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‘An Honour to the Place’: Reading Associations and Improvement
Author(s) -
Ford Christy
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal for eighteenth‐century studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.129
H-Index - 11
eISSN - 1754-0208
pISSN - 1754-0194
DOI - 10.1111/1754-0208.12353
Subject(s) - honour , reading (process) , politeness , association (psychology) , identity (music) , sociology , psychology , aesthetics , history , political science , art , law , archaeology , psychotherapist
This article considers the values and purposes of reading associations, using textual records of their meetings and activities. Minutes and printed materials show the kinds of improvement that association members wished to facilitate. Alongside the pursuit of politeness and intellectual development, associations also paid attention to posterity, by commemorating the philanthropy and service of key members. Reading associations' philosophies of improvement were extrapolated to include their localities, which they believed would be improved by their presence. Their local environment was central to their self‐identity, epitomising their belief in improvement as a community process.