ok, so this is probably the first direct post about my real purpose in europe this summer... not the gallumvantin about in the east, or watchin the races on the mediteranean, or enjoying the glories of Pombaline Portugal... but the thesis research. and it's hard because,
i made a mistake in time allocation... i spent two weeks at the british library, one day at the national maritime museum in greenwhich, and two weeks at the national archives at kew... i could have spent two or three days at the british library, and the rest of the time at kew... but it was my first time researching in archives, and also completely alone. my advisor, Dr. Wood will be able to offer alot more advice about the archives in mexico (Which is his area of expertise)
so what on earth have i been doing? mostly, looking at old letters and copying them. basically, at the national archives, i would go in and look in the foreign office records. the first few days i went through the british ambassador to mexico's letters back to the foreign minister, and then, the last few days i branched out, and looked at the foreign minister's despatches to the ambassador... therein i found some excellent materials and letters between the ministry and the admiralty, as well as these two specimens written my a Mr.
Murphy the mexican ambassador to the court of st james... in french. the fun part is, i dont speak french, so, copying it was fairly interesting. i got the gist of it... basically it's about a contract for ships and weapons between the mexican agents in London, F. de Lizardi & Co. and the Board of Ordnance. quite useful in my paper, along with letters about certain british officers on foreign service between the admiralty and the foreign office... so its quite interesting stuff, especially when you can read their handwritin
... half the time it is trying to read sanskrit.
i made a mistake in time allocation... i spent two weeks at the british library, one day at the national maritime museum in greenwhich, and two weeks at the national archives at kew... i could have spent two or three days at the british library, and the rest of the time at kew... but it was my first time researching in archives, and also completely alone. my advisor, Dr. Wood will be able to offer alot more advice about the archives in mexico (Which is his area of expertise)
so what on earth have i been doing? mostly, looking at old letters and copying them. basically, at the national archives, i would go in and look in the foreign office records. the first few days i went through the british ambassador to mexico's letters back to the foreign minister, and then, the last few days i branched out, and looked at the foreign minister's despatches to the ambassador... therein i found some excellent materials and letters between the ministry and the admiralty, as well as these two specimens written my a Mr. 
Murphy the mexican ambassador to the court of st james... in french. the fun part is, i dont speak french, so, copying it was fairly interesting. i got the gist of it... basically it's about a contract for ships and weapons between the mexican agents in London, F. de Lizardi & Co. and the Board of Ordnance. quite useful in my paper, along with letters about certain british officers on foreign service between the admiralty and the foreign office... so its quite interesting stuff, especially when you can read their handwritin... half the time it is trying to read sanskrit.
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