I wrote a dissertation in 2008 and two tips I got that were super helpful: cite your references as you use them so you don’t have to type them up all at once, and treat it like a job that you try to work on every day so you don’t feel overwhelmed! Cheers!
Wow Julie, you could write the best historical novel with all the information Alberta has left for her decedents. How wonderful for her to have done that.. How wonderful for the whole family to have these treasures from the past.
As a past history major I love history research so much. Sharing this with us is so fascinating. I did get nervous seeing the cup of tea so close to the crowded precious documents.😬
I rarely catch your videos with my schedule. I am a Ph.D. student. I think your sharing of English history is absolutely fabulous. Congratulations on your dissertation and on building a successful channel where you preserve history.
Julie, I was SO happy to see you doing a video on Alberta! You've encouraged me to start looking at certain family members and to delve into their life story! You can see how much you truly enjoy what you're doing! Your passion for history, and for your family is amazing! Thank you for including us in your journey of learning about Alberta!!!! You would be a splendid history teacher in school!
I find this fascinating on so many levels! I’m not sure if this is extra special as these archives are unveiling such treasures, or if it’s just that your enthusiasm and respect is extraordinary on an intellectual as well as emotional level. Thank you for sharing this Julie. What a legacy this research is unfolding for your family to enjoy for generations.
This was wonderful! I’m so glad you’re taking us all along on this journey. I am fascinated by Alberta and her story. A complex and layered woman, in many ways ahead of her time. Which probably made her journey all that much harder. I’m very drawn to her story..and can’t wait for the next installment ❤
Julie, Alberta’s letter to her aunt that you can’t find, where she may have expressed misgivings about her impending marriage… that letter may have been destroyed by Alberta herself. She was very aware that all of the letters that she saved were a loving gift to her descendants and to history. After the marriage, I believe that she did indeed grow to love her husband. She wouldn’t want him to see the letter, and be hurt by it. She also wouldn’t want her children and grandchildren to think that she was pushed into marriage to a man she didn’t love. If she got the letter back from her aunt, it probably found it’s way into one of Hinchingbrook’s fireplaces. Once she started compiling her letters, she may have been quite a bit older, and she realized that her cold feet were a fleeting emotion.
Hi Julie, this journey is going to be exciting I can't wait to see what treasures you find in her writings, maybe some mystery and intrigue we will have to wait and see. You have so much material for your dissertation it's going to be amazing. I will be tuning in whenever you post, I can't wait to hear how this ends. Love from N.Y.
Thank you for allowing us to join you on your research journey. I love history for what it can highlight that is lost. I hope you have some pleasant surprises along the way, but also discover answers that the family always had about her & the family.
As a longtime follower of Vedanta through sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivikananda, I often enjoyed afternoons at the Swami's beautiful and serene headquarters at Belur Math on the banks of the Hoogly (Ganges) during my happy years working with Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity in surprisingly wonderful Calcutta. So pleased, Julie, that we share this connection.
I wish you the best on starting your dissertation. I wrote mine while much younger, but pregnant and a new mom. You have so many responsibilities that I am in awe that you have the drive to do this. You go!
Hello from Edmonton, Kentucky, U.S.A. Family history is such an absorbing activity. It’s like Alice going down the rabbit hole, and finding many, many side tunnels just waiting to be explored. Alberta would have been an age-peer of my GrampaHart’s oldest brothers. Going through my Mom&Dad’s house after their passing, we came across all kinds of books with the different brother’s names inscribed on the inside page. These books are surprisingly intact considering their age and them being stored in a cardboard box in my parents’ attic since 1975, and in my grandparents’ attic from (?) until moving to town from the family farm in 1958.
This is so amazing! Kate S B was a grand lady who was a patron of the Arts Institute. Love that Solomon’swife helped runaway slaves according to a link about the Sturgis ladies in Lake Geneva. Such a wonderful choice for your dissertation. I’ve sat on several committees. This is exciting. Well done, you!
I just love this. History is fascinating. I started my love of England with the historical fiction, THE KINGS GREY MARE. I have been an anglophile ever since.
I work with archives for a living, and properly scanning/storing your historic documents is very important, but equally important is to make sure your database (or however you end up designing it) is set up in a way that makes sense for anyone at any time in the future, to locate information they're looking for. Scanning a bunch of papers in is one thing, but you want to capture as much metadata as you can, regarding things like the date, who the item is regarding, who it's written by (if it's a letter or something similar), what the situation is etc. For instance, if there was work done on the kitchen say, and you have a letter between 2 people about it, and an invoice, and a blueprint, you're going to want to be able to find all those things if you're looking for something about the actual work that was done, but another search might be for something like a party that happened the month before, where the stove broke, and who was at the party that didn't get their dinner, who was the head cook at the time who had to deal with that, what were they going to serve that they couldn't, how long they were without a kitchen, how quickly they were able to repair it, etc. Data is fantastic at saying this item at this time by this person, but the *story* comes from compiling the different data points, which you will have a much harder time finding if the metadata isn't thorough and well thought-out. One of the things that I want to make sure to mention, because I'm not sure everyone thinks of it, is that you want all the text in all your documents to be searchable, not just the subject metadata. It will help you locate something that may have been mislabeled (banish the thought), but also see links you may not have been aware of before. This means that the handwritten and poor-quality typed documents would probably need to be transcribed, but anything with clear text and of course anything digital, the text can be recognized automatically by your program. Another example is what's happened at Mapperton over the past 10 years. If you organize the digital archive well, someone 150 years from now will be able to see what Luke's parents did with Mapperton before Luke and Julie took over the running of it, what Luke and Julie did up until 2020, what happened with the pandemic, what they decided to do with UA-cam, why they decided to do it, what their lives were like before and how they changed, how making videos impacted their ability to make the changes and repairs. You could/should even include examples of what is being served at the café each year, information about how you've started making Mapperton cider, how hands-on Luke and Julie are with their various projects, the plans re the re-wilding... Future generations will no doubt be VERY thankful to have such detail. It brings history to life! It's a lot of work to do it well, but once it's done it's done, and a lot of it can be semi-automated for the current information (re the process), making the process easy to keep up with.
Thank you for this information! I have read through it 3x. yes, I've had conversations about meta data and we will most certainly do this if we can find the funding. Question: If there is clear handwriting in the letters, will the programme be able to then scan and put into a digital text?
@@AmericanViscountess I believe it depends on the handwriting. There's been great strides in developing software that can read handwriting, but handwriting varies so much that it's difficult to say for sure for any one person's hand, without testing it. We use "OCR-capable" software at work, so that's a place to start. There are also programs that you can "train" to recognize certain scripts. I'm not sure how accurate they would be for all handwriting (like doctor-type scribbles!), but if you made sure to check anything that's been processed for errors, and then correct them, over time it should become pretty reliable for that person's writing. Definitely worth taking the time, for someone as important as Alberta to the Montagu family. In addition to working with records/archives for the past 20 years, I'm also quite experienced in working with ancestry searches, since I've been digging into mine for about 15 years, so feel free to pick my brain. :)
@@celticlass8573 Really good information. Thank you. I can read some letter and others I find very difficult and therefore, takes much more time to simply read one letter and there are thousands..... Will look into the OCR-Capable software. thank you!!!
@@AmericanViscountess Oh and for the documents that are difficult to read because they're faint for example, a good archiving program should allow you to adjust a bunch of settings, to hopefully bring that information up and make it readable. Faint writing/typing is a pain in the butt! Stop with the pencil people! LOL
Absolutely fascinating and I so appreciate you sharing this process and history with us! Going now to watch your second instalment on Alberta that you have just recently posted-so excited.
Buckingham Fountain is iconic for us Chicagoans! I have such fond memories of visiting there as a child and then all through my life until I moved to Ireland 6 years ago. What a cool connection!
Julie, what a fascinating story and history. How lucky you are to have all these documented letters. Thanks for taking us along for your research. I’m in Chicago…if you need any additional information I can check and see what the Newberry Library might have on Alberta. They have a whole genealogy floor 😍
As a former executive director of a history museum in Virginia, I’m familiar with the task of scanning and digitizing an archive. Please know you don’t need a grant for thousands or hire specialists to do it for you. Equipment (scanner, software and hardware) has become quite affordable. I think you could easily crowd fund the purchases by your followers. Then, scan the documents as you examine them for your dissertation. It will be part of the process and having the records digitized will make your research and writing so much easier. The archivists have done the hard work of organizing and storing the archive, the scanning is the last and easiest step. Call around to local history archives, make an appointment to viSit a few, gather their opinions on best SW and HW to use, ask for demonstrations, make your decisions, then launch the crowd funding, and go! Allthe best!
Thank you Karen! This is SO helpful! I have a meeting on Thursday with our local archive county council so that is one of the questions I will be asking. And then yes, crowdfunding is such a great idea! thank you!
@@AmericanViscountess You are very welcome. If I lived on your side of the pond I would volunteer to help with project. Perhaps there is a college history major, or two, who needs to fulfill degree requirements and could intern at Mapperton to help with the project. PS I married a MacLeod, so it was nice to hear of the clan relationship., My husband’s ancestors emigrated as farmers and craftsmen to Novia Scotia after 1745, while yours were among the first colonists to the future US.
What a wonderful time I’ve had listening to your research. I hope you will continue to allow us to travel with you down this road of discovery. The letters from Swami Vivekananda have really gotten my interest. Stay warm! Currently 73* here in Louisiana, USA.
Thank you very much for this very interesting live! I lovvveee history and especially on social and cultural aspects. Your way of speaking and explaining the material is very good and I will look more on the internet about Alberta and your family. Happy new year✨
It must be chilly in the room, all bundled up! Lol Happy studies! I would love to study country houses!! They have no classes in the states in this area of study 😐
OK this is so random--I just got to the point where Julie showed Buckingham fountain, and in my head I heard the theme song from Married With Children, which was odd to say the least, so I looked it up...and that's the fountain in the intro LOL.
16:29 those cuttings look like the same type of cuttings in old rolodex pages. I've never seen cuttings like that outside of a rolodex. For those who do not know what a rolodex is think index cards mounted on a spinning wheel. To my knowledge they were commonly used for storage of phone numbers and addresses.
Oh I missed the news that you were going live on this topic. I am an art history major and looking at studying my MA in England (possibly the English Country Estates program too). I am alway so interested in Alberta and her story so thank you for sharing!!!
I continue to be so mesmerized by your channel and archive research. Perhaps there would be a grant from Yale’s Beineke Library or The Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. They both have priceless, extensive archives of families. I have two research studies on file at New York City Board of Education. Would be happy to help.
Just for more history info Kate Sturges Buckingham never married or had children. That was her birth name. She was the daughter of Ebenezer and Lucy Sturges Buckingham. I loved going through this search with you.
I love that you share this with us.. What a wonderful novel it would all make. Lord knows the world needs a good book for a change, instead of whinging & complaining moan fest like some people put out.
34:32 Beatrice from Dante’s Divine Comedy. She is the woman who, in her maidenhood and motherhood, inspires all men to rise to the spheres of heaven through penitence and self reflection.
Thank you for sharing your research! This is fascinating, and I can understand your deep connection to Alberta. Her scrapbook made me wonder whether she supported the women’s suffrage movement in the UK. Have you done research on your side of the family?
This is such a fascinating story of Alberta's life at a time that women were questioning their role and rights in society. Julie would you explain in a future video why Alberta was writing to her husband, were they often separated. Thank you for sharing all of this amazing information.
I noticed some of the papers had paperclips to put them together. They can be damaging and are not recommended for good preservation. You might need to look into what to use instead
It would be interesting to know why she waited so long to be married. Wonder if the right settlement was not found or if she just didn't want to be married. So interesting. Love history.
Lenore Chaney is references in an article by June E Hunter, Feninism, Women’s Rights, and The SuufrGe Movement in Brazil, 1850 - 1932. It is listed through Jstor, so you should be able to access it through your school online library links
Just an FYI I looked up Alberta and her cousin Kate and I wanted to share with you that Kate’s MOTHER was a Sturges and gave her maiden name to Kate as her middle name. This was a very common practice in that time period. Also another tidbit that Kate never married.
Thank you for including us on this journey. Just a thought, did you find any references to why many referred to Alberta as “Albert”? You do seem to connect to her thoughts of the loss of identity and self determination by being married. However, I do wonder if it extends beyond a disdain for marriage to an idea of what life would be like as a man? Those kinds of thoughts could never have been expressed in her time but she clearly expressed something similar in her scrapbook.
You have expressed my thoughts exactly. So sorry AV effectively shot it down. You should follow a road wherever the research leads when writing a dissertation. It will be interesting to see. If she lets the blinkers come off.
I wonder if “induction” refers to a ritual in which a devotee commits to the vision of Sri Ramakrishna. I was initiated into that order but maybe initiation = induction. 🤔 Absolutely LOVE that you share this with us!
If I can help provide references for Sw. Vivekananda, I would be happy to do what I can. I have lots of materials on him here at home or you could speak with my guru at the Chicago ashram.
as an Art Historian i must say i am always horrified when i see museums handle things sans gloves-so YES DO please wear gloves-oil from the hands not a good thing-we are just a blink in time-protect everything for your grandchildren and others-as an American expat i think you are GREAT and love all your work and how you stand up to xenophobia-which i know well is off the charts- without batting an eye-my grand parents were Kings of England and Denmark and The Prince and Princess of Wales of course-trying hard to do this same work for them-your husband chose one of our best
Hiya, sorry if it's already been mentioned but Alberta learning piano scales (mentioned in the letter from the Swami to Alberta in 1895) at 18 is a bit late, traditionally children learnt much earlier - or is it different in USA? If not different - did Alberta come to learn late due to other hobbies, was she frustrated in not learning when younger, did she enjoy playing or was it something she pursued to accompany her imparting education to others? It's just a tiny thing but it might open up other avenues of Alberta's life before marriage. Lenore E Chaney was an author , her husband Osborne E. Chaney was a journalist & magazine publisher - researched on Tellers of Weird Tales blogspot written 2011... Lenore E. Chaney's Story in Weird Tales "White Man's Madness" (Jan. 1925) Further Reading Lenore's story, "The Bowes Street House," is available on Google Books. Lenore Edith Johnstone Chaney was born on December 6, 1881, in Pittsfield, Illinois. Her husband was a businessman and onetime president of the Amador Mother Lode Mining Company. That concern was still in business in 1935. During the 1920s, Lenore Chaney was involved in California politics, serving as campaign manager for Friend W. Richardson, governor between 1923 and 1927. She also lobbied for passage of the California Community Protection Act. In later life, she became a real estate broker in Walnut Creek, retiring in 1960 to Pacific Grove. Lenore E. Chaney died on April 27, 1972.
Not subscribed any longer. How do you decide who to heart and who to ignore? I’ve wasted too much time watching this when I could’ve been creating art, restoring art, or digitizing media. Sometimes when someone gives you advice they actually know what they’re talking about. It’s called killing the goose that laid the golden egg. I think that your work is impressive, you are working through a volume of information that might break some people. Good luck on your dissertation. My husband said I was a petulant brat because I didn’t get a heart. He thinks Luke is hysterical and said resubscribe.
Perhaps the Beatrice is St. Beatrice. It is my understanding that St. Beatrice was imprisoned in a tiny cell by a jealous queen. Beatrice ultimately escaped the cell.
When you say that Alberta was devoted to the service of others, what specifically do you mean? What type of service did she routinely engage in, to whom did she routinely offer that service and how frequently was it offered?
Please let us know how the grant process goes. As a trained archivist, this is fascinating! Could you at least make the finding aid available somehow until you are able to get the rest digitized? When it comes to gloves - use discretion. Sometimes they can cause more damage to fragile paper because you can’t feel what you are doing. Washing your hands before you start and as you go is a good way to make sure you don’t get all the oils etc on the paper. If I weren’t an ocean away I’d want to do this myself!!
I've been following AV and am a Patron, but I hadn't looked into Alberta and her family until today. I realized I had seen something about her a couple years ago. The thing that struck a familiar chord was the Swami. Was she featured in a documentary around 5+ years ago?
Swami Vivekananda spoke at the Parliament of Religions, held in Chicago on 7/30 1893 at the Art Institute of Chicago. The hall still exists largely as it was. A plaque with his picture and an explanation of his importance is just outside the hall. It is often visited by visitors who are followers of the Swami.
HI Julie, how do you manage all this ( the manor, the evenst, the house in Italy, the family, the yoga classes? A dissertation on top? When do you sleep?
Was Alberta or her mother a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution? In order to join they had to do genealogical research. Not sure but this may aid in your research. Also, you mentioned Alberta's mother being unhappy with New York society. At that time, in NY, there was the list know as The Four Hundred. It was the creme-de-la-creme of society recognized by Caroline Astor. Could it be this affected Alberta's mother's decision making process or attitude? And finally, I remember in the movie, The Unsinkable Molly Brown with Debbie Reynolds, she went to Europe as she was shunned by Denver society. A minister told her to go to Europe where she would be better accepted. I think the acceptance fell more in line with her being something of a wealthy novelty for European aristocratic interest. I not sure how much this movie aligned with the prevailing culture of the day.
Victorian era: everyone saves their letters. Modern era: your emails and text messages can be discovered if necessary. I just love the angle that you're diving into this world that you don't come from but are fascinated with. *Please* work on replacing that "munament" random storage room with a proper climate-controlled archive somehow. Even if you have to loan the documents to a major university and/or museum, and work out of there. Or create a proper document storage room (tempurature and humidity controlled) to function as the estate's munament room going forward. It's not that hard, just takes a closed basement room and an air conditioner (not for the coolness so much as the dryness, but also the coolness). But keeping these records in a random room and calling that the "munament" room is a frighteningly sad approach towards preserving something that's very important, historically speaking, and that's what seems to have been happening so far. While we're at it, *please* digitize/scan every page you can find there at high resolution, both front and back, and upload them all to to one or more thumb drives (plus an open cloud storage service). You've probably got enough documents there that it would be more cost-efficient to buy a large-plate scanner and then do them all, rather than to transport each of them down to whatever your "Kinko's" equivalent is there. I realize I'm asking a lot of work from you Julie, but you're the one putting it out there that this is your jam. You could also hire someone to work the scanner, if necessary. I'm just suggesting how to do it up proper. Once every page is digitized and available, we (you, me, all your fans, everyone in the world, plus all current and future historians) will have the rest of our lives to dig through and discuss those pages. Your work connecting ancient British noble titles to modern online media could be the cross-over point. Just scan and upload that data dump, and let the fanbase you've built take it from there. It would kinda be the ultimate "disruption" of the history industry! And if you think that's talking out of turn, the fact is you're skipping past what biogaphers or future historians would have otherwise said about your husband, and instead showing the world what a goofball sense of humor he has. Imagine if the 3rd or 4th Earl had a wife like you uploading live videos of what a dork that guy was is in person. The Earldom might never have survived. That all said, Luke is adorable, and totally worthy of bearing the burden of the title, and of passing it on.
Donate to the Alberta Research Project here: www.buymeacoffee.com/juliejmontagu
I wrote a dissertation in 2008 and two tips I got that were super helpful: cite your references as you use them so you don’t have to type them up all at once, and treat it like a job that you try to work on every day so you don’t feel overwhelmed! Cheers!
Great tip!
Wow Julie, you could write the best historical novel with all the information Alberta has left for her decedents. How wonderful for her to have done that..
How wonderful for the whole family to have these treasures from the past.
As a past history major I love history research so much. Sharing this with us is so fascinating. I did get nervous seeing the cup of tea so close to the crowded precious documents.😬
Yes, I was super careful throughout. :-)
A side table might be nice. When I'm super careful, I usually make a mess.
Me too. Terrible things can happen. Id keep it on the sideboard behind.
I rarely catch your videos with my schedule. I am a Ph.D. student. I think your sharing of English history is absolutely fabulous. Congratulations on your dissertation and on building a successful channel where you preserve history.
Julie, I was SO happy to see you doing a video on Alberta! You've encouraged me to start looking at certain family members and to delve into their life story! You can see how much you truly enjoy what you're doing! Your passion for history, and for your family is amazing! Thank you for including us in your journey of learning about Alberta!!!! You would be a splendid history teacher in school!
I find this fascinating on so many levels! I’m not sure if this is extra special as these archives are unveiling such treasures, or if it’s just that your enthusiasm and respect is extraordinary on an intellectual as well as emotional level. Thank you for sharing this Julie. What a legacy this research is unfolding for your family to enjoy for generations.
This was wonderful! I’m so glad you’re taking us all along on this journey. I am fascinated by Alberta and her story. A complex and layered woman, in many ways ahead of her time. Which probably made her journey all that much harder. I’m very drawn to her story..and can’t wait for the next installment ❤
Julie, Alberta’s letter to her aunt that you can’t find, where she may have expressed misgivings about her impending marriage… that letter may have been destroyed by Alberta herself.
She was very aware that all of the letters that she saved were a loving gift to her descendants and to history. After the marriage, I believe that she did indeed grow to love her husband. She wouldn’t want him to see the letter, and be hurt by it. She also wouldn’t want her children and grandchildren to think that she was pushed into marriage to a man she didn’t love. If she got the letter back from her aunt, it probably found it’s way into one of Hinchingbrook’s fireplaces. Once she started compiling her letters, she may have been quite a bit older, and she realized that her cold feet were a fleeting emotion.
I'm looking at those tomorrow. So I'll do a LIVE session next week. It's all very exciting!
I wondered exactly the same thing.
I love your love live chats, your interest in history & your show American Viscountess!
Centuries of Rich history had ‘LIFE’ breathed into it and therefore it came ALIVE. Thanks to JULIE ❤
Hi Julie, this journey is going to be exciting I can't wait to see what treasures you find in her writings, maybe some mystery and intrigue we will have to wait and see. You have so much material for your dissertation it's going to be amazing. I will be tuning in whenever you post, I can't wait to hear how this ends. Love from N.Y.
SUCH a great idea, Julie, to bring us along with you! Really fun!
Thank you for allowing us to join you on your research journey. I love history for what it can highlight that is lost. I hope you have some pleasant surprises along the way, but also discover answers that the family always had about her & the family.
Thank you so much for allowing us to take this journey with you. 🙏❤️
As a longtime follower of Vedanta through sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivikananda, I often enjoyed afternoons at the Swami's beautiful and serene headquarters at Belur Math on the banks of the Hoogly (Ganges) during my happy years working with Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity in surprisingly wonderful Calcutta. So pleased, Julie, that we share this connection.
This is amazing Jeffrey! More over at Patreon soon!
I wish you the best on starting your dissertation. I wrote mine while much younger, but pregnant and a new mom. You have so many responsibilities that I am in awe that you have the drive to do this. You go!
Hello from Edmonton, Kentucky, U.S.A.
Family history is such an absorbing activity. It’s like Alice going down the rabbit hole, and finding many, many side tunnels just waiting to be explored.
Alberta would have been an age-peer of my GrampaHart’s oldest brothers. Going through my Mom&Dad’s house after their passing, we came across all kinds of books with the different brother’s names inscribed on the inside page. These books are surprisingly intact considering their age and them being stored in a cardboard box in my parents’ attic since 1975, and in my grandparents’ attic from (?) until moving to town from the family farm in 1958.
This is so amazing! Kate S B was a grand lady who was a patron of the Arts Institute. Love that Solomon’swife helped runaway slaves according to a link about the Sturgis ladies in Lake Geneva. Such a wonderful choice for your dissertation. I’ve sat on several committees. This is exciting. Well done, you!
I just love this. History is fascinating. I started my love of England with the historical fiction, THE KINGS GREY MARE. I have been an anglophile ever since.
Enjoyed going on this dissertation journey. Alberta’s letters have so many questions around “why”.
I love that you are sharing this with us!
You are so welcome!
I work with archives for a living, and properly scanning/storing your historic documents is very important, but equally important is to make sure your database (or however you end up designing it) is set up in a way that makes sense for anyone at any time in the future, to locate information they're looking for. Scanning a bunch of papers in is one thing, but you want to capture as much metadata as you can, regarding things like the date, who the item is regarding, who it's written by (if it's a letter or something similar), what the situation is etc. For instance, if there was work done on the kitchen say, and you have a letter between 2 people about it, and an invoice, and a blueprint, you're going to want to be able to find all those things if you're looking for something about the actual work that was done, but another search might be for something like a party that happened the month before, where the stove broke, and who was at the party that didn't get their dinner, who was the head cook at the time who had to deal with that, what were they going to serve that they couldn't, how long they were without a kitchen, how quickly they were able to repair it, etc. Data is fantastic at saying this item at this time by this person, but the *story* comes from compiling the different data points, which you will have a much harder time finding if the metadata isn't thorough and well thought-out. One of the things that I want to make sure to mention, because I'm not sure everyone thinks of it, is that you want all the text in all your documents to be searchable, not just the subject metadata. It will help you locate something that may have been mislabeled (banish the thought), but also see links you may not have been aware of before. This means that the handwritten and poor-quality typed documents would probably need to be transcribed, but anything with clear text and of course anything digital, the text can be recognized automatically by your program.
Another example is what's happened at Mapperton over the past 10 years. If you organize the digital archive well, someone 150 years from now will be able to see what Luke's parents did with Mapperton before Luke and Julie took over the running of it, what Luke and Julie did up until 2020, what happened with the pandemic, what they decided to do with UA-cam, why they decided to do it, what their lives were like before and how they changed, how making videos impacted their ability to make the changes and repairs. You could/should even include examples of what is being served at the café each year, information about how you've started making Mapperton cider, how hands-on Luke and Julie are with their various projects, the plans re the re-wilding... Future generations will no doubt be VERY thankful to have such detail. It brings history to life! It's a lot of work to do it well, but once it's done it's done, and a lot of it can be semi-automated for the current information (re the process), making the process easy to keep up with.
Thank you for this information! I have read through it 3x. yes, I've had conversations about meta data and we will most certainly do this if we can find the funding. Question: If there is clear handwriting in the letters, will the programme be able to then scan and put into a digital text?
@@AmericanViscountess I believe it depends on the handwriting. There's been great strides in developing software that can read handwriting, but handwriting varies so much that it's difficult to say for sure for any one person's hand, without testing it. We use "OCR-capable" software at work, so that's a place to start. There are also programs that you can "train" to recognize certain scripts. I'm not sure how accurate they would be for all handwriting (like doctor-type scribbles!), but if you made sure to check anything that's been processed for errors, and then correct them, over time it should become pretty reliable for that person's writing. Definitely worth taking the time, for someone as important as Alberta to the Montagu family.
In addition to working with records/archives for the past 20 years, I'm also quite experienced in working with ancestry searches, since I've been digging into mine for about 15 years, so feel free to pick my brain. :)
@@celticlass8573 Really good information. Thank you. I can read some letter and others I find very difficult and therefore, takes much more time to simply read one letter and there are thousands..... Will look into the OCR-Capable software. thank you!!!
@@AmericanViscountess Welcome. :)
@@AmericanViscountess Oh and for the documents that are difficult to read because they're faint for example, a good archiving program should allow you to adjust a bunch of settings, to hopefully bring that information up and make it readable. Faint writing/typing is a pain in the butt! Stop with the pencil people! LOL
Incredibly interesting! Can't wait to hear what you find in the letters with her Aunt.
Absolutely fascinating and I so appreciate you sharing this process and history with us! Going now to watch your second instalment on Alberta that you have just recently posted-so excited.
Buckingham Fountain is iconic for us Chicagoans! I have such fond memories of visiting there as a child and then all through my life until I moved to Ireland 6 years ago. What a cool connection!
Julie, what a fascinating story and history. How lucky you are to have all these documented letters. Thanks for taking us along for your research. I’m in Chicago…if you need any additional information I can check and see what the Newberry Library might have on Alberta. They have a whole genealogy floor 😍
Would LOVE that!!!!
As a former executive director of a history museum in Virginia, I’m familiar with the task of scanning and digitizing an archive. Please know you don’t need a grant for thousands or hire specialists to do it for you. Equipment (scanner, software and hardware) has become quite affordable. I think you could easily crowd fund the purchases by your followers. Then, scan the documents as you examine them for your dissertation. It will be part of the process and having the records digitized will make your research and writing so much easier. The archivists have done the hard work of organizing and storing the archive, the scanning is the last and easiest step. Call around to local history archives, make an appointment to viSit a few, gather their opinions on best SW and HW to use, ask for demonstrations, make your decisions, then launch the crowd funding, and go! Allthe best!
Thank you Karen! This is SO helpful! I have a meeting on Thursday with our local archive county council so that is one of the questions I will be asking. And then yes, crowdfunding is such a great idea! thank you!
@@AmericanViscountess You are very welcome. If I lived on your side of the pond I would volunteer to help with project. Perhaps there is a college history major, or two, who needs to fulfill degree requirements and could intern at Mapperton to help with the project. PS I married a MacLeod, so it was nice to hear of the clan relationship., My husband’s ancestors emigrated as farmers and craftsmen to Novia Scotia after 1745, while yours were among the first colonists to the future US.
Congratulations on doing your masters! I did a masters degree in American Studies at age 56 at Pepperdine University and loved every minute of it.
THAT was really interesting! Thank you so much for sharing. Looking forward to the next installment.
Thank you for sharing Alberta’s story, I find it fascinating! Thoroughly looking forward to the next box!
What a wonderful time I’ve had listening to your research. I hope you will continue to allow us to travel with you down this road of discovery. The letters from Swami Vivekananda have really gotten my interest. Stay warm! Currently 73* here in Louisiana, USA.
Of course! Lots more to come!
Thank you very much for this very interesting live! I lovvveee history and especially on social and cultural aspects.
Your way of speaking and explaining the material is very good and I will look more on the internet about Alberta and your family.
Happy new year✨
It must be chilly in the room, all bundled up! Lol
Happy studies! I would love to study country houses!! They have no classes in the states in this area of study 😐
So interesting, thank you so much for sharing your process with us, I'll be following along and learning!
Watching form Charlotte NC USA. Good luck with your dissertation and journey. So interesting and I have no doubt educational.
One day I would love to do the glamping at Mapperton. Such great natural beauty everywhere.
Looking forward to the series of lives as you look at documents related to your dissertation
Thanks so much for sharing your journey!!!
Thanks for watching!
Congrats on starting this piece of your research process! I hope you find all that you need!
I hope so too!
so fascinating and thank you for sharing this source material that only you have! your dissertation can’t help but be a winner!
Fascinating Julie. I am very interested to see your research process, as I am researching and writing about my family too.
❤ this, thank you for sharing with us!
You are so welcome!
OK this is so random--I just got to the point where Julie showed Buckingham fountain, and in my head I heard the theme song from Married With Children, which was odd to say the least, so I looked it up...and that's the fountain in the intro LOL.
16:29 those cuttings look like the same type of cuttings in old rolodex pages. I've never seen cuttings like that outside of a rolodex. For those who do not know what a rolodex is think index cards mounted on a spinning wheel. To my knowledge they were commonly used for storage of phone numbers and addresses.
Fascinating just Fascinating. Watching from Brisbane Australia
Oh I missed the news that you were going live on this topic. I am an art history major and looking at studying my MA in England (possibly the English Country Estates program too). I am alway so interested in Alberta and her story so thank you for sharing!!!
Wonderful!
Sorry I missed the live stream 🙁 but glad the video is available 😊
I’m hooked. Looking forward to following along.
Wow, so fascinating about her faith.
I continue to be so mesmerized by your channel and archive research. Perhaps there would be a grant from Yale’s Beineke Library or The Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. They both have priceless, extensive archives of families. I have two research studies on file at New York City Board of Education. Would be happy to help.
Just for more history info
Kate Sturges Buckingham never married or had children. That was her birth name. She was the daughter of Ebenezer and Lucy Sturges Buckingham. I loved going through this search with you.
I love that you share this with us..
What a wonderful novel it would all make. Lord knows the world needs a good book for a change, instead of whinging & complaining moan fest like some people put out.
34:32 Beatrice from Dante’s Divine Comedy. She is the woman who, in her maidenhood and motherhood, inspires all men to rise to the spheres of heaven through penitence and self reflection.
VERY interesting!! This now makes sense. Thank you!
Hey Julie. Hope you had a Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year.....from Massachusetts. Best to Luke
Thank you! You too!
Thank you for sharing your research! This is fascinating, and I can understand your deep connection to Alberta. Her scrapbook made me wonder whether she supported the women’s suffrage movement in the UK. Have you done research on your side of the family?
She did indeed support it!
This is such a fascinating story of Alberta's life at a time that women were questioning their role and rights in society. Julie would you explain in a future video why Alberta was writing to her husband, were they often separated. Thank you for sharing all of this amazing information.
Love this!
I noticed some of the papers had paperclips to put them together. They can be damaging and are not recommended for good preservation. You might need to look into what to use instead
thank you!
Paperclips are TERRIBLE
Bucket list item, be able to sit with you as you go through these documents!
It would be interesting to know why she waited so long to be married. Wonder if the right settlement was not found or if she just didn't want to be married. So interesting. Love history.
Lenore Chaney is references in an article by June E Hunter, Feninism, Women’s Rights, and The SuufrGe Movement in Brazil, 1850 - 1932. It is listed through Jstor, so you should be able to access it through your school online library links
Just an FYI I looked up Alberta and her cousin Kate and I wanted to share with you that Kate’s MOTHER was a Sturges and gave her maiden name to Kate as her middle name. This was a very common practice in that time period. Also another tidbit that Kate never married.
I’m from Alberta Canada.. enough said! Lake Louise is close, 4 1/2 hours away by car.. there feels like a connection.
Named after Louise Alberta, daughter of the Queen, the black sheep of the family..
Thank you for including us on this journey. Just a thought, did you find any references to why many referred to Alberta as “Albert”? You do seem to connect to her thoughts of the loss of identity and self determination by being married. However, I do wonder if it extends beyond a disdain for marriage to an idea of what life would be like as a man? Those kinds of thoughts could never have been expressed in her time but she clearly expressed something similar in her scrapbook.
I think it was probably a nickname OR it was just typed out incorrectly....
You have expressed my thoughts exactly. So sorry AV effectively shot it down. You should follow a road wherever the research leads when writing a dissertation. It will be interesting to see. If she lets the blinkers come off.
I wonder if “induction” refers to a ritual in which a devotee commits to the vision of Sri Ramakrishna. I was initiated into that order but maybe initiation = induction. 🤔
Absolutely LOVE that you share this with us!
If I can help provide references for Sw. Vivekananda, I would be happy to do what I can. I have lots of materials on him here at home or you could speak with my guru at the Chicago ashram.
Congratulations 🎉
You should come visit Alberta Canada & especially Lake Louise.
as an Art Historian i must say i am always horrified when i see museums handle things sans gloves-so YES DO please wear gloves-oil from the hands not a good thing-we are just a blink in time-protect everything for your grandchildren and others-as an American expat i think you are GREAT and love all your work and how you stand up to xenophobia-which i know well is off the charts- without batting an eye-my grand parents were Kings of England and Denmark and The Prince and Princess of Wales of course-trying hard to do this same work for them-your husband chose one of our best
Hiya, sorry if it's already been mentioned but Alberta learning piano scales (mentioned in the letter from the Swami to Alberta in 1895) at 18 is a bit late, traditionally children learnt much earlier - or is it different in USA? If not different - did Alberta come to learn late due to other hobbies, was she frustrated in not learning when younger, did she enjoy playing or was it something she pursued to accompany her imparting education to others? It's just a tiny thing but it might open up other avenues of Alberta's life before marriage.
Lenore E Chaney was an author , her husband Osborne E. Chaney was a journalist & magazine publisher - researched on Tellers of Weird Tales blogspot written 2011...
Lenore E. Chaney's Story in Weird Tales
"White Man's Madness" (Jan. 1925)
Further Reading
Lenore's story, "The Bowes Street House," is available on Google Books.
Lenore Edith Johnstone Chaney was born on December 6, 1881, in Pittsfield, Illinois. Her husband was a businessman and onetime president of the Amador Mother Lode Mining Company. That concern was still in business in 1935.
During the 1920s, Lenore Chaney was involved in California politics, serving as campaign manager for Friend W. Richardson, governor between 1923 and 1927. She also lobbied for passage of the California Community Protection Act. In later life, she became a real estate broker in Walnut Creek, retiring in 1960 to Pacific Grove. Lenore E. Chaney died on April 27, 1972.
I hope you'll read us some of the letters someday!
Just reading Alberta’s Wiki page - which mentions twice that she was diarist…and says she was I’ll for 14 years!
Not subscribed any longer. How do you decide who to heart and who to ignore?
I’ve wasted too much time watching this when I could’ve been creating art, restoring art, or digitizing media.
Sometimes when someone gives you advice they actually know what they’re talking about.
It’s called killing the goose that laid the golden egg.
I think that your work is impressive, you are working through a volume of information that might break some people. Good luck on your dissertation.
My husband said I was a petulant brat because I didn’t get a heart. He thinks Luke is hysterical and said resubscribe.
Perhaps the Beatrice is St. Beatrice. It is my understanding that St. Beatrice was imprisoned in a tiny cell by a jealous queen. Beatrice ultimately escaped the cell.
When you say that Alberta was devoted to the service of others, what specifically do you mean? What type of service did she routinely engage in, to whom did she routinely offer that service and how frequently was it offered?
Did people regturn their letters from her to the estate?
Please let us know how the grant process goes. As a trained archivist, this is fascinating! Could you at least make the finding aid available somehow until you are able to get the rest digitized?
When it comes to gloves - use discretion. Sometimes they can cause more damage to fragile paper because you can’t feel what you are doing. Washing your hands before you start and as you go is a good way to make sure you don’t get all the oils etc on the paper. If I weren’t an ocean away I’d want to do this myself!!
I've been following AV and am a Patron, but I hadn't looked into Alberta and her family until today. I realized I had seen something about her a couple years ago. The thing that struck a familiar chord was the Swami. Was she featured in a documentary around 5+ years ago?
Good question - I'm not sure. I don't think she was but probably her aunt - Josephine MacLeod was.
Swami Vivekananda spoke at the Parliament of Religions, held in Chicago on 7/30 1893 at the Art Institute of Chicago. The hall still exists largely as it was. A plaque with his picture and an explanation of his importance is just outside the hall. It is often visited by visitors who are followers of the Swami.
Thank you for this information!
HI Julie, how do you manage all this ( the manor, the evenst, the house in Italy, the family, the yoga classes? A dissertation on top? When do you sleep?
Good question! I'm still working on Alberta now!
And would Sturgis Michigan have any connection to the Chicago Sturgis family?
Hi Julie,
Loving your pink computer!
I have a Pink Sony Vaio, which I hate but wondering what brand is your computer? Very interesting VLOG!
Alberta sounded like an historian herself!
Wondering if Swami wrote in English, or has a translator scribe for letters?
Are the letters filed by category or dates?
My Italian Great Grandfatger helped build BUCKINGHAM FOUNTAIN.
It's fascinating history but unfortunately we couldn't see much of what you were holding up because the quality of the video is 720, not HD.
my latest video is in 1080, so much clearer - so watch when you have time.
💌
Did Alberta ever live at Mapperton? Or did she live at Hinchingbrook, but died before Mapperton was purchased?
Yes and yes. Good question!
Vicountess, do you see your family often?
Watching from Chicago. If you need anything from here, let me know.
I believe "margo" is Margaret Noble, whom swamiji fondly called Margo!
Thank you!!!!
💝🤩
Was Alberta or her mother a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution? In order to join they had to do genealogical research. Not sure but this may aid in your research. Also, you mentioned Alberta's mother being unhappy with New York society. At that time, in NY, there was the list know as The Four Hundred. It was the creme-de-la-creme of society recognized by Caroline Astor. Could it be this affected Alberta's mother's decision making process or attitude? And finally, I remember in the movie, The Unsinkable Molly Brown with Debbie Reynolds, she went to Europe as she was shunned by Denver society. A minister told her to go to Europe where she would be better accepted. I think the acceptance fell more in line with her being something of a wealthy novelty for European aristocratic interest. I not sure how much this movie aligned with the prevailing culture of the day.
Gloves or not? Ask any museum.
It would be nice to have some close ups next time because the lighting stops us from seeing the writing, photos and drawings etc. (I'm greedy I know)
Noted! Next time!
PLEASE SHOW PIC 🤩🤩🤩🙃🙃❤❤❤
Have you by chance gone through your ancestry way back? I bet you and Alberta are related somehow... (other than by marriage)
One day their gonna research you so keep records yourself.
Victorian era: everyone saves their letters.
Modern era: your emails and text messages can be discovered if necessary.
I just love the angle that you're diving into this world that you don't come from but are fascinated with.
*Please* work on replacing that "munament" random storage room with a proper climate-controlled archive somehow. Even if you have to loan the documents to a major university and/or museum, and work out of there. Or create a proper document storage room (tempurature and humidity controlled) to function as the estate's munament room going forward. It's not that hard, just takes a closed basement room and an air conditioner (not for the coolness so much as the dryness, but also the coolness). But keeping these records in a random room and calling that the "munament" room is a frighteningly sad approach towards preserving something that's very important, historically speaking, and that's what seems to have been happening so far.
While we're at it, *please* digitize/scan every page you can find there at high resolution, both front and back, and upload them all to to one or more thumb drives (plus an open cloud storage service). You've probably got enough documents there that it would be more cost-efficient to buy a large-plate scanner and then do them all, rather than to transport each of them down to whatever your "Kinko's" equivalent is there.
I realize I'm asking a lot of work from you Julie, but you're the one putting it out there that this is your jam. You could also hire someone to work the scanner, if necessary. I'm just suggesting how to do it up proper. Once every page is digitized and available, we (you, me, all your fans, everyone in the world, plus all current and future historians) will have the rest of our lives to dig through and discuss those pages.
Your work connecting ancient British noble titles to modern online media could be the cross-over point. Just scan and upload that data dump, and let the fanbase you've built take it from there. It would kinda be the ultimate "disruption" of the history industry!
And if you think that's talking out of turn, the fact is you're skipping past what biogaphers or future historians would have otherwise said about your husband, and instead showing the world what a goofball sense of humor he has. Imagine if the 3rd or 4th Earl had a wife like you uploading live videos of what a dork that guy was is in person. The Earldom might never have survived. That all said, Luke is adorable, and totally worthy of bearing the burden of the title, and of passing it on.
If you didn’t already know , Solomon is a Jewish name and no doubt this family has Jewish roots!