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Visualizing and Navigating the Republic of Letters

Update: Preview some preliminary results

We are fortunate to have with us this week Scott Weingart, a former student of Robert A. Hatch and an up-and-coming visualization expert from Indiana University‘s Cyberinfrastructure for Network Science Center. Following on from a workshop at Mapping the Republic of Letters (Stanford) and a three-month stint at CKCC (Huygens Institute), Scott will be spending time with our union catalogue development team at BDLSS, raising awareness of the various techniques and technologies available for representing and visualizing large epistolary datasets. Scott kicked off his stay with a well-attended presentation on ‘Analyzing, Visualizing, and Navigating the Republic of Letters’ on Monday 11 July. In a two-part discussion, Scott provided a general introduction to the many uses and histories of visualizations, before describing in detail the various software packages and data formats necessary for implementation. Both of Scott’s talks can be watched again below; you can also ‘click along’ with his slides.

Part I: Introduction

Part II: Implementation

Representing the Republic of Letters

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Project Director Howard Hotson opens our talk with some Hartlibian background.

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Our technical lead Neil Jefferies describes 'Catalogue 2.0'.

Last week provided us with another opportunity to share the Project, specifically its union catalogue and associated editorial tools, at the international conference Representing the Republic of Letters (The Hague, 30 June–1 July 2011). Organised by our partners and good friends CKCC in the congenial surroundings of the recently renamed Huygens ING, and held in conjunction with the Descartes Centre at Utrecht University, the event showcased the fascinating work being undertaken by various individuals and projects worldwide to represent early modern correspondence networks and their constituent components digitally and visually. General sessions devoted to funding and standards facilitated ongoing collaborative discussions between CofK, our hosts, and Mapping the Republic of Letters (Stanford), who also presented at the event.

A Swedish Adventure for Cultures of Knowledge

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Exploring the epistolary treasures of Uppsala University Library.

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Demonstrating the catalogue at Uppsala University Library.

Last week provided us with an exciting opportunity to share the ongoing work of the Project, specifically relating to our union catalogue of early modern correspondence, at two of the most important research libraries in Sweden. In a whistle-stop tour of the Scandinavian state – one of the great powers of early modern Europe, with one of the most exciting epistolary collections in the world today – Project Director Howard Hotson visited Uppsala University Library (the Carolina Rediviva) and the National Library of Sweden in Stockholm, meeting their directors and other key library personnel; exploring their extensive holdings of early modern letters; and discussing our plans for the union catalogue with seminar audiences. The itinerary concluded in the Department of Literature and History at Stockholm University, where Howard presented his ongoing work on the intellectual geography of Ramism (a theme soon to be revisited in the context of our 2011 conference). We would like to thank everyone involved with the visit especially Professor Erland Sellberg of the University of Stockholm, Dr Ulf Göransson and Håkan Hallberg of Uppsala University Library, and Dr Otfried Czaika of the National Library of Sweden for their extremely generous Scandinavian hospitality, with a special ‘shout-out’ to Dr Per Landgren, a visiting scholar with the University of Oxford’s MEHRC, who conceived the idea, generously mobilised his scholarly connections on our behalf, and (as if this were not enough) also did most of the logistical legwork. Thanks, Per!

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Introducing the catalogue at the National Library of Sweden, Stockholm.

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Discussing intellectual geography at the University of Stockholm.

Seminar 6: How Large was Hartlib’s Archive?

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Dr Penman during his talk.

brereton_hall3For the sixth paper of our seminar series on Thursday 9 June, our very own Dr Leigh Penman (University of Oxford) shared some of his most interesting Project findings in a talk entitled ‘How Large was Hartlib’s Archive? A Quantiative Analysis and Comparative Reassessment’. In a richly illustrated and wide-ranging analysis, Penman provided both startling new quantitative insights into the original scope of Hartlib’s correspondence, and a rich narrative explanation of why his epistolary corpus has descended to us in such partial form. In the first half of the paper, Penman described the dimensions and attributes of the extant archive, most of which survives among the holdings of Sheffield University Library (and was previously digitized by the Hartlib Papers Project). He also introduced some brand new Hartlib letters he has located in other international repositories, and used the following algorithm, developed in partnership with a theoretical physicist, to estimate the total extent of the original archive:

L = S(x/y)

The equation multiplies the sample size (S) by references in the sample to letters no longer extant (x) divided by references in the sample to surviving letters (y) to arrive at the averaged estimate of total correspondence (L); in Hartlib’s case, a grand total of 11,508 letters, a figure large enough to catapult him into the first rank of European intelligencers such as Peiresc, Boulliau, and Leibniz. In the second half of the paper, Penman speculated on why only around 42% of this original corpus has descended to us. In a painstaking reconstruction of the archive’s passage through space and time – and through different ‘microsociologies’, in Penman’s memorable phrase – he described the steady attrition of Hartlib’s papers through thefts and fires while he was still alive; the sale and scattering of papers by his two sons following his death; and the relocation of the papers to Brereton Hall (pictured) in Cheshire around 1664, where they fell prey to the systematic manipulations of John Worthington, William Brereton, and others. He also discussed further archival tampering in the nineteenth century, evidence for which is liberally scattered throughout the papers (for example in the wrappers of the surviving ‘bundles’), as well as in several long-overlooked scholarly articles. Questions focused on the nature of the mathematical calculations; the grey areas between correspondence and other varieties of document in Hartlib’s notoriously difficult archive; the importance of autograph collections and auction catalogues as sources for the reconstruction of nineteenth-century archives; and the curious lack of interest in Hartlib’s work and legacy on the part of early members of the Royal Society. Seminars take place in the Faculty of History on George Street on Thursdays at 3pm. For future talks in the series, please see the seminar webpage.

Podcast now available on the seminar page!

Naming the Union Catalogue

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Introducing the product.

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Creating the shortlist.

With the autumn launch of the Project’s union catalogue of early modern letters getting ever closer, and issues of design and functionality now sorted, we are turning our attention to broader questions of digital identity, digital presence, and branding. Heeding UCL digital humanities expert Melissa Terras’s insight that online resources ‘should be taking [their] digital identity and digital presence a lot more seriously’, and aware that ‘naming your brand is the most challenging, momentous, and necessary phase in the process of branding’, we hand-picked a crack team of scholars, librarians, editors, and linguists external to the Project to help us formulate an appropriate appellation for our new resource. Over an intensive ‘logo lunch’ at Linacre College, Dr Kim McLean-Fiander guided our set of sobriquet suggesters through a series of mind-bending puzzles and tasks designed to release creative juices, unlock associative thinking, and lead participants to that elusive ideal name. While the results of the exercise will remain under wraps for now, the input we received was invaluable, and we would like to thank all of the participants for giving us their time.

CofK at Mapping the Republic of Letters Conference

The Fondazione Giorgio Cini on San Maggiore.

The Fondazione Giorgio Cini on San Giorgio Maggiore, with the island of Guidecca visible in the distance.

Our panel at the conference, shared with Charles van den Heuvel from CKCC (Huygens Institute).

Our panel at the conference, shared with Charles van den Heuvel from CKCC (Huygens Institute).

Last week provided us with an opportunity to present the Project, specifically its union catalogue and associated editorial tools, at the international conference Mapping the Republic of Letters (Venice, 17–18 March 2011). Convened by the Stanford-based project of the same name (based at the Stanford Humanities Center), and held in and co-organised by the Fondazione Giorgio Cini on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore, the event showcased the work being undertaken by various individuals and projects worldwide to collate and represent digitally and spatially the early modern republic of letters. It also explored the research question of whether global exchanges of correspondences and other texts might be best conceived of as a state or as a network. While main sessions provided insights into the very wide range of approaches to this topic, associated meetings introduced the activities of the Milan-based research laboratory Density Design, and facilitated collaborative discussions amongst CofK, our hosts Mapping the Republic of Letters (Stanford), and CKCC (Huygens Institute), who also presented at the event. For further details, please see the conference webpage.

We will be presenting the Project at a wide range of correspondence-related events in 2011. For full details of our speaking schedule, please see the presentations page.

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