Senior Thesis paper help.

[Sammy P.]

Hello fellow ripper enthusiast,
My name is Sammy and I stumbled upon this particular site and believed that it would be a great place to get some help that I am in desperate need of having.

I am a European history major at Troy University (emphasis to Medieval Europe and the Northern Crusade.) and am taking my senior seminar class getting ready to graduate. For this class, my professor (Dr. Welsh one of my person heroes and a brilliant man.) has set the curriculum in modern Britain. That being so, my paper topic is Jack the Ripper. More specifically, instead of trying to discover the murderers identity I am writing on How the White Chapel murders created or influenced the great reforms of the late 19th century.

I have read the books:

Ripper A to Z Paul Begg.

Jack the Ripper The Definitive History. Paul Begg

and though I have finished both these books and they were extremely informative, I have run out of sources and in desperate need of other books or articles that can fit into my research. Any would be greatly appreciated.


Thank you all so very much,

Zach "Sammy" Peffer

[Robert]

Hi Sammy

A good book for the background to the murders is "East End 1888" by William J Fishman.

You say you're interested in the effects of the murders on the late nineteenth century. If you mean that literally, it only gives you 12 years to study, so I assume the period of study extends into the early 20th?

[Bridewell]

Hi Sammy,

Welcome to the forum. There is quite a bit of background information in the early chapters of Donald Rumbelow's "The Complete Jack the Ripper". If you want source material on the murders themselves, try and get hold of a copy of "The Ultimate Jack the Ripper Sourcebook" by Stewart P Evans & Keith Skinner - a hugely valuable reference work (although I think the US title of that may be slightly different).

Good luck with the thesis.

Regards, Bridewell

[Errata]

I imagine the most valuable resource will the legislative record of Parliament between late 1888 to about mid 1889. You will also need to read the newspapers and church bulletins during that time looking for new charitable organizations and any instances of civil disobedience or demonstrations that use the murders as a rallying cry for social change. And you need to read Annie Besant to find the less socially acceptable and less press covered types of change.

[mariab]

Hello Zach/Sammy.
You'll most definitely won't need The ultimate JTR sourcebook yet, unless you become a Ripperologist for life. To have a reference, general book on the case, buy Philip Sugden's The complete history of JTR (by all means buy the revised edition from 2002). Sugden's a historian and has taught at the University of Hull. His book can be bought pretty cheap at amazon, also second hand. This one book is completely sufficient for the kind of study of the case you have in mind.

Books on the social history of Victorian London: Try Jack London, Donald Thomas' The Victorian underworld, Alex Butterworth's The world that never was: A true story of dreamers, schemers, anarchists, and secret agents, as already mentioned by others William Fishman's East End 1888, and Christopher Campbell's Fenian fire. These you might be even able to borrow from a library, otherwise they're available at amazon for less than 10-British pounds each. A great book with photographic documentation is Philip Hutchinson's/Rob Clack's JTR's London then and now.

[lynn cates]

Hainsworth

Hello Sammy. Welcome to the boards.

Robert and Maria have some great ideas for reading. You may also wish to chat up Jonathan Hainsworth. He could be a big help in that area.

Good luck with your paper.

Cheers.
LC

[The Grave Maurice]

When is the paper due, Zach?

[mariab]

Sammy, feel free to chat up Lynn Cates on the politics/social issues first. He's Ripperology's specialist on the anarchists' question. By the by, both Lynn and The Grave Maurice are college Profs.

[Jonathan H]

To Sammy

All the best with your thesis.

I would start with this primary source, by George Bernard Shaw, from the press section of Casebook. Shaw was being rudely satirical but his point is well taken:

http://www.casebook.org/press_reports/gbs1.html

From the Casebook Dissertations section is this excellent secondary source by Robin Odell:

http://www.casebook.org/dissertations/rip-redeemer.html

Then you badly need to get your hands on a copy of 'Autumn of Terror-- Jack the Ripper: His Crimes and Times' by Tom Cullen, The Bodley Head, 1965, as this entertaining, American Marxist put forward the leftist polemic that not only did the Ripper contribute to social reform -- it was his motive!? Here is an excerpt from Cullen, in which he shows Victorian sources to be somewhat oblivious:

'Commenting on how powerfully the murders had served as a stimulus for housing reform, Mrs. Barnett [wife of Reverend Samuel] wrote, "Verily, it was the crucifixion of these poor lost souls which saved the district". Even "Commonweal", the organ of William Morris' Socialists, was forced to concede that "in our age of contradictions and absurdities, a fiend-murderer may become a more effective reformer than all the honest propagandists in the world" p. 210, Cullen

Cullen believed 'Jack' was the Oxonian and barrister, Montague Druitt -- and Oxonians had been part of a reform movement in the East End to help the poor -- and thus he was sort of deranged yet high functioning, terroristic figure, with demonstrable success in forcing the 'better classes' to face up to the systemic poverty and squalor of the 'evil, quarter mile' (where all the five Ripper murders occurred, but only if you think Druitt was the killer).

Cullen's thesis is not accepted as remotely viable by any other sources -- except myself, for what that is worth -- but the notion that Jack's crimes assisted in changing perceptions of the East End, and marshalled public and political support to do more, is generally accepted.

I hope that helps somewhat?

[Roy Corduroy]

How the White Chapel murders created or influenced the great reforms of the late 19th century.

Slum clearance and the building of "model dwellings" amd "housing estates" is one tangible aspect. The books Rothschild Buildings by Jerry White and The Blackest Streets by Sarah Wise could be helpful to you in that regard.

Roy

[Phil Carter]

Hi Sammy

A good book for the background to the murders is "East End 1888" by William J Fishman.

You say you're interested in the effects of the murders on the late nineteenth century. If you mean that literally, it only gives you 12 years to study, so I assume the period of study extends into the early 20th?

Hello Sammy,

Yup, Robert is bang on the mark here. The book really does give the correct feel, atmospghere and social sonditions of the area-

best wishes

Phil

[Sammy P.]

Thanks everybody for all the suggestion. I have followed up on alot of them and think that I am on the right path to getting my research rolling in the right direction. Like I said I am a medieval historian and know how to find those sources backwards and fowards but modern England is new to me. (find my accident while reading Begg's A to Z so I have to thank him.)

When is the paper due, Zach?

The paper is due on the last day of school, so just thinking on the top of my head sometime in early May.

its a 35 page paper which is the longest I have written though that doesnt bother me cause if any of you were undergraduate History Majors, you end up writing about 40 pages a semester.

I just wish that I could get my hands on some newspapers and periodicals but my university's bookstore is the worst.

[mariab]

Sammy,
For a paper of 35p. due in 2 months you'll be fine with just the secundary lit, no need of too many primary sources. You can use the casebook newspapers section (just click on Press Reports in the list on the margins to your left), plus you can subscribe to www.newspaperarchive.com for only 4-British pounds per month, first week free.

[Bridewell]

On Reflection

Hello Zach/Sammy.
You'll most definitely won't need The ultimate JTR sourcebook yet, unless you become a Ripperologist for life. To have a reference, general book on the case, buy Philip Sugden's The complete history of JTR (by all means buy the revised edition from 2002). Sugden's a historian and has taught at the University of Hull. His book can be bought pretty cheap at amazon, also second hand. This one book is completely sufficient for the kind of study of the case you have in mind.

Books on the social history of Victorian London: Try Jack London, Donald Thomas' The Victorian underworld, Alex Butterworth's The world that never was: A true story of dreamers, schemers, anarchists, and secret agents, as already mentioned by others William Fishman's East End 1888, and Christopher Campbell's Fenian fire. These you might be even able to borrow from a library, otherwise they're available at amazon for less than 10-British pounds each. A great book with photographic documentation is Philip Hutchinson's/Rob Clack's JTR's London then and now.

Hello Sammy

My apologies.

On reflection, I think Maria is right. You should probably delete The Ultimate JTR Sourcebook from your list. It's an excellent reference source on the murders themselves, but probably not helpful to your particular line of enquiry at this stage. Thank-you, Maria, for your prompt and intelligent intervention. You gave the subject matter rather more thought than I did.

Regards, Bridewell

[OscarWildeFan]

Senior Thesis Paper Help

Hello fellow ripper enthusiast,
My name is Sammy and I stumbled upon this particular site and believed that it would be a great place to get some help that I am in desperate need of having.

I am a European history major at Troy University (emphasis to Medieval Europe and the Northern Crusade.) and am taking my senior seminar class getting ready to graduate. For this class, my professor (Dr. Welsh one of my person heroes and a brilliant man.) has set the curriculum in modern Britain. That being so, my paper topic is Jack the Ripper. More specifically, instead of trying to discover the murderers identity I am writing on How the White Chapel murders created or influenced the great reforms of the late 19th century.

I have read the books:

Ripper A to Z Paul Begg.

Jack the Ripper The Definitive History. Paul Begg

and though I have finished both these books and they were extremely informative, I have run out of sources and in desperate need of other books or articles that can fit into my research. Any would be greatly appreciated.


Thank you all so very much,

Zach "Sammy" Peffer

Good morning, Sammy --

You may want to read the following books which will give you a flavor of the conditions of the London slums during the Ripper murders:

"People of the Abyss" by Jack London (my personal favorite)
"London Labor and the London Poor" by Henry Mayhew
"East End 1888: Life in a London Borough Among the Laboring Poor" by W.J. Fishman

I have also just finished an excellent book entitled "Jack the Ripper and the Case for Scotland Yard's Prime Suspect" by Robert House which gives a good introduction into the background of the Jewish population of the London slums during the Ripper murders and how this tied into the hunt for one of the prime suspects.

Good luck with your studies and welcome to the site!