. Since Pharaonic times, governments have allowed their subjects to voice opinions in the form of petitions, which have demanded a favor or the redressment of an injustice. To be effective, a petition had to mention the request, usually a motivation and always the name or names of the petitioners. As a result, grievances of ordinary people which were not written down anywhere else are now stored safely in the archives of the authorities to which the petitions were addressed. The petitions considered in this book, which come from all over the globe, offer rich and valuable sources for social historians. This book looks at petitions over the last five centuries to reconstruct the lives and opinions of 'humble' petitioners. Since Pharaonic times, governments have allowed their subjects to voice opinions in the form of petitions, which have demanded a favour or the redressment of an injustice. To be effective, a petition had to mention the request, usually a motivation and always the name or names of the petitioners. As a result, grievances of ordinary people which were not written down anywhere else are now stored safely in the archives of the authorities to which the petitions were addressed. The petitions considered in this book, which come from all over the globe, offer rich and valuable sources for social historians This book looks at petitions from all over the globe over the last five centuries to reconstruct the lives and opinions of 'humble' petitioners. The grievances of ordinary people, stored by the authorities to which they were submitted, are now rich and valuable sources for social historians.