Presentation by Sara Georgini (Boston), research seminar at DHI Paris (18.03.2016)

1. Rewiring Preservation, Access, and Early American Archives in the Digital Age
Sara Georgini, Massachusetts Historical Society
Épistémologie et pratiques des humanités numériques, 18 March 2016

2. OVERVIEW
 Meet the Adamses: Behind the Scenes of a Presidential Archive
 The Adams Papers at Work: Survey of Editorial Practices &
“Analog” Methods
 The Adams Papers @ Work: Survey of Editorial Practices & Digital
Tools (3 Case Studies)
 New Digital Tools and the Future of the Past

3. MEET THE ADAMSES

4. The Adams Family Papers Manuscript Collection
contains more than 300,000 pages of
• Correspondence
• Letterbooks
• Diaries
• Autobiographies
• Account books
• Legal documents

5. The Adamses had an uncanny ability
to be in interesting places
at key moments in history…
Their collective memory includes
• The Battle of Bunker Hill
• The vote for independence
• Two residencies in the White House
• Napoleon during the Hundred Days
• The framing of the Monroe Doctrine
• The defeat of the Southern “gag rule”
and to record for posterity the world
and events around them.

6. First Generation
John Adams
(1735-1826)
Abigail Smith Adams
(1744-1818)
Married 1764

7. Charles Adams
(1770-1800)
Abigail Adams
(1765-1813)
Thomas Boylston Adams
(1772-1832)
John Quincy Adams
(1767-1848)
Second Generation

8. John Quincy Adams
(1767-1848)
Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams
(1775-1852)
Second Generation
Married 1797

9. Third Generation
Charles Francis Adams
(1807-1886)
Abigail Brown Brooks Adams
(1808-1889)
Married 1829

10. John Adams to Abigail
Adams, 2 June 1776
In all the correspondences I have
maintained…I never kept a Single
Copy. This Negligence and
Inaccuracy, had been a great
Misfortune to me on many
Occasions. I have now purchased a
Folio Book…and intend to write all
my Letters to you in it from this
Time forward.

11. John Adams to George Washington Adams and John Adams 2d,
3 May 1815
A Journal; a Diary is indispensible.
… Without a minute Diary, your
Travels, will be no better than the
flight of Birds, through the Air.
They will leave no trace behind
them.
Whatever you write preserve. I have
burned, Bushells of my Silly notes,
in fitts of Impatience and
humiliation, which I would now
give anything to recover.

12. Your favour of the 14th. found me
deeply immersed in researches …
after old Papers. … Every scrap
shall be found and preserved for your
Affliction [or] for your good.…
I shall leave you an inheritance
sufficiently tormenting, for example,
The huge Pile of family Letters will
make you Alternately laugh and cry,
fret and fume, stamp and scold, as
they do me.
John Adams to John Quincy Adams,
24 December 1818

13. John Quincy Adams to Abigail Adams,
27 September 1778
My Pappa enjoins it upon me to keep
a journal, or a diary, of the Events
that happen to me, and of objects that
I See, and of Characters that I
converse with from day, to day, and
altho I am Convinced of the utility,
importance, & necessity, of this
Exercise, yet I have not patience, &
perseverance, enough to do it so
Constantly as I ought.
My Pappa … has also advised me to
Preserve Copies of all my letters, &
has given me a Convenient Blank
Book for this end….

14. JQAdams_MHS—available on Twitter®—chronicles JQA’s journey to St. Petersburg,
Russia, in 1809 and 1810 and his experiences there after he arrived.
JQA Diaries
John Quincy Adams began his Diary
in 1779 at the age of twelve.
He made his last entry in it in 1848
at the age of eighty,
more than sixty-eight years later.

15. In 1839, Louisa Catherine Adams wrote to John Quincy to
remind him of his promise to publish his father’s papers:
Three years ago I laid before you a
Letter written by you to [your]
affectionate Mother, in answer to
one of hers on the subject of your
Fathers Papers, in which you in your
strong language, promise if God
spares your life, to perform this
sacred duty; and will you let this
Letter go down to your posterity, to
show the nothingness of such
promises.

16. CFA Diaries
Charles Francis Adams began his Diary
in 1820 at the age of twelve.
He made his last entry in it in 1880 at
the age of seventy-three, almost sixty-
one years later.

17. Charles Francis Adams
published numerous volumes,
including
• Letters of John and Abigail
• Life and Works of John
Adams, 10 vols.
• Memoirs of John Quincy
Adams, 12 vols.

18. The “Old House” at the
Adams National Historic Site in Quincy, MA

19. The Stone Library
at the Old House

20. The Massachusetts Historical Society
at 1154 Boylston Street in Boston

21. THE ADAMS PAPERS AT WORK:
EDITORIAL PRACTICES & METHODS

22. The Adams Papers
Editorial Project
 The Adams Papers Project at the Massachusetts Historical Society is charged with
the task of preparing for publication in both print and digital media
a comprehensive and authoritative edition of the most significant Adams documents.
 Beyond the 300,000 pages’ worth of the Adams Family, the editors have gathered over
27,000 copies of Adams items from hundreds of libraries, institutions, and
individuals in the United States and abroad.
 The project's cut-off date is 1889, with the death of Abigail Brooks Adams. To date,
nearly 50 volumes have been published by Harvard University Press.
 John Quincy Adams designed and used this acorn and oak leaf seal after 1830. The
motto is from Cæcilius Statius as quoted by Cicero in the First Tusculan Disputation:
Serit arbores quœ alteri seculo prosint: “He plants trees for the benefit of late
generations.”

23. The editors do not edit the Adamses’ words; rather, they
continue the search for Adams documents, select the
material to be included in the edition, provide a faithful
transcription of the manuscripts, and supply annotation.
This process is called documentary editing or historical
editing.
Documentary Editing

24. Manuscript
The first steps in the process
are selection of the
documents to be included in
a volume and transcription to
create an electronic text from
the original manuscript.
Transcription

25. TRANSCRIPTION
Every volume begins with creating an
accurate, faithful, readable text.
We preserve the words—nonstandard/
phonetic spelling, odd capitalizations and
all—just as they were written.
 Modern transcriptions of the
correspondence, then, are far more
comprehensive for historians to browse
and cite.

26. SELECTION
We select a chunk of manuscripts for each
series, publishing 2/3 of approx. 500-600
document corpus at a time.
We read as many versions of a document
as possible, then compose a calendar
summary (2-3 lines) of each one. This
gives us a way to distinguish the big
stories in each volume.

27. SELECTION
Documents that don’t make the final cut
do appear elsewhere—either in our
annotation, or on our list of omitted
documents in the volume’s endmatter.
The Adams Family Correspondence series
has a rich cast of characters, so editors
offer a chronology to keep the reader in
step with family events as they unfold.

28. COLLATION
 Two pairs of editors team up for a tandem reading of the
original manuscript against the transcription, reading
every word and punctuation mark aloud, to verify that
we’re supplying an authoritative text.
 They finalize the descriptive notes, which run at the foot
of each document to indicate how letters are addressed,
docketed, and endorsed.
 Descriptive notes are key since they tell us who knew
what, and when.

29. Abigail Adams to John Adams, 25 June 1795

30. Collation
Oral proofreading
against the manuscript
to render a more
accurate text
1
2

31. Annotation
Providing historical
context to aid modern
understanding of the
documents
Verification
Ensures accuracy of
the annotation

32. ANNOTATION
 These brief but informative notes relate to the document
and supply quick context for the reader.
 We identify major people, places, and events that affect
the Adamses and shape their universe of American
history.
 Pivotal documents—such as John Adams’s draft notes
for A Defence of the Constitutions… or multiple iterations
of the definitive Anglo-American peace treaty—are
framed to reflect the singularity of the physical archive,
and the historical significance of the event.

33. Published Volumes

34. THE ADAMS PAPERS @ WORK:
EDITORIAL PRACTICES & DIGITAL METHODS

35. Digital Projects Then…
http://www.masshist.org/adams/

36. …and Now

37. CASE STUDIES:
DIGITAL TOOL / IMPACT

38. Digital Tools
Adams Template
OAC (Online Adams Catalog)
Adams Digital Editions

39. 1. Tool: Adams Papers Template
Custom designed MS Word 2003 template
All editors create, edit, and update files in
template.
In order to streamline workflow, new
template automates some XML encoding
and enhances delivery of digital editions.

40. Adams Papers Template: Impact
 Editors retain control of pages from transcription through
galleys.
 Editors have the opportunity to accomplish new
humanities scholarship as part of a collaborative research
model.
 Increases efficiency of 18-month production process, as
we craft the volume from selection through indexing.

41. 2. Tool: OAC (Online Adams Catalog)

42. Tool: OAC (Online Adams Catalog)
Formerly a paper slip file to “control” the
manuscripts within the archive, OAC is an
item-level, digital catalog on the MHS
website that provides information on all
known letters to and from the Adams
family from the 1750s to 1889.

43. Tool: OAC (Online Adams Catalog)
Totaling more than 109,000 slips sorted by color:
 Pink slips: recipient’s copy held in Adams Papers
 White slips: letterbook copy held in Adams Papers
 Yellow slips: held at other institutions
 Blue slips: there is evidence the manuscript
exists…somewhere

44. OAC (Online Adams Catalog): Impact
Ability to see all multiple versions of a
document (i.e. draft, letterbook copy,
recipient’s copy) at once=quicker and
more comprehensive selection process.
Allows researchers anywhere to access an
item-level catalog, and find out where
other Adams documents are held.
Easier to navigate 608 reels of microfilm.

45. 3. Tool: Adams Papers Digital Edition

46. 3. Tool: Adams Papers Digital Edition
 Publications Department of MHS converted 45 published
volumes, including 26 indices, into keyword-searchable text
(online, free)
 Outside vendor keyed from printed books and marked up
with basic schema.
 Proofread by HUP vendor.
 Encoded in-house according to TEI (Text Encoding Initiative)
schema using oXygen XML editor.
 Captured all content, including cumulative index, as of 2006.

47. Impact: Adams Papers Digital Edition
 YOU can read verified transcriptions of the Adams Papers
manuscripts anywhere with an Internet connection. Enjoy!
 Hyperlinks connect related people and events across volumes.
 Refines our annotation style to meet the high editorial standard of
creating a comprehensive, consolidated index.
 Supplements and “talks to” related documents in Founders Online,
making it easier for scholars of all ages to traverse primary sources.
 Also supplements older Adams Electronic Archive, which contains
manuscript images and rough transcriptions of the nearly 1,200
letters John and Abigail Adams exchanged.

48. Editorial Practices & Digital History Tools:
Observations
 Make the technology work for you. Deliberate over your choice of software,
and create a clear workflow with built-in checks to reinforce editorial
standards.
 Feature the archive, and find a digital way to express its unique nature and
scope. Do your subjects write long letters? Digital editions and TEI might be
best. Are they brief and Tweet-able, like JQA? Or would TAG’s zoom-worthy
galleries better suit your primary source material and scholarship?
 Think about audience. Who will see your work? How will you maintain it 10
years from now? Most digital history projects, like the Adams Papers, exist on
front-facing platforms and undergo peer review. OAC, at 60 years old, evolves
daily as we redate letters, identify authors, and learn of new material. Think
about the resource you’re creating for scholars. Preservation and access are still
key, but our “discoverability” and navigation of the early American past relies
on the thoughtful curation of manuscripts’ digital lives, too. With that in mind…

49. NEW DIGITAL TOOLS
& THE FUTURE OF THE PAST

50. New Digital Tools
 Adams Papers Website
We answer roughly 100-150 reference questions a
year, and we thought about what researchers ask
during the site redesign.
NOW…
A crisp, clean look invites you to “meet the
Adamses” and their manuscript trove
New features include an interactive Timeline and…
Biographies & Family Tree
…All ways to present our reference materials and
datasets in both “traditional” and interactive formats

52. New Digital Tools:
The Jefferson Case Study
(in progress, your feedback is welcome!)

53. THE THOMAS JEFFERSON PAPERS
 MHS holds the largest
collection of Jefferson’s
private papers, after the
Library of Congress
 “The Private Jefferson”
exhibit was organized
around his interests in
gardens and architecture,
as well as his political
and personal writings

54. Curating Digital Jefferson
 MHS partnership
with Microsoft New
England and Brown
University’s TAG
(Touch Art Gallery)
team to bring “The
Private Jefferson” to
life in manuscripts

55. Curating Digital Jefferson
 Since 1943, our fellow editors
at the Papers of Thomas Jefferson
project (Princeton) have
created scholarly editions (see
also Founders Online) of the
third president’s public and
private correspondence
 MHS has digitized major
holdings, including his Farm
Book, book catalogs,
architectural drawings, and his
manuscript draft of the
Declaration of Independence

57. Curating Digital Jefferson
Via one large touch-screen and
several mounted tablets, like this
one, TAG encourages visitors to:
 Experience multimedia
overviews that amplify and
explain the physical exhibit’s
themes
 Learn about Jefferson and his
world at their own pace,
pausing or enlarging images,
words, and historical
commentary with a tap of the
screen

58. Curating Digital Jefferson…
The Future of the Past?
Visitors can also:
 Set primary sources in historical
context, via short videos and
scholarly interviews
 Visit Jefferson virtually, via Skype
in the Classroom
 Dive into the document, using the
touch-screen zoom capability to
investigate how and why
founding-era documents were
made, thereby transforming TAG
into a digital tool that supports
the craft of historical editing.

59. Digital History News, Training, & Resources
 News & Reviews (also: training, jobs, fellowships, and more)
 Digital Humanities Now
 HASTAC (Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Advanced Collaborative)
 Association for Computers and the Humanities (ACH)
 Alliance of Digital Humanities Organizations (ADHO)
 centerNet
 Digital Humanities Summer Institute
 Digital Humanities Winter Institute
 Digital.Humanities@Oxford Summer School
 National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), Office of Digital Humanities
 ACLS Digital Innovation Fellowships
 Alfred P. Sloan Digital Information Technology Program
 Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Scholarly Communications and Information Technology Program
 Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR)
 MacArthur Foundation, Digital Media & Learning
 Debates in the Digital Humanities, University of Minnesota Press
 DH @ Work (humanities labs, regional consortia, and digital pedagogy)
 Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media, George Mason University
 Scholars’ Lab, University of Virginia
 Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
 The Praxis Network
 CUNY Digital Humanities Initiative
 Carolina Digital Humanities Initiative
 Berkman Center for Internet & Society, Harvard University
 MIT HyperStudio
 Digital Media & Learning Research Hub
 dh commons
 UCLA Digital Humanities
 King’s College London, Digital Humanities Department
 Digital Toolbox
 Bamboo DiRT (Digital Research Tools)
 TEI (Text Encoding Initiative)
 Omeka
 historypin
 Neatline

60. Rewiring Preservation, Access, and Early American Archives in the Digital Age
Sara Georgini, Massachusetts Historical Society
Épistémologie et pratiques des humanités numériques, 18 March 2016