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!