In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Acknowledgments This project's journey to published manuscript could not have been accomplished without the help of numerous individuals and two institutions. While a graduate student at the University ofPennsylvania, and thereafter, I have luxuriated in the friendly rigor of the research environment at the McNeil (formerly the Philadelphia) Center for Early American Studies. My reading ofan aspect ofPhiladelphia's past in this book owes a great deal to the knowledge and generosity of all those scholars who have passed through the center over the past decade and to successive directors of the center-Richard Beeman, Stephanie Grauman Wol£ and Richard Dunn. I could not have finished this book without timely intervention, in the form of a term's leave from teaching, from the University of Oxford's Faculty of Modern History. Many thanks are due those overburdened colleagues, especially Clive Holmes of Lady Margaret Hall, who lightened my teaching load. I am particularly indebted to Nick Mayhew of St. Cross College, Oxford, who deputized for me asTutor for Admissions in order that I might complete this project. I would also like to record my gratitude to Sydney L. Mayer, whose benefaction to Oxford allowed me to travel to Philadelphia to search for illustrations and elusive references. Much of the primary research for this book was conducted in the manuscripts room ofthe Historical Society ofPennsylvania. I found Linda Stanley, until recently the society's Curator ofManuscripts, to be unfailingly helpful and informative. Her example was followed by the rest of the society 's library staff: Jim Green, Erika Piola, and Jennifer Ambrose of the Library Company of Philadelphia also provided invaluable assistance. Librarians and archivists at the American Philosophical Society and the Rare Books Department of the University of Pennsylvania's Van Pelt Library treated me with great courtesy and efficiency. The staff ofthe City ofPhiladelphia 's Archive Unit gave me a large welcome in their cramped quarters in City Hall Annex. Thanks are also due to Jack Lindsay at the Philadelphia Museum ofArt and to Joseph Benford at the Free Library ofPhiladelphia. Craig Horle shared with me both his general expertise and his transcriptions of seventeenth-century Philadelphia's two surviving court dock- Acknowledgments ets. Patricia Cleary helped me think about the importance oftavernkeeping as a trade for women. Professor Sharon Salinger shared with me her work on Philadelphia's insurance records and expertise on much else besides. Many friends listened to me on the subject of taverns with greater patience, and more generosity, than any author has a right to expect. I thank Kathy Brown, Martin Conway, Saul Cornell, Marcus Daniel, Joel Kaye, Robert Middlekauff, Simon Newman, Nancy Rosenberg, and Mike Wheeldon for all their counsel. Susan Klepp and Michael Meranze gave me extremely helpful readers' reports. Jerry Singerman and the staff at the University of Pennsylvania Press have made publishing a pleasurable process . Richard Dunn and Michael Zuckerman have challenged, advised, and supported me throughout. My debt to Mike Zuckerman-dazzling intellectual and inspiring mentor-is simply enormous. This book is dedicated with much love to my wife, Alex. ...

Share