Poverty and Charity in Aix-en-Provence, 1640-1789

Originally published in 1976. This book is a study of the charitable institutions of one French town, Aix-en-Provence. It begins with their foundation during the Counter-Reformation and ends with their dissolution during the Revolution. It details the impulses behind their foundation and describes how they were financed and administered. It also explores the lives of the people they helped. The study is based primarily on surviving records of the charities. These are the same sort of records that charitable institutions today accumulate: entrance registers, minutes of board meetings, account books, and fund-raising pamphlets. Records of the local and central government and court records were also consulted. One purpose of this study is to bring readers closer to the reality of the problem of poverty in Old Regime France. Another purpose is to historicize contemporary perceptions of poverty in the minds of French historical actors.Chapter 1 outlines the social and economic makeup of Aix-en-Provence. Chapter 2 deals with the attitudes and assumptions behind the foundation of the charities. Chapter 3 describes how the institutions were administered and financed, and the many important roles they played in the community at large. Chapter 4 describes the types of assistance available to the poor and the types of people who received it. Chapter 5 discusses the most important alternatives to charity for the needy—beggary and crime. After 1760, the traditional charities entered a period of decline. Both the economic and social realities of poverty, and popular perceptions of those realities, changed drastically after 1760. Flooded by increasing numbers of the poor, paralyzed financially because of declining donations and general mismanagement, repudiated by public opinion, and subject to increasing control by the state, the charities were ineffective and indeed almost moribund after 1760. Chapters 6 and 7 detail these developments

Keeping objects live

It is often assumed that museum exhibits are inert but, in contrast to artifacts in most mainstream institutions, those at the Museum of Witchcraft, The Valiant Soldier community museum, and the Dartmoor Prison Museum are felt to be fully functioning and, to some extent, potent or dangerous. In order to consider why this is the case, this essay investigates how museums are considered to “kill off” their exhibits and why this process does not occur in these small, independent organizations. Notably, the three venues have few or no paid members of staff and limited opportunities for gaining state funding. Operating largely independently of the public sector, they have no need to adopt official priorities and in consequence their modes of practice differ from those encountered in major institutions. They also have close links to their immediate location and communities. Focusing on these museums therefore raises the possibility that the “death” of objects is not a necessary condition but that their demise depends upon the specific character and circumstances of display