Opening the Digital Anthology of Early Modern English Drama: Skills, Tools, and Texts (workshop)

A Digital Anthology of Early Modern English Drama Undergraduate Workshop, June 26 – 30, 2017

The Folger’s A Digital Anthology of Early Modern English Drama takes advantage of the EEBO-TCP transcriptions and their enhancement by Martin Mueller’s Shakespeare His Contemporaries project to create lightly-encoded documentary editions of early modern non-Shakespearean professional drama. In June 2017, students will have the chance to acquire digital humanities experience, research perspectives, and editorial skills while engaging with the drama of Shakespeare’s contemporaries. The Digital Anthology is funded by a grant from the NEH Division of Preservation and Access.

Students will explore these texts from a variety of angles, which may include, but are not limited to:

  • Performance: Staging early modern drama
  • Book history: Playing companies, playwrights, and publishers
  • Corpus analysis: Genres, topics, and computational approaches
  • Linguistics: stylometrics and word histories
  • Editing early modern plays: preparing a scholarly edition

Drawing on one or more of these approaches, participants will craft their own projects in small teams under the guidance and mentorship of visiting faculty. Experience with digital humanities tools and techniques is not required, but enthusiasm for early modern drama (history, performance, or as literature), and an ability to work as a valuable member of a small team is essential.

Workshop Schedule (PDF)

Visiting Faculty

Participants

  • Byron Bartlett, Columbia University
  • Linda Braus, Carroll University
  • Natalie Burke, University of Pennsylvania
  • Kristen Fowler, University of Alabama
  • Emily Johnson, University of Maryland
  • Alexandra LaGrand, University of North Carolina
  • Promise Li, Occidental College
  • Madeline Lowry, Texas A&M University
  • Eryn Lyle, Texas A&M University
  • Sarah McKeever, East Carolina University
  • Shaun Nowicki, University at Buffalo, SUNY
  • Phuong-Nghi Pham, Amherst College

Eligibility

This workshop is open to American undergraduates. Preference will be given to rising juniors and seniors, but recent graduates are welcome to apply. All applicants should make the case for how the workshop will help them in their next step, whether it is further education or a specific career goal. Students of all majors are encouraged to apply. Applicants are encouraged to indicate their interest in one or more areas of study in their application essay. Applicants must be United States citizens, residents of U.S. jurisdictions, or foreign nationals who have been residing in the United States or its territories for at least the three years immediately preceding the application deadline. Foreign nationals studying abroad at non-U.S. chartered institutions are not eligible to apply.

Selection Criteria

The application requires a C.V. or résumé, two letters of recommendation, and an essay of no more than three (3) double-spaced pages. The most important selection consideration is the likelihood that an applicant will both contribute productively and benefit in their personal educational goals. The committee will assess this from the conjunction of several factors, including:

  1. A brief statement of the general topic you are interested in pursuing and an indication of its relation to your interests and current research, especially any planned research projects such as senior theses, theatrical productions, or honors projects;
  2. your qualifications to make a contribution to the institute, such as previous coursework, jobs, or internships; and
  3. your discussion of how this workshop may be applicable to your goals (educationally or professionally).

Stipend and Conditions of Award

The twelve individuals selected to participate in this institute will each receive a stipend of $125/day for their time in residence, as well as housing in Folger properties. Stipends are intended to help cover travel expenses to and from Washington, DC, and living expenses for the duration of the period spent in residence. Stipends may be reported as taxable income. Applicants should note that the stipend may not cover all living expenses. Foreign nationals who are admitted will be required to complete additional paperwork and in some cases may face withholding on their stipends in accordance with U.S. law.

Application Deadline: 1 March 2017

Please note: the application requires a C.V., two letters of recommendation, and an essay described above.