Antiquarianism, science and networks of knowledge: The archives of the Spalding Gentlemen's Society, 1710-1760

虽然斯伯丁绅士协会（SGS）的一些记录已经出版，并对其生活的某些方面进行了研究，但关于SGS如何看待自己与伦敦社会和离家较近的团体（特别是彼得伯勒绅士协会，支持维斯贝赫镇图书馆的圈子，以及剑桥的收藏家和古董商）的关系，还有很多东西有待发现。莫里斯约翰逊的个人论文（分散在一些机构之间）将提供这一时期古文物知识交流的进一步证据，并将告诉我们许多关于18世纪早期古文物主义的相互关联的性质。他们还能告诉我们什么关于成员参与SGS的公共和私人方面之间的冲突;虽然信件在会议上被大声宣读，但很明显，一些成员希望私人信件保持原样。考虑到SGS --不像伦敦的一些协会--不发表其研究，这种通信的作用是否具有新的意义？鉴于我对书籍和收藏史的兴趣，该协会的两个有形收藏-书籍和物品-的作用将是我研究的关键。书籍在SGS内部和学会之间的知识交流中有什么地位？从伦敦购买新的出版物，要求会员捐款购买书籍，并与其他学会讨论管理不断增长的藏书的最佳方法。赠送书籍和复制历史文件也巩固了友谊，建立了社会及其成员之间的联系。SGS的藏品如何进一步实现其作为学术团体的目标，这些藏品是否与皇家学会等类似藏品相似（例如，他们1681年的目录是否影响了SGS如何组织自己的物品？）。此外，SGS和伦敦咖啡馆的运作方式有什么相似之处，如果有的话，特别是在收集新闻的领域; SGS在咖啡馆开始了它的生活，知识交流，书籍和同志情谊是这两个机构存在的关键。我对莫里斯约翰逊和SGS的研究，除了增进我们对这一时期最重要的地方学术团体之一的工作的了解，并将其置于18世纪更广泛的古董主义趋势中之外，还将对包括科学史在内的许多领域产生更广泛的影响（许多社会的利益是什么，我们今天可以归类为科学），博物馆研究，社会历史（特别是在城镇和农村之间的书信网络的发展）和地方历史。

Whilst some of the Spalding Gentlemen's Society's (SGS) records have been published, and research undertaken into certain aspects of the its life, much is yet to be discovered about how the SGS saw itself in relation to London societies and those groups closer to home (notably the Peterborough Gentlemen's Society, the circle who supported Wisbech Town Library, and collectors and antiquarians at Cambridge). Maurice Johnson's personal papers (scattered between a number of institutions) will provide further evidence of the exchange of antiquarian knowledge during this period and will tell us much about the inter-connected nature of early eighteenth-century antiquarianism. What, too, can they tell us about the conflict between the public and private aspects of members' involvement with the SGS; although correspondence was read aloud at meetings it is clear than some members wanted private letters to remain just that. Does the role of such correspondence take on a new significance bearing in mind that the SGS - unlike some of the London societies - did not publish its research? The role of the Society's two tangible collections - of books and objects - would be key to my research, given my interests in the history of books and collecting. What place did books have in the exchange of knowledge both within the SGS and between societies; new publications were acquired from London, members were asked to give money for the purchase of books and discussions were had with other societies on the best ways to manage the growing collection. Gifts of books, and the copying of historic documents, also cemented friendships, forging links between societies and their members. How did the SGS's collections further their objectives as a learned society, and were these similar to those of comparable collections like those of the Royal Society (did their 1681 catalogue influence how the SGS organised their own objects, for example?). Furthermore, what similarities are there, if any, between the ways in which the SGS and London coffeehouses operated, particularly in the field of gathering news; the SGS began its life in the coffeehouse, and knowledge exchange, books and camaraderie were key to the existence of both institutions. In addition to improving our knowledge of the workings of one of the most significant provincial learned societies of the period, and situating it within broader trends of eighteenth-century antiquarianism, my research into Maurice Johnson and the SGS will have wider implications for a number of fields, including the history of science (many of the Society's interests are what we might today classify as scientific), museum studies, social history (especially in the development of epistolary networks between town and country) and local history.