Stanley Chapman: A Guiding Hand Over Two Decades. A Tribute to the Out-Going Editor of Textile History

摘要

Twenty years ago, the governors of the Pasold Research Fund turned to Stanley Chapman at a time of crisis, requesting he take up the task of editing Textile History, following the untimely death of the founding editor, K. G. Ponting. Over the subsequent decades Professor Chapman secured the fortune and reputation of Textile History, at the same time as he continued his own vigorous scholarly agenda. The two priorities complemented each other, ensuring that readers of the journal found articles with the most current analyses on the extensive economic, social and technological history of textile production in Britain, while also assuring a platform from which the vast and growing scholarship from the rest of the world could be aired. From the outset Textile History displayed a catholic interest in all areas and related subjects. Thus, expositions could be found on medieval European textiles, but also on nineteenth-century Niger basin fabrics, on ancient Ethiopian cottons and on techniques of Chinese tapestry weaving. All these works found a growing readership through Textile History, while an expanding European historiography produced an array of articles on subjects from imperial Russia's cotton trade to the hosiery industry in early modern Italy. Some contributions marked additions to well developed fields of study and others represented new ventures into uncharted territories. Comparative and contrasting themes of tremendous geographic and chorological diversity were woven through the biannual issues, creating a vibrant record of this field and a testament to considerable editorial vigour.