Wikipedia:Reference desk/Humanities

Brittany Koper lawsuit

The Brittany Koper page talks about a lawsuit against .. law firm Davert & Loe? The Guardian makes it look like she sued TBN, but Courthouse news lists "defendant Matthew Crouch". And several sources talk about TBN suing Koper.

Who sued who, and what were the results? Did any of this settle out of court? Get dismissed? Get to the point where there was a verdict? --Guy Macon (talk) 21:04, 24 April 2026 (UTC)

• Sforza, Teri (September 18, 2012). "Trinity escapes 'vexatious litigant' label — for now". Orange County Register.
• Levy, Noah (December 16, 2025). "Sexual Abuse, Hazing, Intimidation: How the Sins of a Televangelist Power Couple Threatened to Destroy a Christian Media Empire". Esquire.

Eight total lawsuits? Think that Esquire piece covers all the results. fiveby(zero) 00:51, 25 April 2026 (UTC)

Name of Saint Barbara

I was wondering why Saint Barbara received such a peculiar name meaning "stranger", "foreign" (also since in her times, assuming her historicity, the ancient negative connotation with barbarians was already there). I know a similar peculiar case of Russian surname Nenashkin (Ненашкин, meaning "not ours", speculated to originally have an apotropaic purpose to ward off evil). Is there a possible answer about Barbara in sources? If Saint Barbara is actually a later invention (because no other person with that name is known in antiquity and all other Barbaras stem from her), possible explanation could be that inventors wanted to emphasize her pagan origin for propaganda. Brandmeister ^talk 22:01, 24 April 2026 (UTC)

See the first paragraph of Barbara (given name). {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} ~2026-76101-8 (talk) 23:54, 24 April 2026 (UTC)

That's a dubious explanation. If early Christians occasionally referred to themselves as "barbarians", it would mean that her mother gave her the name in opposition to her father who opposed Christianity and martyred her. That would be very odd. Brandmeister ^talk 11:08, 25 April 2026 (UTC)

Bear in mind that there is no historical evidence for her actual existence, and her whole story may be complete fiction. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} ~2026-76101-8 (talk) 02:48, 26 April 2026 (UTC)

Yeah, in that case this oddity makes sense. Brandmeister ^talk 08:57, 26 April 2026 (UTC)

Kind of a subliminal meaning to the term "ICE Barbie". ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 23:58, 24 April 2026 (UTC)

Alternatively, it may have been a nickname, like Patrick, derived from the Latin Patricius, a nobleman, referring to his Romano-British origin; his real name is unknown. Alansplodge (talk) 14:40, 28 April 2026 (UTC)

Khuligantsvo

Is khuligantsvo essentially the Russian/Soviet equivalent of disorderly conduct or is there a bit more to the equation? Someone who's wrong on the internet (talk) 06:02, 25 April 2026 (UTC)

Generally yes, but in some cases a khuligan can emphatically mean "naughty boy" when a woman wants to emphasize kinky approach to her. Native Russian speaker here. Brandmeister ^talk 11:23, 25 April 2026 (UTC)

Associate Institute for Improving and Enforcing the Laws for the Protection of Women and Children

Our article Women in the Victorian era says "Another challenge was persuading women who were victims of domestic abuse to make use of the limited legal recourse available to them. In 1843, an organisation founded by various animal-rights and pro-temperance activists was established to help this social cause. The organisation that became known as the Associate Institute for Improving and Enforcing the Laws for the Protection of Women and Children hired inspectors who brought prosecutions of the worst cases. It focused its efforts on work-class women, since Victorian practise was to deny that middle-class or aristocratic families were in need of such intervention". I would like to know more about "The organisation that became known as the Associate Institute for Improving and Enforcing the Laws for the Protection of Women and Children". Googling "Associate Institute for Improving and Enforcing the Laws for the Protection of Women and Children" ONLY returns results which are the same as the sentence as in our article. DuncanHill (talk) 22:59, 25 April 2026 (UTC)

• Institute publications
  • The Female's friend (1846) 4 issues, might be the complete run
  • The First Report (1846) can't find any other annual reports
  • Remedies for the Wrongs of Women (1844) should be available thru this Gale product
  • The Wrongs of Women Avenged by a Retributive Providence (1844) OCLC 1013219923
  • Davis, James Edward (1854). Prize Essay on the Laws for the Protection of Women.
• London Feminist History Group (1983). The Sexual Dynamics of History. 1 para
• Dickens, Charles (October 1854). "Narrative of Law and Crime". The Household Narrative of Current Events. p. 221. two cases brought by the Institute
• "The bench and the bar at the Middlesex sessions". Justice of the Peace, and County, Borough, Poor Law Union, and Parish Law Recorder. London. November 4, 1854. Full access available to users of The Wikipedia Library. same two cases
• Walkowitz, Judith R. (1980). Prostitution and Victorian Society. Cambridge University Press. p. 40. Full access available to users of The Wikipedia Library. 5 para
• Jackson, Louise A. (2000). Child sexual abuse in Victorian England. Routledge. pp. 59–61. 5 para
• Stevenson, Kim (2004). "Fulfilling Their Mission: The Intervention of Voluntary Societies in Cases of Sexual Assault in the Victorian Criminal Process". Crime, History & Societies. 8 (1).
• Bristow, Edward J. (1977). Vice and Vigilance. pp. 61–2. just Associate Institute, but "flat on its face" in 1844 probably referring to AIIELPWC and Stevenson cites as such

William Shaen one of the solicitors

Looks like it may have been renamed "Associate Institution for Improving and Enforcing the Laws for Protection of Women" sometime after 1853. Listed under that name in 1861.

The correct name is Associate Institution... but from Jackson: the Associate Institute was also commonly known as the Society for the Protection of Women and Children – caused a great deal of confusion for contemporaries and footnote to that Newspaper reports of court cases tended to refer to the ‘Associate Institute for the Protection of Women and Children’ but there was some variation. Continuity of personnel, in particular the dominance of solicitor William Shaen, indicates that they are all the same organisation.

AKA Association for Enforcing and Improving the Laws for the Protection of Women in some reports

According to note 5 here The Society for the Protection of Women and Children from Aggravated Assaults, founded in 1857, amalgamated with the Associated Institute for Improving and Enforcing the Laws for the Protection of Women to form the Associated Societies for the Protection of Women in 1892.

Stevenson differs from Jackson in stating SPWC was established 1857 and a separate org, but also says it is possible that certain of them could be one and the same. Founded in 1857 suggests SPWC is the same as the SPWCAA which merged with AIIELPW and formed ASPW in 1892.

fiveby(zero) 23:33, 25 April 2026 (UTC)

The list of more than 800 "beneficiary institutions" in The People's Directory to the Charities of London and Guide to Relief gives the name as Associate Institute for Improving and Enforcing the Laws for the Protection of Women, so the final d of "note 5" referred to above is probably spurious. The same Directory and Guide lists a Society for the Protection of Women and Children,  ​‑‑Lambiam 05:59, 26 April 2026 (UTC)

Sampson Low's Charities of London 1850 1852-3 1861 1880

All have Associate Institution for Improving and Enforcing the Laws for the Protection of Women 5, Upper Charles-street, Parliament-street as do all the orgs publications. Different address in 1880 tho.

Benjamin Bond Cabbell Treasurer 1850,1852-3,1861 and Henry Joseph Newman Secretary 1850,1852-3,1861,1880. fiveby(zero) 14:09, 26 April 2026 (UTC)

I don't really trust footnote 5. Here's some more info on the Rainer Archive used by Stevenson for SPWC. fiveby(zero) 15:16, 26 April 2026 (UTC)

I know Victorians had a taste for verbosity, but if that's not a name dreamt up by a committee, I don't know what is. Chuntuk (talk) 14:05, 27 April 2026 (UTC)

The Soviets were world-beaters in this field.

• The Laboratory for Reinforcement, Concrete and Ferroconcrete Operations, for Composite-Monolithic and Monolithic Constructions, of the Department of the Technology of Building-Assembly Operations, of the Scientific Research Institute of the Organization for Mechanization and Technical Aid

was a real thing. Naturally, it required an acronym:

• NIIOMTPLABOPARMBETZHELBETRABSBOMONIMONKONOTDTEKHSTROMONT,

which earned a Guinness World Record. Now all we need is an acro-acronym. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 22:06, 28 April 2026 (UTC)

media on/about the lavender scare?

What the title says-- I'm really interested in this topic and was wondering if anyone has a list of media about this period, or if anyone knows of any firsthand accounts (interviews, biographies, biopics, etc). Thanks :) Olliewally (talk) 19:00, 28 April 2026 (UTC)

Presumably you're talking about Lavender Scare? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 19:28, 28 April 2026 (UTC)

You might want to try David K. Johnson's The Lavender Scare: https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/L/bo193960577.html.

I've also heard good things about Eric Cervini's book The Deviant's War.

There's also of course the congressional testimony, e.g., this (warning for homophobia, obviously): https://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/50s/gays-in-govt.html. You can search US government things at sites like govinfo.gov, among other .gov sites (there's one centralized one, but I forget what it is): https://www.govinfo.gov/

The National Archives has a magazine called Prologue which published an article about the Lavender Scare. I'm using an Archive.org link because, unfortunately, I do not trust it to be maintained accurately: https://web.archive.org/web/20260000000000*/https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2016/summer/lavender.html.

You may also want to investigate LGBTQ archives, such as those listed here: https://guides.loc.gov/lgbtq-studies/external-websites. The Rainbow History Project in particular, which focuses on Washington DC, may be of use: https://rainbowhistory.org/

Does this help? Ceratarges-etc (talk) 21:00, 28 April 2026 (UTC)

yes oh my gosh thank you so much !!!!! Olliewally (talk) 02:47, 30 April 2026 (UTC)

Mrs. T. Phillips

In his 1839 opus, The Silurian System, Roderick Murchison wrote (p. 78) of the above plate "I am indebted to Mrs. T. Phillips for this beautiful drawing."

Who was she? Was "T." her initial, or her husband's? Was she related to Professor Phillips, whom Murchison mentions frequently?

Can any other works be attributed to her, or do we know anything else of her? Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 20:28, 29 April 2026 (UTC)

There are, or were, pictures in Hagley Hall by a T. Phillips RA, who would be Thomas Phillips. He was married, but our article does not mention if his wife had an artistic bent. DuncanHill (talk) 20:43, 29 April 2026 (UTC)

And T. Phillips painted Murchison in 1832. DuncanHill (talk) 20:51, 29 April 2026 (UTC)

Thank you. Source 1 in his biography has:

He married Miss Elizabeth Fraser of Fairfield, near Inverness, a lady whose beauty and accomplishments were commended by Crabbe in his 'London Journal.'

-- Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 20:59, 29 April 2026 (UTC)

In 1809 - this is a slightly longer version, from his obituary. Crabbe might be George Crabbe, FWIW. Edit: here's George Crabbe's praise of Mrs Phillips, though it's just diary entries and says little more.  Card Zero  (talk) 06:27, 30 April 2026 (UTC)

Elizabeth (Fraser) Phillips was a respected artist, known for work in scientific illustrations: Topographical illustrations of Norfolk and the English Midlands as well as botanical illustrations. ~2026-21283-08 (talk) 11:16, 30 April 2026 (UTC)

Thank you. Do you have a source or sources, please? Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 11:28, 30 April 2026 (UTC)

Professor Phillips would presumably be John Phillips, whose sister Anne Phillips proved Murchison wrong about the Silurian. They both died unmarried. There are a few more Phillipses in Murchison too. DuncanHill (talk) 21:05, 29 April 2026 (UTC)

Conventionally, Mrs. T. Phillips would have been the wife of one Mr. T. Phillips.  ​‑‑Lambiam 11:55, 30 April 2026 (UTC)

I found this authority record and this Find a Grave listing for an Elizabeth (Fraser) Phillips, spouse of Thomas Phillips. Seems to match up with the timeline here. The Find a Grave listing says "artist" but it's unclear if that refers to Elizabeth or Thomas. Is this your gal? -- MediaKyle (talk) 13:35, 30 April 2026 (UTC)

Thank you, yes; but we still have no evidence that she was the creator of the image above, or even an artist at all.

FWIW, she is now also at Elizabeth Phillips (Q139592193). Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 13:51, 30 April 2026 (UTC)

I did a fair bit of digging, the only other thing I came up with was the British Museum ID which I added to Wikidata. I think it may be possible that "I am indebted to..." simply means that she gave him the drawing -- whether it was her husband's or someone else's -- rather than created it herself. This may be one of those mysteries that can only be solved by a trip to a physical archive. MediaKyle (talk) 16:14, 30 April 2026 (UTC)

The lithograph bears her name, "Mrs. Phillips delt.", bottom left. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 16:38, 30 April 2026 (UTC)

Did you see "SLEBECH HALL"? I see no help in textSlebech#Slebech Park Estate with a Phillips family. J.Greig sculp would be John Greig engraver? fiveby(zero) 17:56, 30 April 2026 (UTC)

"John Charles Denham Album of Watercolors and Drawings"

• Also present are watercolor landscapes by the wife and daughter of portrait painter Thomas Phillips
• Phillips, Elizabeth Fraser: watercolor drawing of a Scottish loch 18[?]9
• Phillips, M.: watercolor drawing of a classical ruin 1832 (must be the daughter)

fiveby(zero) 19:24, 30 April 2026 (UTC)

Was Susanna Fraser (Q131294057) a daughter out of wedlock? Mary Miller, married George Spencer Cautley brother of Proby Cautley i'm pretty sure is the daughter mentioned above.JSTOR 531808

The index of OCLC 191953114 has:

• Phillips, Henry Wyndham (1819-1868?), a son of the painter Thomas Phillips(1770-1845) and Elizabeth Frazer of Fairfield (1784-1856), a sister of Anna’s Scottish grandmother (Anna Elisabeth von Schoultz) mother of Annie Furuhjelm
• Phillips, Elizabeth (1816-1882), a sister of Henry Phillips
• Cautley, Mary (b. 1810), née Phillips, a sister of Henry Phillips, in 1847 married to Rev. G.S. Cautley
• Phillips, Mary, a daughter of Henry Phillips
• Phillips, Susan, the wife of Henry Phillips

Given the reference, Susanna a daughter looks like a misreading of p. 136-7 here Portraits of Susanna Fraser and of Mary Phillips (daughter of the artist) , when children.. fiveby(zero) 20:37, 30 April 2026 (UTC)

The text M^rs. Phillips del^t. probably stand for Mrs. Phillips delineavit, Latin for "Mrs. Phillips drew [it]".  ​‑‑Lambiam 22:02, 30 April 2026 (UTC)

I'm not sure Andy is convinced the Mrs. Phillips who delineavit the two works is definitely the wife of Thomas Phillips. But she has one watercolor at least. Also this:

It may have been Constable’s feelings on this occasion which led him to write to Leslie on the 29th December 1831, when he was himself an Academician, regretting the choice of Phillips as Visitor of the Life Academy. ‘That man Phillips’, he declared, ‘is a mass of cold heartless headless pride. I would have voted for Mrs. Phillips, in the life, for preference.’ Mrs. Phillips was a charming lady, formerly Elizabeth Fraser of Fairfield near Inverness, whose beauty and accomplishments were commended by Crabbe.

— Becket, R.B (1966). John Constable's Correspondence. Vol. IV. pp. 278–281.

Letter in III p. 56. Can't figure out what a "Visitor of the Life Academy" is tho. John Constable, Mr. & Mrs. Phillips, and Charles Robert Leslie went on a sketching trip to Cowdray Castle. fiveby(zero) 00:27, 1 May 2026 (UTC)

Royal Academy life class taught by a succession of nine 'Visitors' per year. Constable would have voted for Elizabeth to teach over Thomas. Unless it was a joke? Women artists weren't allowed in the class. She was almost 50 at the time, but maybe well-preserved? fiveby(zero) 00:54, 1 May 2026 (UTC)

"Phillips commonly called the God of the Greeks and his Rib" Thomas Rowlandson fiveby(zero) 00:44, 1 May 2026 (UTC)

"Evolution, not revolution"

I see this phrase is in Robur the Conqueror. Did Jules Verne coin it?  Card Zero  (talk) 12:11, 1 May 2026 (UTC)

Searching on Google Books, I did find the phrase "She believed in progress only as the result of evolution, not revolution." written in a book on George Eliot written by Mathilde Blind and apparently published in 1885, see here. Here is another example in 1879 from George Henry Lewes, apparently in respect to how astronomy contrasts with psychology. GalacticShoe (talk) 13:11, 1 May 2026 (UTC)

The earliest examples I can find of this exact phrasing in Google Books date to 1871, although it's also worth noting that Lewes expressed a similar idea in his History of Philosophy also published 1871 (see here), and also there is this periodical piece from an early 1870 edition of the Quarterly Review, citing Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve's writings on Ernest Renan: "He had had his evolution (not his revolution)." I presume locating the original French phrasing would yield better results. GalacticShoe (talk) 13:26, 1 May 2026 (UTC)

Perhaps originally conceived as a bad thing? (What did Sainte-Beuve suffer from in his last years? This has been mysterious since the information was added in 2006.)  Card Zero  (talk) 13:52, 1 May 2026 (UTC)

According to French Wikipedia (reffed) an autopsy found a "vast abscess" in his prostate. --Antiquary (talk) 18:30, 1 May 2026 (UTC)

Ew, OK. I've decided that's non-notable.  Card Zero  (talk) 20:36, 1 May 2026 (UTC)

Johann Gottfried Herder's Tithon and Aurora (1792) has "...the only answer that can be given is "Palingenesia!" – not Revolution, but a happy Evolution of the faculties which slumber in us...". The original German is "Nicht Revolution, aber eine glückliche Evolution". --Antiquary (talk) 19:01, 1 May 2026 (UTC)

Impressively old! That was during the French Revolution, it's year 1 in the French Republican calendar.  Card Zero  (talk) 20:44, 1 May 2026 (UTC)

There are also these later uses FWIW:

• "It will depend on our rulers whether we shall have an orderly evolution, which I have always preached and propagated, or a violent revolution, which we Socialists have always tried to avoid."
  • Victor L Berger, In Defense of Representative Government: Speech to Congress - October 17, 1919
• "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable."
  • JFK, Address on the First Anniversary of the Alliance for Progress at the White House (13 March 1962)

-IOHANNVSVERVS (talk) 15:51, 1 May 2026 (UTC)

Philosophy of perception

I've noticed that the problem of relativity of perception keeps coming up in just about every field and I'm curious how others can explain it. User:Mandarax has a great DYK hook from 2012 that illustrates the problem:

Did you know that Paul Kelpe was criticized for painting murals which were too abstract, but an abstract arts group asked him to resign because his work wasn't abstract enough?

What is this problem called and why do I see it just about everywhere, not just in the arts? When I study U.S. history it comes up almost all of the time, from politics to business to even sports. Any ideas? Viriditas (talk) 21:57, 1 May 2026 (UTC)

To fall between two stools? We may need another example. Kelpe's Machinery (Abstract #2) was objectionably abstract (to who?) in the context of a project that accepted only representational art, and the much more abstract works that he made two to five years later were objectionably representational to an organization of hardcore abstractionists. This isn't a problem of perception, is it? It just means he couldn't restrain himself from being somewhat abstract, and didn't want to be extremely radically abstract. So he fell between two schools, ahahaha.  Card Zero  (talk) 23:27, 1 May 2026 (UTC)

Yes, good answer. I think you are on to something here. There is an incessant tendency to push people into categories, into little boxes, and that's what you are getting at. Viriditas (talk) 23:40, 1 May 2026 (UTC)

We get a lot of milage out of the lumpers and splitters article on the ref desks, it fits here too. Darwin apparently took a pluralistic attitude and valued both urges.  Card Zero  (talk) 00:19, 2 May 2026 (UTC)

Nailed it. Thanks. Viriditas (talk) 00:24, 2 May 2026 (UTC)

There's also the old axiom, "If you try to please everyone, you will please no one." ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 01:14, 2 May 2026 (UTC)

I am certainly safe on that one... --Guy Macon (talk) 06:48, 2 May 2026 (UTC)

Return of the Mayflower

What are the ships in the B. F. Gribble painting Return of the Mayflower, and what signal is the lead ship flying? Thank you, DuncanHill (talk) 00:04, 4 May 2026 (UTC)

The helpful hull numbers tell us the ships are USS Wadsworth (DD-60), USS Porter (DD-59), and USS Davis (DD-65), which according to history.navy.mil should have been at the front. If I read the flags from top to bottom using the International Code of Signals, I get ZRU KRPꞱ. It's probably not that. One of those could be a Maritime call sign, if the 60 wasn't sufficient. But navsource.net says her callsign was NKW.  Card Zero  (talk) 01:56, 4 May 2026 (UTC)

Presumably the US Navy has or had some sort of system of short codes - like that used in England expects that every man will do his duty? DuncanHill (talk) 14:59, 4 May 2026 (UTC)

Remember that this is a painting and not a photograph. The artist may not have painted anything meaningful, but just picked random signal flags that “looked nice”. Blueboar (talk) 20:47, 4 May 2026 (UTC)

Indeed he may, and if you have a reliable source to say he did then please share it. DuncanHill (talk) 20:48, 4 May 2026 (UTC)

KRP DEFICIENT-LY-CY? I can't find anything for ZRU. I wonder what the blue quincunx flag at the top is? Maybe a Flag officer flag.  Card Zero  (talk) 06:38, 5 May 2026 (UTC)

Looks like crossed anchors, but can't find a match. The blue pennant on the mainmast might be the squadron commander's flag. I have asked at Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Ships#USN signal flags in 1917 in the hope of finding an expert. Alansplodge (talk) 21:49, 5 May 2026 (UTC)

Weimar Republic, and the DNVP hypothetically entering government

I am in a Political RP and playing as the Justice Minister of the DNVP that just entered government, is there any source of what the DNVP had historically planned with the Justice ministry, and what laws were historically supported by the DNVP? ~2026-27296-43 (talk) 06:46, 5 May 2026 (UTC)

Have you read German National People's Party? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 06:51, 5 May 2026 (UTC)

Yep, I am looking for specific laws and actions that the DNVP has achieved (More specifically Oskar Hergt) during the Weimar republic, when in office. ~2026-27296-43 (talk) 07:14, 5 May 2026 (UTC)