This Looks Promising

[Debra Arif]

Not at all, Debs. We welcome input from everybody.

The simple answer as to why we hanve't posted here or on Casebook is because we only made the website live late on Sunday, and I was busy in meetings yesterday.

Gary - it hasn't been announced on Twitter yet either, you must have seen my post on the Rippercast Facebook page.

Looking forward to hearing everyone's thoughts both here and at the event itself.

Best wishes
Adam

Thanks for the info Adam. The 'call for papers' made me think it was something less mainstream and geared more to academics and people more used to doing that kind of thing.

[Chris Phillips]

Philip Sugden 'The Complete History of Jack the Ripper' 1994

By academic I was thinking of someone who held a university position, which I don't think Sugden ever did.

I suppose by that criterion Martin Fido (and others) would count, but I'd say his contributions to Ripperology were in addition to his academic work, not part of it.

[Adam Wood]

It's just the usual way of starting things off in the academic world, Debs. Ask for contributions, see what they get. In reality, we want everyone from Ripper researchers and writers to people affected by the walking tours to voice their opinion on the subject, either in person or recorded video, audio or writing. Given the way the RIpper has become a 'hot' topic in the past few years, it's a good time to have open discussions and hopefully better understanding all round.

[Rob Clack]

By academic I was thinking of someone who held a university position, which I don't think Sugden ever did.

I suppose by that criterion Martin Fido (and others) would count, but I'd say his contributions to Ripperology were in addition to his academic work, not part of it.

I've heard him mentioned as the first academic historian to write about the Whitechapel murders.

[Debra Arif]

It's just the usual way of starting things off in the academic world, Debs. Ask for contributions, see what they get. In reality, we want everyone from Ripper researchers and writers to people affected by the walking tours to voice their opinion on the subject, either in person or recorded video, audio or writing. Given the way the RIpper has become a 'hot' topic in the past few years, it's a good time to have open discussions and hopefully better understanding all round.

Thanks Adam. Yes, that's the impression that it gave me, that it was an academic term and therefore it was a call for academic material for a conference. I am glad to hear that it is more inclusive and will enable people from more diverse areas to contribute. I might sharpen my crayons

[Gary Barnett]

It’s a pity the deadline for submissions is so close. What might have been interesting is to present a sample of the research that has been done on here and CB in recent years. Stuff about the victims, the East End environment etc. Infinitely more original research than you’d find in much-hyped popular books on the subject.

[Adam Wood]

It’s a pity the deadline for submissions is so close. What might have been interesting is to present a sample of the research that has been done on here and CB in recent years. Stuff about the victims, the East End environment etc. Infinitely more original research than you’d find in much-hyped popular books on the subject.

Gary the deadline is for proposals and abstracts, not the final content. Nothing to stop you submitting an outline of such a presentation which could then be worked up following acceptance.

[Gary Barnett]

Gary the deadline is for proposals and abstracts, not the final content. Nothing to stop you submitting an outline of such a presentation which could then be worked up following acceptance.

Thanks, Adam. I have 3/4 topics in mind. Perhaps I could submit an outline of them all and see which, if any, is of interest?

[Edward Stow]

I guess it doesn't look so promising for tour guides themselves.

[Adam Wood]

Thanks, Adam. I have 3/4 topics in mind. Perhaps I could submit an outline of them all and see which, if any, is of interest?

Sounds good, Gary.

[Rob Clack]

I guess it doesn't look so promising for tour guides themselves.

Just one specific tour operator.

There's nothing new here. It's just a conference by any other name. Drew Grays work is not exactly of a high standard to begin with so I don't think it is anything to get excited about.

[Paul]

It’s a pity the deadline for submissions is so close. What might have been interesting is to present a sample of the research that has been done on here and CB in recent years. Stuff about the victims, the East End environment etc. Infinitely more original research than you’d find in much-hyped popular books on the subject.

It would be a perfect opportunity for you to talk about Harrison Barber. One of the interesting things about Ripper studies is that it introduces you to all sorts of other subjects. I was interested in Mrs Maxwell's alleged statement that she was going to fetch milk for her husband's breakfast from the milk shop, and I suddenly realised that I didn't know how they got fresh milk in London back then. The same thing applies to horses; there were horses everywhere, but if they were involved in accidents or dropped dead in the street... Of course, that's where Harrison Barber come in. And with the Ripper connections and cats' meat connections, it makes a good lecture and an interesting paper. There are lots of other subjects along the same lines too. And it would show that our interests aren't all about the identity of Jack the Ripper.

[Paul]

Just one specific tour operator.

There's nothing new here. It's just a conference by any other name. Drew Grays work is not exactly of a high standard to begin with so I don't think it is anything to get excited about.

Drew's book has got nothing to do with it. And he's exposing himself to criticism and to being the representative academic who's dipped his toe in the waters and immediately been surrounded by sharks, so maybe he deserves to be treated with a little respect and understanding. And pity. It's a conference intended to bring Ripperologists and academics together, along with other interested individuals, which I think is quite exciting and have done since the idea was first mooted a few years ago. Whether or not it achieves anything is something nobody will know until it happens. One doesn't have to support it, of course, but I hope it works. We're the experts on the Ripper and there's be some unbelievably fantastic work done by Ripperologists in recent years. There are academic experts on whom it would be great to be able to call too. They have to show us they're not pompous elitists and we have to show them we're not nutters with pointy foil hats. It'll be interesting to see if it works.

[Gary Barnett]

It would be a perfect opportunity for you to talk about Harrison Barber. One of the interesting things about Ripper studies is that it introduces you to all sorts of other subjects. I was interested in Mrs Maxwell's alleged statement that she was going to fetch milk for her husband's breakfast from the milk shop, and I suddenly realised that I didn't know how they got fresh milk in London back then. The same thing applies to horses; there were horses everywhere, but if they were involved in accidents or dropped dead in the street... Of course, that's where Harrison Barber come in. And with the Ripper connections and cats' meat connections, it makes a good lecture and an interesting paper. There are lots of other subjects along the same lines too. And it would show that our interests aren't all about the identity of Jack the Ripper.

They got milk from Welsh dairymen, Paul, as I’m sure you know. :-)

Harrison, Barber, the company, are a side issue, really. The firm didn’t exist until 1886, but the close connections of the families involved in the London knacker trade who were around in 1888 fascinates me. As in many trades, the skills were handed from father to son and so on down the generations.

[Chris Phillips]

I do think there is a bit of a problem here, in that - although there is obviously some overlap - Ripper researchers and academic historians (and academics in the social sciences) will inevitably tend to be interested in different things.

I've just realised that (completely unintentionally) I illustrated that when I asked about the most significant contribution to "our knowledge of the case". That's to view it from a Ripper researcher's perspective - we want to know facts that are relevant to the case. Not just the identity of the killer, but the lives and actions of all the people involved. But it's still a much narrower and more factual focus than most academics will have. They will be more interested questions and ideas about society on a much broader scale.

I'm sure there is common ground, but frankly my advice would be to rewrite the material on that website so that it doesn't sound like a group of academics graciously inviting others to be "represented in the revisions in the history of the Whitechapel Murders" (whatever that means). I can see that two of the names at the top are not academics but Ripper researchers, but I think something has gone wrong somewhere, because the non-academic target audience is described as as "local history groups and residents; school teachers/educationalists, sex-workers, women’s charities and other organizations who work alongside them", and I struggle to see where Ripper researchers fit into it!