Work and Plan in Early Modern England

A collaborative digital exhibit curated and created by students in Dr. McClendon's History fall 2019 Capstone course.

When members of History 191C met for the first time in October 2019, they discussed the definitions, expressions and meanings of work and play in their own lives. There was broad agreement as they talked about various jobs at which they had worked, the pastimes in which they engage and the boundaries that separated them. Seminar members knew the kinds of activities that constitute “work,” and were equally clear about what constitutes “play” for them. This exhibit presents the results of their research into those concepts and their expressions in the lives of early modern Europeans. As visitors to the exhibit will see and as students found, those categories were not necessarily as distinct as we might think of them today.