In reply to someone's query: I got in touch with the Gale folks
(we've been communicating over their workshop or whatever at the
SCSC) and I'm told that the papers are "scanned," not "digitalized."
I'm such a technotwit that I'm not 100% sure what this means, but i
think it means we get the images, not modern print. They will,
however, the e-mail I got says, be linked to the relevant "Calendar
entries." I can't quite make out where that leaves the Elizabethan
foreign papers, which so far as I can determine never got calendared,
although they have more recently been analyzed in Wernham's
invaluable volumes and I know they've been microfilmed (the Toronto
Ren. center has a set that Joe Black helped me to consult a few years
ago). I found them particularly exciting because there are a couple
of anguished and urgent letters by Elizabeth to Henri IV's sister
that are not in collections of her writings/correspondence. So I
really look forward to this release, although the anti-democratic
problems remain. Anne.
On Aug 9, 2007, at 11:41 AM, Germaine Warkentin wrote:
> Cross-posted from H-Albion -- some very good news indeed. Germaine
>
> State Papers Online, 1509-1714
>
> Readers of this list should be aware that the archive of State
> Papers will
> be released from this coming October (2007).
>
> State Papers Online, 1509-1714 (SPO) will be an essential tool for any
> historian who studies any aspect of early-modern British history
> and the
> relations of the Tudor and Stuart kingdoms with other states and
> countries
> in Europe and beyond. It has been produced by Thomson Learning -
> Gale with
> the guidance and advice of leading scholars in Britain and the United
> States.
>
> SPO has as its foundation the State Papers, Domestic and Foreign,
> in The
> National Archives at Kew. It puts these alongside other collections
> that
> were originally in the state papers kept by the monarch's Principal
> Secretaries in the sixteenth century: at the British Library
> (principally
> the Lansdowne Manuscripts and some of the volumes of the Cotton
> Manuscripts)
> and in the Cecil Papers at Hatfield House, as well as the archive
> of the
> English Privy Council.
>
> SPO will reproduce in facsimile each of the original manuscripts.
> Nearly two
> million digitized pages will be searchable from the modern printed
> Calendars. By overcoming the difficulty of matching an individual
> entry in a
> Calendar to a manuscript, SPO marks a huge advance for historians
> in all
> disciplines, whether they use it for their own research or for
> teaching.
> Being able to view images of the manuscripts alongside entries in the
> Calendars will allow scholars not only to read any comments made by
> the
> recipients of documents but also to make their own notes,
> transcripts and
> corrections within SPO.
>
> SPO has been designed for research historians, research-based
> teaching and
> students. Each phase of SPO will have introductory and explanatory
> essays, a
> glossary of terms, lists of abbreviations, and other helpful material.
>
> This is a project on an impressive scale. It will be quite the most
> important resource for historians of early-modern Britain for many
> years.
> Built on the magnificent work of the Victorian archivists, it will
> bring
> into the light archives explored by most of us on microfilm in
> research
> libraries; from now on there will be few excuses for historians of the
> sixteenth and seventeenth centuries not to go to the original
> manuscripts of
> the most important collections of The National Archives and British
> Library.
> To have the State Paper archives put back together again, fully
> viewable and
> searchable from our own computers, is nothing short of revolutionary.
>
> The first Part will be available in October, with the rest
> following within
> two years. The four parts will form one seamless searchable archive.
>
> State Papers Online, 1509-1714
>
> Part One: Henry VIII to Elizabeth I, 1509-1603: State Papers, Domestic
>
> • The National Archives, London, State Papers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,
> 10, 11,
> 12, 13, 14 and 15, and Calendars; • British Library, London, Burghley
> Papers (Lansdowne Manuscripts and some Cotton Manuscripts) and
> Catalogues;
> • Hatfield House Library, Hertfordshire, Cecil Papers (Calendars and
> transcriptions).
>
> Part Two: Henry VIII to Elizabeth I, 1509-1603: State Papers Foreign,
> Ireland, Scotland, Borders and Acts of Privy Council.
>
> • The National Archives, London, State Papers 49, 50,51, 52, 53,
> 59, 60,
> 61, 62, 63, 65, 66, 68, 69, 70, 71, 75, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83,
> 84, 85,
> 88, 89, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 101, 102, 103, 104,
> 105, 106
> and 108, and Calendars; • Acts of the Privy Council
>
> Part Three: James I to Queen Anne, 1603-1714: State Papers, Domestic
>
> • The National Archives, London, State Papers 8, 14, 16, 17, 18,
> 20, 21,
> 22, 24, 25, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 38, 40, 41, 42, 44 and 46, and
> Calendars • British Library, London, Additional Manuscripts
> 64870-64924,
> 69868-69935, 69936-69998, and Catalogues.
>
> Part Four: James I to Queen Anne, 1603-1714: State Papers Foreign and
> Ireland and Acts of Privy Council
>
> • The National Archives, London, State Papers 47, 57, 63, 64, 65,
> 66, 67,
> 71, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91,
> 92, 93,
> 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 108 and 112, and
> Calendars; • Acts Privy Council
>
>
>
> Stephen Alford
> King's College, Cambridge
>
> --------------------------------------------
> Stephen Alford MA PhD FRHistS
> Lecturer in History, University of Cambridge
> Fellow of King's College
>
> King's College
> Cambridge
> CB2 1ST
> Tel. +44 (0)1223 331100
> Email [log in to unmask] or [log in to unmask]
>
>
> --
> **********************************************************************
> *
> Germaine Warkentin // English (Emeritus)
> VC 205, Victoria College (University of Toronto),
> 73 Queen's Park Crescent East, Toronto, Ont. M5S 1K7, CANADA
> [log in to unmask] (fax number on request)
> **********************************************************************
> *
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