The Victorians: They Never Went Away
Carol Dyhouse questions some of the assertions made by John Gardiner in his 1999 article about the Victorians.
I have often found myself thinking about historians and a fear of loss. Ruefully, I have to admit that my working habits must look obsessive to many people. Formed in a pre-digital age, I have acquired roomfuls of paperwork, card-index systems, box files and books. The loss of this archive is a threatening thought. Again, like many historians, I am involved in a fair amount of conservation work and have gone through countless battles to try to save and protect historic buildings, archives and artefacts. Those less keen on heritage often accuse conservationists of stuffiness and of an inability to ‘let go of the past’. There could be much delving into psychology as well as philosophy here.
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