Some of the most important changes identified are a marked awareness of the risks of presentism, a shift from ambitious histories to contextualised microhistories, a heightened recognition of the internal diversity of historical alchemy, and a greater emphasis on its practical dimensions and its role in the Scientific Revolution. The number of researchers and publications devoted to the history of alchemy has seen exponential growth and diversification in recent decades, to such an extent that some scholars speak of a “New Historiography of Alchemy.” On the occasion of the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry, this paper outlines some highlights of the literature since 1990, with a view to identify current trends but also challenges for the future. Colouring as a defining mark of making and the making of colours, as well as the techniques used to colour and/or make, are all equally subsumed under the workshop topic broadly construed. ![]() More fundamentally, the very ways in which making and colouring are construed and differentiated are subject to great changes: when alchemists claimed to have made gold successfully, for instance, their critics (and later generations) held that they had not made but merely coloured a substance. During our workshop, we will explore how these activities relate to one another in a variety of ways throughout the ages. The theme for 2016, ‘Colouring and Making in Alchemy and Chemistry’, seeks to highlight colouring and making as twin aspects throughout the history of alchemy and chemistry. Fostering exchange among historians of alchemy and chemistry, the workshop offers postgraduate students and early-career researchers the opportunity to share ideas, explore methodological issues and network in a stimulating atmosphere. ![]() Hosted by the ARTECHNE research group, the annual postgraduate workshop of the Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry (SHAC) will take place at Utrecht University in 2016.
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