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Warning Out: Robert Love's Search for Strangers in Pre-revolutionary Boston
A fascinating look at warning out--colonial New England's peculiar system for identifying strangers
This groundbreaking book follows the perambulations of Boston's indefatigable warner, Robert Love. From 1765 to 1774, Love sought, found, and verbally warned in His Majesty's Name, four thousand sojourners to depart the city within fourteen days. Once warned, these strangers could not claim poor relief from Boston, but all except the disorderly were allowed to stay and work. New England's warning out system has been misunderstood, the authors argue, as reflecting exclusionary Puritan impulses. Rather, it functioned as an early version of modern registration systems, allowing officials to encourage the flow of labor, keep residents under surveillance, and protect the town's coffers.
A classic work in the tradition of history from the bottom up, Dayton and Salinger--using Love's meticulous notes to uncover the migration stories of hundreds of men, women, and children--discover why Acadians, demobilized soldiers, and youthful workers were on the move, and how coming to Boston impacted their lives.
No one has ever used a warning out book to bring ordinary people to the center of a narrative. An amazing achievement. Absolutely fascinating. --Alfred F. Young, author of The Shoemaker and the Tea Party
This groundbreaking book follows the perambulations of Boston's indefatigable warner, Robert Love. From 1765 to 1774, Love sought, found, and verbally warned in His Majesty's Name, four thousand sojourners to depart the city within fourteen days. Once warned, these strangers could not claim poor relief from Boston, but all except the disorderly were allowed to stay and work. New England's warning out system has been misunderstood, the authors argue, as reflecting exclusionary Puritan impulses. Rather, it functioned as an early version of modern registration systems, allowing officials to encourage the flow of labor, keep residents under surveillance, and protect the town's coffers.
A classic work in the tradition of history from the bottom up, Dayton and Salinger--using Love's meticulous notes to uncover the migration stories of hundreds of men, women, and children--discover why Acadians, demobilized soldiers, and youthful workers were on the move, and how coming to Boston impacted their lives.
No one has ever used a warning out book to bring ordinary people to the center of a narrative. An amazing achievement. Absolutely fascinating. --Alfred F. Young, author of The Shoemaker and the Tea Party
240 pages, Hardcover
Published April 1, 2009
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December 5, 2015
Researching warnings out in my own town, this scholarly (but not stuffy) book offered valuable insights into the warning process as it was practiced in 1760s-1770s Boston.
The authors maintain that warnings out were part of a system of poor relief allocation between the town and the Province of Massachusetts.
Robert Love, the "warner" who is the subject of their research,was an amazingly dedicated and efficient worker. With the authority of His Majesty and the Boston selectmen at his back, for years he perambulated the streets of Boston interrogating "strangers" and warning out those who did not belong. He recorded his encounters in detail, not only in his journal, but in an "official" copy that he presented to the town clerk every month.
The authors maintain that warnings out were part of a system of poor relief allocation between the town and the Province of Massachusetts.
Robert Love, the "warner" who is the subject of their research,was an amazingly dedicated and efficient worker. With the authority of His Majesty and the Boston selectmen at his back, for years he perambulated the streets of Boston interrogating "strangers" and warning out those who did not belong. He recorded his encounters in detail, not only in his journal, but in an "official" copy that he presented to the town clerk every month.
Displaying 1 of 1 review