Important Town Research Articles

“We're at the Door of Still Greater Progress”: Historical Narratives, Ethno-racial Conflict, and Place in Gonzales, Texas, at the Turn of the Twentieth Century

Abstract At the turn of the twentieth century, the White business community of Gonzales, a small town in central Texas, envisioned a bright future for the town. It imagined Gonzales as an important town, civilized, progressive, and ethno-racially defined, with the White community—mostly Anglo Texans and German Texans—as protagonists, and African Texans and Mexican Texans as extras. At the time, the region was undergoing major economic, technological, and demographic changes, including the influx of European and Mexican immigrants. Together with a more independent African Texan community, these changes challenged the dominant southern narrative and strengthened both an emerging Progress narrative and several counter-narratives related to historical celebrations such as Decoration Day, Juneteenth, and 16 de septiembre. In this article, I study the White community's efforts to strengthen an ethno-racially defined, business-oriented community. These efforts involved not only specific business initiatives, but also violence against and marginalization of minorities, as well as a substantial rewriting of the narrative that defined Gonzales as a place. Zooming in on Gonzales makes apparent the ways in which the White community had to continuously modify itself and its vision of Gonzales to maintain power. The case study offers insights into broader issues relating to uses of history and place, and how narratives shape, and are shaped by, ethno-racial dynamics.

Geoturystyczne aspekty miejscowości uzdrowiskowej UNESCO Mariańskie Łaźnie

The West Bohemian spa triangle is an area with a rich occurrence of mineral springs, which are found on a relatively small area. It includes Mariánské Lázně, Karlovy Vary and Františkovy Lázně. These spas are among the most important spa towns of global importance. This fact is also evidenced by the fact that this spa area was registered in 2021 on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The cities of this triangle are unique not only in terms of balneology, but also in terms of architecture. Even though Mariánské Lázně is the youngest of these cities, some important visitors have ranked it among the most beautiful of them. Many healing springs were responsible for the rapid development of this city. This article describes the interconnectedness of both geological and selected architectural attractions that can be the target of tourist activities in this city.

Szczecin – A medieval town at the mouth of the river Odra on the southern coast of the Baltic

Szczecin in one of the most important towns in Pomerania region. According to archaeological sources, the oldest Slavic settlement appeared here in the 8th century. Specific conditions prevailing in river mouths have favoured human settlements since prehistory but settlement processes and intensive transformations of the natural environment which accompanied them became very intensive in the Middle Ages. The landscape of the River Odra, which underwent transformations as a result of anthropogenic processes, was shaped primarily in the period of the last 16–15 thousand years. In the literature the problem of reconstructing the topography of the oldest part of today's Szczecin has been addressed. The aim of the article is to present the earliest stages of the formation of the city and the beginnings of the transformation of the natural environment as a result of anthropogenic processes, as well as ways of using natural resources.

Toponymic surnames and the spatiality of heresy prosecutions: Peter Seila’s register of sentences from the Quercy region (Languedoc), 1241–1242

Our knowledge of the geography of medieval religious dissent and its repression in the Latin West is limited by a lack of systematic study of locational information in inquisition trial records. Spatial analysis of these rich details has the potential to help build a bottom-up picture of interaction between dissidents and inquisitors that moves beyond institutional perspectives. This task is rendered challenging due to the inconsistencies and uncertainties of what inquisitors and their notaries typically recorded about the spatial associations of suspects. Probably the most common indicator of such associations found in inquisition records are toponymic surnames. They present challenges of coverage (not everybody had a toponymic surname) and interpretation (multiple possible meanings). This study attempts to tackle the challenge of interpreting such surnames within the context of the nine sentencing events held by the inquisitor Peter Seila in 1241 and 1242 in the Quercy region of Languedoc: covering 650 sentenced individuals, the register documenting these events is the earliest extant record of an inquisition of such scale. Rather than taking the interpretative challenges of toponymic surnames as reasons to limit ourselves to qualitative analysis, our approach shows the value of rendering and analysing them as structured data. Firstly, we quantify the context of toponymic surnames, placing them against the background of broader name construction practices and other social factors. Secondly, we plot and analyse the geocoded data derived from toponymic surnames with the benefit of this contextualisation, looking especially at the distance of toponyms from their associated sentencing centres, in order to derive narratives that best explain the generality of their meaning. The results allow us to appraise the actual spatial coverage of the nine sentencing events. The first two, centred on the important towns of Montauban and Moissac, seem most likely to have been primarily urban affairs, with little evidence of rural coverage. The remainder, which took place in castra (fortified villages), appear to have covered more of the surrounding countryside. These results geographically contextualise the reports of dissidence conveyed within Peter’s register, and suggest narratives for how Peter optimised his strategy for impact in the face of constraints.

European Cultural Heritage through Historical Images of Towns in Nowadays Romania

Over the centuries, important towns and cities around the world have been the subject of a signifi cant number of drawn, painted, engraved and printed representations. Cultural historians and art historians have tended to neglect such images considering them of low quality. However, historical images are important testimonies, recording on-the-spot observation of the events depicted, thus allowing us to imagine the past more easily. In fact, their roles have included bringing news to the public and presenting curiosities from the exotic worlds of others, of those with other customs, languages, religions, geographical locations and so on. They satisfi ed a need for images from distant places felt by those who could not travel. We are tempted to look at historical images only as valuable objects displayed in museums or kept in special cabinets, forgetting from our modern technology-dependent perspective that their purpose was diff erent. This paper aims to draw attention to the cultural and educational purpose of historical images of towns, studying their role as a medium for transmitting important knowledge on European cultural heritage.

The state of Hausa children’s folktales and play-songs in Gombe, Nigeria

In this paper I investigate the state of Hausa children’s folktales and play-songs in Gombe, Nigeria to ascertain whether they (folktales and play-songs of children) are still alive and active in this culturally important town in northern Nigeria. My specific objectives are to examine how much parents and their children know of Hausa children’s folktales and play-songs and argue that folktales and play-songs are to some extent infused with modern technologies because of globalisation and that mass media has taken over the dissemination of such cultures. To achieve this aim, I employ questionnaires as the instrument of data collection. The subjects for the research are 150 parents and their school-going and out-of-school children aged 20-above and 0–10 respectively. Arguing that globalisation impacts the oral transmission of cultural knowledge more than ever, I adopt technauriture and cultauriture as the theoretical models. Analysis of the data reveals a more than 90% awareness of folktales and play-songs from all respondents. However, some school-going children prefer to watch such oral traditions via satellite rather than listening to a narration as it enhances their language development and nurtures and preserves culture using the paradigm of technology with audio-visual media. The out-of-school children, on the other hand, listen to the narration but are not captivated by it because it only uses the oral means of dissemination. They prefer to watch television and play video games as this educates and entertains using technology, orality, and visuals.

The Town Creek locale of Jackson, Mississippi, USA: Charles Lyell (1797–1875), exemplary fossils and a subsurface volcano

Abstract The Town Creek locale in Jackson, Mississippi exposes fossiliferous strata through stream erosion and provides evidence for stratal doming atop an extinct volcano. Charles Lyell (1797–1875) investigated the locale on his second visit to North America (1845–46) and concluded that Town Creek fossils were older than Vicksburg fossils, and that strata dipped westward from Jackson. In the 1850s, Mississippi's state geologist Eugene Hilgard (1833–1916) recognized the first volcanic doming evidence and correctly concluded that a ‘local upheaval’ had elevated the Jackson area. Subsequent research revealed an extinct volcano as Jackson Dome's source, explaining the strata dip and Lyell's observation that Jackson's Eocene fossils were older than Vicksburg fossils, later identified as Oligocene. The Jackson fossiliferous strata, known today as the Moodys Branch Formation, exquisitely preserves fossils that have contributed to numerous scientific investigations. The Town Creek locale was threatened in 2003 when a proposed flood control project would have inundated it. Scientists rallied for the preservation of the geologically and historically important Town Creek, and today it remains as a geoheritage site available to scientists and the public, with a state historical marker noting its geological importance. Long-term preservation of the locale is needed but not guaranteed.

Pembangunan Bandar Muar, Johor (1884-1940)

In the 19th century, Muar became the most important town in Johor after Johor Bahru. This situation influenced the development of the town of Muar in political, economic, and social aspects during the specified period, which was under the rule of the Sultanate of Johor and subsequently the British. Therefore, this article aims to examine the extent of the development of Muar town, Johor, from 1884 to 1940 in supporting the claim that this town was the most important during the specified period. The research has outlined several objectives, including identifying the administrative structure of the Muar district, reviewing the economic activities in the Muar district, and analyzing social developments in the Muar district during the focus period of this research. To achieve the stated objectives, this research utilizes qualitative methods and entirely adopts a historical research approach. The materials and sources are obtained from the National Archives of Malaysia, the Johor Branch of the National Archives of Malaysia, the Muar District Office, the Johor Public Library Corporation, and the National Library of Malaysia. The research results indeed show that Muar was the most important town in Johor from 1884 to 1940. This situation is also seen as the reason for Muar town being elevated to the Royal Town of Johor, a status conferred by Sultan Johor, Sultan Ibrahim ibni Almarhum Sultan Iskandar, on 5th February 2012.

Pembangunan Bandar Muar, Johor (1884-1940)

In the 19th century, Muar became the most important town in Johor after Johor Bahru. This situation influenced the development of the town of Muar in political, economic, and social aspects during the specified period, which was under the rule of the Sultanate of Johor and subsequently the British. Therefore, this article aims to examine the extent of the development of Muar town, Johor, from 1884 to 1940 in supporting the claim that this town was the most important during the specified period. The research has outlined several objectives, including identifying the administrative structure of the Muar district, reviewing the economic activities in the Muar district, and analyzing social developments in the Muar district during the focus period of this research. To achieve the stated objectives, this research utilizes qualitative methods and entirely adopts a historical research approach. The materials and sources are obtained from the National Archives of Malaysia, the Johor Branch of the National Archives of Malaysia, the Muar District Office, the Johor Public Library Corporation, and the National Library of Malaysia. The research results indeed show that Muar was the most important town in Johor from 1884 to 1940. This situation is also seen as the reason for Muar town being elevated to the Royal Town of Johor, a status conferred by Sultan Johor, Sultan Ibrahim ibni Almarhum Sultan Iskandar, on 5th February 2012.

The 3D reconstruction model of the Roman theatre of Falerio Picenus (Falerone, Italy): promoting cultural heritage, understanding our past.

Falerio Picenus (now Piane di Falerone) was a rather important town in Antiquity, as we can presume from the ancient sources, from the communication routes that crossed it, and from the remains of the ancient monuments still preserved. A theatre, an amphitheatre, monumental cisterns and tombs were discovered, but all of them were stripped of their decorations during Late Antiquity and Middle Ages. This paper presents a three-dimensional reconstruction of the city’s theatre, based on a new survey of the structures using a long-range 3D laser scanner, combined and integrated with photogrammetry and direct survey. The model is supposed to serve not only as a show case of the original shape of the public building, but also as a real research tool.

Instances of Preaching in a Medieval Transylvanian Town. The Case of Cluj in the Century before the Reformation

Preaching was an essential component of the religious life during the Middle Ages, shaping the Christian identity and promoting the norms and decisions of the Church. In line with recent contributions that have drawn attention to Transylvanian expressions of medieval preaching, the present paper intends to examine its significance in the urban milieu prior to the Protestant Reformation, by exploring the case of Cluj (hu. Kolozsvár/ germ. Klausenburg). An important town of the region, it was inhabited by a mixed population of Hungarian- and German-speaking communities, whose pastoral care and access to the divine Word was facilitated by various religious institutions. Although the extant sources do not provide detailed accounts regarding specific sermons delivered in town, their actual contents and mise-en-scène, the present paper outlines the profile of the routine preaching activity, based on homiletic works that belonged to the secular and regular clergy of the town, as well as charters attesting their complementary or competing actions. The analysis reveals that homiletic concerns progressively increased from the beginning of the 15th century onwards, reaching a pinnacle in the decades prior to the adoption of the Reformation. Rezumat: Predica a constituit o componentă esențială a vieții religioase pe parcursul Evului Mediu, contribuind la fasonarea identității creştine şi la diseminarea normelor şi deciziilor Bisericii. Pe urma unor contribuții istoriografice recente care au atras atenția asupra expresiilor transilvănene ale acestui fenomen medieval, prezentul studiu propune examinarea importanței predicării în ambianță urbană, înainte de Reformă, prin sondarea cazului oraşului Cluj (magh. Kolozsvár/ germ. Klausenburg). Unul dintre centrele urbane majore ale regiunii, Clujul se distingea printr-o populație mixtă, de saşi şi maghiari, a căror pastorație intra în grija mai multor instituții religioase. Cu toate că sursele păstrate nu dezvăluie detalii despre cuvântările omiletice rostite în oraş, despre conținutul sau punerea lor în scenă, lucrarea schițează profilul activității uzuale de predicare pe baza colecțiilor de predici care au aparținut clericilor seculari şi fraților cerşetori, precum şi a surselor documentare care atestă actiunile complementare sau concurente ale acestora. Analiza dezvăluie că preocupările pastorale şi omiletice au cunoscut o creştere progresivă în decursul secolului al XV-lea, atingând apogeul in deceniile imediat anterioare adoptării Reformei. Cuvinte cheie: predica medievală, istorie urbană, predicatori, ordine mendicante, cler parochial, pluralitate lingvistică Article: history; Received: 16.05.2023; Revised: 23.05.2023; Accepted: 10.06.2023; Available online: 30.06.2023.

Place Identity translating into Culture: the town of Rajapur in the cultural region of Konkan

This paper deals in defining the place identity of cultural town of Rajapur, located in the Konkan region. Rajapur is the valley situated at the confluence of the 'Arjuna' and ‘Godi’ river. Artistic temples, attractive mosques, Peshwa period structures at Jawahar Chowk and Varchi Peth are all adorning the town. The settlements of Rajapur that are the subject of this study have historical and cultural values with structures of regional culture, natural patterns, and traditions. Today, some parts of these settlements are totally neglected due to changing lifestyles, socio-economic conditions, and approaches towards rural areas. Paradoxically, Konkan is known for the coast and is the main magnet for a day’s tourist destination. The heritage is losing its identity due to unsustainable tourism, development pressure, social, economic and political issues. However, Rajapur consists rich history, cultural background, traditional housing, geology, and other factors that make it an important town in South Konkan.

Relief with Crucifixion Scene in St Martin’s Church in Jawor – the Oldest Silesian Pictorial Epitaph and its Ideological and Artistic Contexts

This paper provides an analysis of the relief block with the Crucifixion scene preserved in the St. Martin’s parish church in Jawor, an important town in the Duchy Jawor-Świdnica in the 14th century. According to the 17th century’s written sources the relief was originally located on the wall of the church’s cemetery mortuary, however the primary written source pertaining to the artwork in question is the inscription running along its three sides. The slab commemorates Johann Sapiens and his family. It is the earliest preserved pictorial epitaph in Silesia and in this part of Europe. Its votive purpose is stated. Moreover, a passage referring to biblical texts as well as formulations, which entered into the consecration rites of churches and altars, provide a premise to interpret this family memorial and epitaph, at the same time, also as an ossuary foundation memorial. These circumstances allow searching for possible models and references in places where the pictorial epitaph found favourable conditions for development already at the dawn of its existence as a type of sepulchral monument. At first sight, Thuringia with Erfurt seem the place geographically closest to Silesia, where stylistically and typologically related artworks have been preserved. However, the crucifix depicted in the relief from Jawor turned out to be rather typical for the contemporary Silesian sculpture too, in contrast to the assisting figures of Virgin Mary and St. John. In consequence, the references and sources of inspiration applied in the process of creation of the assisting figures in relief from Jawor should be searched in western territories of Silesia or having regard to the possibility of drawing inspiration from much older portable microplastic objects as, for example, Byzantine or Romanesque ivory.

Assessment framework and empirical analysis of the ecological protection importance for key town agglomerations in China

With urban development, ensuring ecological environmental protection has become an important issue in the planning and development of town agglomerations, and the evaluation of the ecological protection importance (EPI) has become the key to the success of this goal. Although the Chinese government has zoned the ecological importance nationwide, it is still limited as far as its application in actual environmental protection and ecological construction planning in town agglomerations. Based on the spatial identification of the ecological functions in key town agglomerations (KTAs), an EPI framework for KTAs is developed in this study. An ecological conservation importance index is proposed to describe the EPI of the KTAs by utilizing the human settlement protection (HSP) services and ecological sensitivity indicators. Based on multi-source data, a combination of a spatial analysis, a statistical analysis, spatial hierarchical clustering, and other methods was utilized to identification and evaluation. The results showed that (1) the HSP service displayed a more even spatial distribution than the ecological sensitivity; (2) the EPI index of the national KTAs had a normal distribution, primarily concentrated in the medium-important and relatively important town agglomerations; and (3) the EPI indexes of the KTAs have prominent geographical characteristics in their spatial distributions. In addition, the Chinese KTAs could be divided into six regions. This study explains the concept of the EPI index of town agglomerations and proposes an evaluation framework. The framework complements the operational methods for identifying and classifying KTAs in the ”National Ecological Function Zoning”, and provides solutions for formulating the environmental protection zones of town agglomerations.

National Identity in Mid-Nineteenth Century Birmingham

ABSTRACT Most current academic investigations of national identity by Linda Colley and Peter Mandler et al, are substantially based on the experience of London. This article focuses on how national identity was perceived and represented by four individuals in mid-nineteenth-century Birmingham. Birmingham’s significance as an international manufacturing centre; a centre for campaigns for franchise reform and the abolition of slavery; and a location for migration meant that national identity was a matter of great interest. These four individuals were Joseph Sturge, a middle-class radical abolitionist; John Bright, the Liberal MP; George Edmonds, a campaigner from an artisanal background; and George Dawson, an influential preacher. The article draws out similarities and differences in their views by investigating how they saw the nation and who they thought belonged to it. The article moves beyond the London-centric historiography of national identity by assessing national identity discourses in an important provincial town.

Do we have enough recreational spaces during pandemics? An answer based on the analysis of individual mobility patterns in Switzerland

Densification of cities threatens the provision of public open space for people living in and around cities. The increasing evidence of the many benefits of recreational walking for physical and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted an urgent need for fostering the availability of public open space. In this context, urban planners need information to anticipate recreational needs and propose long-term, resilient solutions that consider the growing demand driven by increasing urban population and intensified in times of crisis such as the recent pandemic. In this paper, we harness the unique large MOBIS:COVID-19 GPS travel diary data on mobility behaviour collected during a normal baseline period and during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in the Canton of Zurich Switzerland. We estimate a sufficiency rate that allows to geolocate locations where the demand for public open space is higher than the available offer. In a second step, we explore if preference patterns for recreational areas have changed during the pandemic. Results indicate that the main cities and important towns in the case study area are saturated by current demand, and that the pandemic has amplified the problem. In particular, urban dwellers look for tranquil areas to recreate. Such information is crucial to guide decision-making processes for planning the cities of the future.

A jeśli książka się nie sprzedawała? „Kreatywne” praktyki wydawniczo-księgarskie we Lwowie w XVIII wieku

Although reading became generally more popular in the eighteenth century, not everyone read books. Discussions about books took place in aristocratic salons and at social meetings of rich noblemen, scholars and burghers, however, the lower classes were not exposed to books for quite some time. Readership, which increased mainly in bigger, important towns, was low in rural areas. Warsaw (due to the circles of scholars and writers, reforms of education, theatre, journalism, patrons and the offerings of publishing houses and booksellers) provided optimal conditions for the development of readership in Poland, yet even there, only the better-educated people engaged in reading. Because the Poles were not very interested in books, institutions which produced and distributed them began to encounter financial problems. Publishing houses and bookstores in Lvov also had problems with disposing of excessive copies (printed or imported for sale). They had to devise various strategies to inform their clients about the books they offered or persuade them to buy them. Advertising was not always successful and unwanted books remained stored and unsold for long periods. Those who had contributed to their publication now had to consider how to deal with this problem and were obliged to undertake various “creative” book-selling strategies. This article describes the solution employed by the printing house and bookstore owned by the Pillers as well as the bookstore of Karol Bogusław Pfaff in Lvov, namely the practice of reissuing books.

A Pitești-i Református Egyházközség első tíz évének demográfiai adatsorai a halálozási anyakönyvek tükrében

Demographic Data of the First Ten Years of Existence of the Pitești Reformed Church in the Light of the Official Death Registries. In the last three centuries, many Hungarians in Transylvania went to work and live in the southern part of the Carpathians. At first, they went just for se-asonal work, but later they become permanent migrants. They founded new Re-formed parishes and schools in the new locations. We have data on the population of Pitești from 1844, when Sándor Ürmösy described the ethnic and confessional composition of the town for the first time, and he mentions 1,500 Hungarians in Pitești. As result of the Reformed missio-nary work, the first Reformed churches were established in the most important towns of old Romania in the mid-19th century. The documents of those times reveal to us data on the demographic, confessional, and ethnic composition of the population. In this study, I attempted to find the most important data on the first ten years in the life of the Pitești Reformed community linked to its members’ age of death, cause of the death, and occupation.

The concreteness of social knowledge and the quality of democratic choice

AbstractDemocracy relies on citizens who are politically knowledgeable and engaged. However, when a voter gains political knowledge regarding important issues, through television, town halls, or social media, she also learns that there are many other politically knowledgeable voters, highlighting the importance of social knowledge in political participation. Will a voter with concrete—as opposed to hypothetical—knowledge about other voters’ political knowledge have an increased incentive to participate? Or instead, will concrete social knowledge about other voters actually inhibit participation? In this article, we develop a novel experimental design that focuses on whether concrete knowledge about other voters’ political knowledge influences political participation. Our main result shows that concrete social knowledge decreases individual voters’ willingness to vote, and thereby reduces the probability democracy chooses the majority preferred alternative, i.e. the quality of democratic choice.

COMPARISON OF MULTI-SOURCE DATA, INTEGRATED SURVEY FOR COMPLEX ARCHITECTURE DOCUMENTATION

Abstract. The metric documentation of architectural complexes requires today the use of several integrated survey methodologies. This need is an answer to the morphology of the object such as dimension, geometry, inaccessible areas and urban context. These properties inhibit the use of single surveying techniques and force the integration of Geomatics tools. In addition, the metric documentation of Cultural heritage objects not always requires uniform accuracy and resolution, therefore the integration of different surveying methodologies and techniques become the only effective solution both from a technical and economic point of view. The integration, that is today adopted as normal strategy, allows also the better understanding of the benefits which can arise to speed up the metric documentation of Cultural Heritage objects and the benefits that each of the possible surveying techniques can have thanks to the integration of the different potentialities. This study starting from an integrated survey, performed whit a combined use of Mobile Mapping System (MMS), Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) and Terrestrial Laser Scanner (TLS) and show the results of the comparisons between the possible achievable accuracies by using a correct integration between the different used technologies and the ones achievable by using the same techniques as independent tools.The case study is the architectural complex of the Ducal Palace in Gubbio (Italy), located upstream of the most important town square facing the cathedral in a very complex but realistic urban context.