Report 17 of June 2011, by Hanna Hodacs
Estimation of hours I spent on the project/on sick leave between the 5th of January and the 10th of
June (including the four bank holidays). According to my estimations of the work reports I have given
to Robert Horton I worked approximately 50% this spring (319 hours). I have also taken four days off
(29.2 hours) so all in all I can account for 348 hours. If I am right, a full time work load for this period
(37.5 hours a week for 22.5 weeks) would have been 792 hours.
Research
Archive work
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I have visited the British Library (early May) to work on the order lists of the EIC (E/3) together
with Chris and Felicia. This work will form the basis for a short paper which we will present at
Ashmolean workshop. Also, working jointly on this (very accessible) material is helping us think
about how to do cross-company comparisons and establish ways in which we can assemble and
data and what we can do with it.
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I worked on source material available on-line (relating to the Swedish company). I am doing a
test analysis of a sales catalogue from 1748 *) to see how this material can be used. (Another 20
catalogues are available in Riksarkivet, Stockholm). The document specify quantities of goods for
sales, short descriptions of the goods, units, how much it sold for and the name of the buyer. I
am two thirds through the catalogue. The work will hopefully illuminate how goods was
presented and arranged (size of lots etc.) at the point of purchase, the range of buyers (relatively
few people buying the majority of lots), the names of the buyers (can be used to trace reexport).
*) http://www.ub.gu.se/samlingar/handskrift/ostindie/dokument/document.xml?id=168, to see
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I worked on newspaper material available on-line, particularly a Gothenburg local newspaper,
Göteborgs Weckotidning, from the 1750s. This newspaper contains lists of arrivals and
departures of ships around the times of the auctions, and gives some indication as to where
goods were re-exported (as well as of the name of the captain and the ship, although this
information is very likely better studied in a different material, e.g. custom documents). Most
importantly, the newspaper lists people arriving to Gothenburg to attend the auctions. This work
can hopefully form part of a paper I am planning to write about auctions as events; where lots of
people regularly gathered together (a bit of spectacle); when “a pulse” of the market for East
Indian goods was being set and how it changed over time. Ultimately (of course) this pulse was
determent by the arrival of the ships (the goods on the ships that arrived first from Asia sold for
the highest prices) but the regularity of the auctions (e.g. if they were yearly, quarterly or more
frequently) and the development of increasingly bigger warehouse were also important. I am
also interested in how the auction catalogues and the sales helped to establish a pan-European
(or not) notion of the value of the East Indian goods, as well as how this goods should be defined
and described.
Planned Archive visits and new archives

I have indentified an archive in the John Ford Bell (JFL) Library in Minneapolis (the Irvine
collection). The (very detailed 60 page) guide to this collection I got suggest it has great
potential for researching the mid 18th century understanding of the market for East Indian
goods in Europe (particularly goods imported by the Swedish company). This material has
hardly been used by historians interested in the Scandinavian trade, partially because it’s
location. The library allows photos to be taken and I my intention am to take try and capture
most of the documents in the collection. I am planning to go to Minneapolis in the autumn to
this work together with Meike, who also is very interested in working on this collection.
Between us we should be able go over the archive and photograph the bulk of it. We are
planning to go for two weeks, probably in November. I have established contact with Margaret
Borg, archivist at the JFB Library, and made preliminary arrangement for this visit. Pending on
the quality of the material I might use this in the teaching to, i.e. get the students to read (and
transcribe!) sections of the correspondence.

Another new archive (to be added those I listed in the previous report) is the on-line Sound Toll
archive. Currently the years available are 1783 – 1799. However the whole series (1497 till
1857) will eventually be available (2013). I am looking into how this can be used but one
obvious way is to look further into how East Indian goods were diffused in the Baltic area.
http://www.soundtoll.nl/www/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=69&Itemid=7
0&lang=en
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Due to sickness I have not been able to travel abroad this spring. I have been advised by my
doctors that I can start flying from the end of September. I am planning to go to Sweden and
Denmark during the autumn to visit the archives listed in my previous report.
Written work in progress, planned papers

“Scandinavian Charted Companies” for Oxford bibliographies on-line, almost finished!

Short paper, co-written with Felicia, Chris and Meike on the out-going orders of the British
East India Company.

Literature Review/Survey (well behind!) but I am hoping to use the Scandinavian Charted
Company article as a starting point.

Two joint papers (with Felicia and Chris) on how the quantity and quality of goods ordered
and received from Asia (maybe the first present at the Economic History Conference in
Oxford).

Paper on the auctions, see above (long term plan)

Paper on exchange of information across Europe on East Indian goods (see discussion under
Irvine paper)
Workshops/Conferences I am attending
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The Global Dimensions of European Knowledge, 1450-1700
(Location: Birkbeck, University of London, Date: 24-25 June, 2011)
Workshop Uppsala, Marie-Christine Skuncke (October 2011)
ESSHC in Glasgow 2012 11-14 of April 2012,
Session: Global History: Methods, Practices, Problems
Administration & Teaching
Preparation for next year’s teaching (World of Consumption):
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Helped develop the web page for the course
Arranged room bookings for lectures and seminars
Helped present the course to prospective undergraduates and recorded a video of the
presentation
Workshop in the Ashmolean Museum 1-2 of July
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Invited speakers from Scandinavia to the Workshop (took some effort!)
Helped develop the web page for the workshop
Co-written an introduction to the workshop
Liaison with Helene on all sorts of issues relating to the workshop
Workshop in Warwick 27th and 28th of October

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Helped make initial plans for the workshop “New questions for historians of overseas trade”
Has invited speaker from Scandinavia, Leos Müller who has agreed to come, and Erik Gøbel
(awaiting response).
Project’s Intranet web

Helped adding pages, documents, pictures and links to the intranet