FYI
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ANNOUNCING THE LAUNCH OF REED ONLINE
The Records of Early English Drama (REED) project is delighted to announce the launch of REED Online
(http://ereed.library.utoronto.ca), its new open-access website. The
site features REED's first digital edition of dramatic records for the
county of Staffordshire, encoded in TEI. Easily searched with a number
of useful filters, online records appear conveniently on the same page
as their translations, document descriptions, and any glosses or related
endnotes. GIS mapping based on the Patrons and Performances map
of historic county boundaries and main roads illuminates significant
details further. For students and those new to records research, search
tips, an introduction to the research process, and an anatomy of a
sample record provide a welcoming guide.
The Staffordshire records, edited by J.A.B. Somerset, are
found in scattered collections, but they yield fascinating glimpses of
early social and economic history through accounts of public
performances, social occasions, royal welcomes, folk customs, and
professional entertainments. A few examples highlight the richness of
the collection, which includes two royal visits – by Queen Elizabeth in
1576 and, more extensively, King James I in 1615. The records of
Tutbury, whose castle was a major administrative centre for the
household of John of Gaunt, show us from 1380 a flourishing Minstrel
Court while the accounts of Burton Manor, home to Thomas, Lord Paget
reveal an Elizabethan household filled with music, playing, and revels.
By contrast, Newcastle under Lyme sources record evidence of implacable
hatred of players, levying large fines upon persons who allowed playing,
and firing the town constable for turning a blind eye. For those
interested in tracking the itineraries of professional troupes across
the kingdom, new details of performance troupes visiting Stafford and
Walsall as well as the private residences of Beaudesert, Blithfield, and
Burton will be important.
Staffordshire is REED's pilot digital publication, with more
collections forthcoming on the same website to enable easy
cross-collection searching. As REED begins planning for the production
of the next collection for the county of Berkshire, the integration of Patrons and Performances data, and the further development of REED Online,
it welcomes all comments and suggestions from users. Please send any
feedback to REED’s project manager, Carolyn Black, at
ca.black@utoronto.ca.
REED gives special thanks to the Social Sciences and Humanities
Research Council of Canada for a Connection grant that has made possible
development of our digital publishing framework for REED Online.
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Dr James Cummings, Academic IT Services, University of Oxford