Another epiphany

It dawned on me today that reading David Coke’s beautfiul coffee table style book on the history of the Vauxhall Gardens has solidifed a very abstract idea for me.  Well not an idea more of a skill – a thinking skill.  I mean the ability to read an old document or source and discover things other than what the text actually says.

Coke’s book is written using the same archives that I researched in London and as I have been reading the light globe has gone on several times.  I have recalled reading a particular passage or fact or reference that Coke uses in his book and can see how he has drawn the conclusions that he has.

This mightn’t seem like that big a deal but for an apprentice Historian this is epic!

 

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