List of online resources for early modern English paleography: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 17:33, 11 September 2020

These resources were compiled to assist early modern scholars begin to learn to decipher, read, and interpret manuscript materials written in early handwriting. Heather Wolfe's Alphabet Book is also a good starting point. Also handy is the alphabet cribsheet template, for copying out letter forms in an unfamiliar hand. Check out Practical Paleography for information about upcoming or continuing virtual sessions on Zoom.

English paleography tutorials / images and transcriptions

University of Cambridge, English handwriting, 1500-1700: an online course

28 transcription exercises, sortable by difficulty level and date. Students can make their own transcriptions and compare them to the model transcription, as well as take interactive tests. Outdated but still functional.

The National Archives, Palaeography: reading old handwriting 1500-1800, a practical online tutorial

Interactive transcription exercises for 10 documents arranged in order of difficulty, in addition to a further practice section which contains many additional non-interactive transcription exercises. Requires Adobe Flash Player and in need of a refresh.

Scottish Archive Network, Online tuition in the palaeography of Scottish documents, 1500-1750

Provides a series of tutorials with examples and transcriptions, as well as a weekly poser. The first tutorial is a one hour basic tutorial. Scottish secretary hand and English secretary hand are virtually identical.

David Postles, Medieval and early modern paleography online seminar series (this is an archived version)

Includes 9 examples of legal and manorial documents with full transcriptions and explanations.

Folger Shakespeare Library, Early Modern Manuscripts Online beta and a series of "Practical Paleography" flash cards and games on Quizlet

Includes diplomatic, semi-diplomatic, and normalized transcriptions, metadata, and images for over 100 letters from the Folger collection, searchable and downloadable.

Beinecke Library, Yale University, Quarantine Reading: Learn to Read Secretary Hand

Created by Kathryn James in August 2020.

Bess of Hardwick’s Letters: The Complete Correspondence c.1550-1608

Select a letter, and then select the "transcribe" option to transcribe a word, words, line, or multiple lines from a letter and compare your transcription to the project's transcription. The introduction to the overall tutorial is here.

Brigham Young University, Script Tutorial

Focuses on legal documents, image quality is low.

Digital images of manuscripts

Free

Anglo-American Legal Tradition: Documents from Medieval and Early Modern England from the National Archives in London

Includes over nine million images of documents from King’s Bench, Court of Common Pleas, Exchequer, Chancery, Court of Requests, Duchy of Lancaster, and the courts of the Palatinate of Chester.

Beinecke Library, English Paleography Collection and Osborn Collection

Cause Papers in the Diocesan Courts of the Archbishopric of York, 1300-1858

A searchable catalogue of more than 14,000 cause papers relating to cases heard between 1300 and 1858 in the Church Courts of the diocese of York. The original records are held in the Borthwick Institute for Archives at the University of York, and are the most extensive records of their type in the United Kingdom.

University of Cambridge, Cambridge Digital Library: Scriptorium: Medieval and Early Modern Manuscripts Online

Images and detailed descriptions of twenty miscellanies and commonplace books. See also Simon Forman's and Richard Napier's casebooks and Isaac Newton's Papers.

Court Depositions of South West England, 1500-1700

A digital edition of 80 fully transcribed depositions relating to 20 cases heard in the church courts and Quarter Sessions between 1556 and 1694 across Devon, Hampshire, Somerset and Wiltshire. The original records are held in the Devon Heritage Centre, Hampshire Record Office, Somerset Heritage Centre and Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre.

Folger Shakespeare Library Digital Image Collection

New images and transcriptions added frequently. For manuscript images with transcriptions, search Luna's Folger Manuscript Transcriptions Collection

Henslowe-Alleyn Digitisation Project

Thousands of images from Dulwich College, providing access to the most important archive on professional theatre in early modern England as well as extensive supporting material.

University of Pennsylvania, Penn in Hand and OPenn

Wellcome Library, Recipe Manuscripts Online

Images of approximately 92 English manuscript receipt books from 1550 to 1740. Refine the search by limiting to "Online," "English," and "1550 to 1740" (or other date range).

Shakespeare Documented

A database of all known manuscript and print references to Shakespeare, his works, and additional references to his family, in his lifetime and shortly thereafter. Includes hundreds of images of manuscripts, with transcriptions.

1641 Depositions

Fully searchable digital edition of the 1641 Depositions at Trinity College Dublin Library, comprising transcripts and images of all 8,000 depositions, examinations and associated materials in which Protestant men and women of all classes told of their experiences following the outbreak of the rebellion by the Catholic Irish in October, 1641. Must register to see the images.

London Lives, 1690 to 1800, including Minutes of the Court of Governors, Bridewell Hospital, 1559-1803

A fully searchable edition of 240,000 manuscripts from eight archives and fifteen datasets, giving access to 3.35 million names. Start at "Browse Documents."

Subscription

British Literary Manuscripts Online, Medieval and Renaissance, c. 1660-1900

Digital microfilm images of literary manuscripts from the British Library, Folger, Huntington, and elsewhere.

The Cecil Papers

Ca. 30,000 newly-digitized documents dated 1520-1668 assembled mainly by William Cecil, Lord Burghley, and his son Robert Cecil, earl of Salisbury, from the archives at Hatfield House.

Adam Matthew databases, including Early Modern England: Society, Culture and Everyday Life, 1500-1700; The Virginia Company Archives; Literary Manuscripts: 17th and 18th century poetry from the Brotherton Library, University of Leeds; and Medieval Family Life,

Digitized images and microfilm images of thousands of manuscripts, with supporting contextual material and advanced searches. Medieval Family Life includes

images and searchable transcriptions of the only five major family letter collections to survive from the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries: the Paston, Cely, Plumpton, Stonor, and Armburgh papers.

State Papers Online, 1509-1714

Digital microfilm and original color images of state papers from the National Archives and the British Library, as well as calendars and transcriptions of the Cecil Papers at Hatfield House. The manuscripts are fully searchable through their calendar entries and index points, and are supplemented with essays.

[ancestry.com]

Hundreds of thousands of manuscript images from parish registers and other early modern sources.

Useful catalogs and databases

Discovery (catalogue of the National Archives and other UK archives

Discovery holds more than 32 million descriptions of records held by The National Archives and more than 2,500 archives across the country.

ArchiveGrid

ArchiveGrid includes over 5 million records describing archival materials, bringing together information about historical documents, personal papers, family histories, and more. With over 1,000 different archival institutions represented, ArchiveGrid helps researchers looking for primary source materials held in archives, libraries, museums and historical societies.

Archives Hub

Searches descriptions of archives and online resources across over 360 repositories in the UK.

Bodleian Library archives and manuscripts finding aids

See also http://ox.libguides.com/c.php?g=422900&p=2887969 for links to the digitized copies of the Quarto catalogues and the Summary catalogues of Western manuscripts, which contain additional manuscripts.

British Library Manuscripts Catalogue

Also consult the various guides for locating medieval and early modern British manuscripts here.

British History Online

Searchable digital library of over 1,270 volumes of key printed primary and secondary sources for the history of Britain and Ireland, primarily between 1300 and 1800. Searches by place, subject, source, people, or full-text, across a wide array of primary and secondary texts for medieval and modern English history, with frequent additions of new source material, including the Victoria county histories.

Connected Histories: British History Sources, 1500-1900

Brings together a range of resources with a single federated search, as well as the ability to save, connect, and share resources.

Folger Library catalog and finding aids

In Hamnet, to limit search to manuscripts, search “material type” = “manuscript” under advanced search, or set date and material type limits under “set limits.”

Union First Line Index of Poetry

Online database of the first lines of manuscript verse from a range of repositories (in addition to verse from books printed in England from 1475-1700), searchable by first line, last line (in some cases), author, title, gender, repository, and shelfmark (that is, call number). It is also possible to create a list of all of the poetry in a single volume by searching by call number and then sorting the results by folio or page number.

University of Nottingham Library, Department of Manuscripts and Special Collections

Manuscript catalog and index to ca. 4500 poems in the Portland (Welbeck) Literary Manuscripts collection. First lines, along with much else, can be searched from the Search the main catalogue > Catalogue Records option (fill in the FirstLine/LastLine field to search a first line).

James Woolley, First-Line Indexes of English Verse, 1650-1800: A Checklist

Peter Beal, Catalogue of English Literary Manuscripts, 1450-1700

A greatly enlarged and updated version of the printed Index of English Literary Manuscripts, currently only partially launched. It is arranged by writer and includes valuable introductions and descriptions of all known manuscripts associated with each writer.

Using and interpreting literary and historical manuscripts

The National Archives: Research Guides for Medieval and Early Modern History

44 guides that explain the purposes of different kinds of official documents and where to find them.

[http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/latin/beginners/ The National Archives. Introduction to reading medieval Latin documents.

Beginner and more advanced tutorials to the form of Latin used in legal documents up to 1733.

University of Nottingham Manuscripts and Special Collections, Introduction to Skills Resources

Content-rich site for understanding deeds and other archival material, as well as dates, weights, and measures. See especially the section "Deeds in Depth."

Olney, RJ. Using Manuscript Sources for British History

Very useful for understanding the administrative history and provenance of early modern English primary sources.

Oxford English Dictionary

Subscription only. Assists in deciphering and defining obsolete words.

Ian’s English Calendar

Quick reference guide for calculating dates in early modern England.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-These resources were compiled by Dr. Heather Wolfe, Folger Curator of Manuscripts.
+These resources were compiled to assist early modern scholars begin to learn to decipher, read, and interpret [[Manuscripts (disambiguation) | manuscript]] materials written in early handwriting. Heather Wolfe's [[Media:AlphabetBook2020.pdf | Alphabet Book]] is also a good starting point. Also handy is [[Media:Copy_of_alphabet_template.pdf | the alphabet cribsheet template]], for copying out letter forms in an unfamiliar hand. Check out [[Practical Paleography]] for information about upcoming or continuing virtual sessions on Zoom.
+== English paleography tutorials / images and transcriptions ==
-'''English paleography tutorials'''
+University of Cambridge, [https://www.english.cam.ac.uk/ceres/ehoc/index.html English handwriting, 1500-1700: an online course]
+*28 transcription exercises, sortable by difficulty level and date. Students can make their own transcriptions and compare them to the model transcription, as well as take interactive tests. Outdated but still functional.
-University of Cambridge, ''English handwriting, 1500-1700: an online course''
-(http://scriptorium.english.cam.ac.uk/handwriting)
-:28 transcription exercises, sortable by difficulty level and date. Students can make their own transcriptions and compare them to the model transcription, as well as take interactive tests.
+The National Archives, [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/palaeography/ Palaeography: reading old handwriting 1500-1800, a practical online tutorial]
+*Interactive transcription exercises for 10 documents arranged in order of difficulty, in addition to a further practice section which contains many additional non-interactive transcription exercises. Requires Adobe Flash Player and in need of a refresh.
-The National Archives, ''Palaeography: reading old handwriting 1500-1800, a practical online''
-tutorial (http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/palaeography/)
-:Interactive transcription exercises for 10 documents arranged in order of difficulty, in addition to a further practice section which contains many additional non-interactive transcription exercises.
+Scottish Archive Network, [http://www.scottishhandwriting.com/ Online tuition in the palaeography of Scottish documents, 1500-1750]
+*Provides a series of tutorials with examples and transcriptions, as well as a weekly poser. The first tutorial is a one hour basic tutorial. Scottish secretary hand and English secretary hand are virtually identical.
-Scottish Archive Network, ''Online tuition in the palaeography of Scottish documents, 1500-1750''
-(http://www.scottishhandwriting.com/)
-:Provides a series of tutorials with examples and transcriptions, as well as a weekly poser.
+David Postles, [https://web.archive.org/web/20180315012459/http://paleo.anglo-norman.org:80/empfram.html Medieval and early modern paleography online seminar series (this is an archived version)]
+*Includes 9 examples of legal and manorial documents with full transcriptions and explanations.
-David Postles, ''Medieval and early modern paleography online seminar series'' (http://paleo.anglonorman.org/empfram.html)
-:Includes 9 examples of legal and manorial documents with full transcriptions and explanations.
+Folger Shakespeare Library, [https://emmo.folger.edu/ Early Modern Manuscripts Online beta] and a series of "Practical Paleography" flash cards and games on [https://quizlet.com/join/KmWeWJZ7D Quizlet]
+*Includes diplomatic, semi-diplomatic, and normalized transcriptions, metadata, and images for over 100 letters from the Folger collection, searchable and downloadable.
-Centre for Editing Lives and Letters, ''Letters of William Herle Project''
-(http://www.livesandletters.ac.uk/herle/index.html)
-:Includes 13 interactive transcription exercises.
+Beinecke Library, Yale University, [https://sway.office.com/2il2mOAQ3Dr1sZeP?ref=Link&loc=play Quarantine Reading: Learn to Read Secretary Hand]
+*Created by Kathryn James in August 2020.
-'''Digital images of manuscripts'''
+[http://www.bessofhardwick.org/ Bess of Hardwick’s Letters: The Complete Correspondence c.1550-1608]
+*Select a letter, and then select the "transcribe" option to transcribe a word, words, line, or multiple lines from a letter and compare your transcription to the project's transcription. The introduction to the overall tutorial is [https://www.bessofhardwick.org/background.jsp?id=231 here].
-'''free'''
-''Anglo-American Legal Tradition: Documents from Medieval and Early Modern England from the National Archives in London'' (http://aalt.law.uh.edu/)
+Brigham Young University, [https://script.byu.edu/Pages/the-english-documents-pages/the-english-documents Script Tutorial]
+*Focuses on legal documents, image quality is low.
-:Includes thousands of images of documents from King’s Bench, Court of Common Pleas, Exchequer, Chancery, Court of Requests, Duchy of Lancaster, and the courts of the Palatinate of Chester, with links to the relevant records in the National Archives catalogue (http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/).
-Beinecke Library, English Paleography and Osborn Collection
+== Digital images of manuscripts ==
-(http://beinecke.library.yale.edu/digitallibrary/paleography.html and http://beinecke.library.yale.edu/digitallibrary/osborn.html)
-''Bess of Hardwick’s Letters: The Complete Correspondence c.1550-1608''
+===== Free =====
-(http://www.bessofhardwick.org/)
-University of Cambridge, ''Scriptorium: Medieval and Early Modern Manuscripts Online''
+[http://aalt.law.uh.edu/ Anglo-American Legal Tradition: Documents from Medieval and Early Modern England from the National Archives in London]
-(http://scriptorium.english.cam.ac.uk/manuscripts/)
+*Includes over nine million images of documents from King’s Bench, Court of Common Pleas, Exchequer, Chancery, Court of Requests, Duchy of Lancaster, and the courts of the Palatinate of Chester.
-:Images and detailed descriptions of twenty miscellanies and commonplace books.
-Folger Shakespeare Library Digital Image Collection (http://luna.folger.edu)
+[https://brbl-dl.library.yale.edu/vufind/Search/Results?lookfor=English%20Paleography&type=tag Beinecke Library, English Paleography Collection] and [https://brbl-dl.library.yale.edu/vufind/Search/Results?lookfor=osborn&type=CallNumber&submit=Find&filter%5B%5D=language%3A%22English%22&filter%5B%5D=digital_collection_facet%3A%22The+Osborn+Collection%22&filter%5B%5D=publishDate%3A%22%5B1550+TO+1740%5D%22&limit=16&sort=relevance Osborn Collection]
-:New images added frequently. Best searched or browsed by call number. Early modern mss call numbers include X.c., X.d., V.a., V.b., and Z.
-''Henslowe-Alleyn Digitisation Project'' (http://www.henslowe-alleyn.org.uk/essays/digitalessays.html)
+[https://www.dhi.ac.uk/causepapers/index.jsp Cause Papers in the Diocesan Courts of the Archbishopric of York, 1300-1858]
+*A searchable catalogue of more than 14,000 cause papers relating to cases heard between 1300 and 1858 in the Church Courts of the diocese of York. The original records are held in the Borthwick Institute for Archives at the University of York, and are the most extensive records of their type in the United Kingdom.
-:Hundreds of images from Dulwich College, providing access to the most important archive on professional theatre in early modern England as well as extensive supporting material.
-University of Pennsylvania, ''Manuscripts to 1800'' (http://dla.library.upenn.edu/dla/medren/index.html)
+University of Cambridge, Cambridge Digital Library: [https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/collections/scriptorium Scriptorium: Medieval and Early Modern Manuscripts Online]
+*Images and detailed descriptions of twenty miscellanies and commonplace books. See also [https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/collections/casebooks/1 Simon Forman's and Richard Napier's casebooks] and [https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/collections/newton/1 Isaac Newton's Papers].
-:Images of a handful of early modern English manuscripts, which can be reached by narrowing the search to English, facsimile, and 16th and 17th century.
-Wellcome Library, ''Recipe Manuscripts Online'' (http://library.wellcome.ac.uk/node9300909.html)
+[http://humanities-research.exeter.ac.uk/womenswork/courtdepositions/#home Court Depositions of South West England, 1500-1700]
+*A digital edition of 80 fully transcribed depositions relating to 20 cases heard in the church courts and Quarter Sessions between 1556 and 1694 across Devon, Hampshire, Somerset and Wiltshire. The original records are held in the Devon Heritage Centre, Hampshire Record Office, Somerset Heritage Centre and Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre.
-:Images of 75 manuscript receipt books which, when viewed alongside the ca. 80 receipt books included in the microfilm series, Receipt Books from the Folger Shakespeare Library, ca. 1572-1800 (www.adam-matthew-publications.co.uk/collections_az/Receipt-Books/contents-of-reels.aspx), allows for intensive research on this female-dominated manuscript genre.
-'''subscription'''
+Folger Shakespeare Library [http://luna.folger.edu Digital Image Collection]
+*New images and transcriptions added frequently. For manuscript images with transcriptions, search [https://luna.folger.edu/luna/servlet/s/u08ot6 Luna's Folger Manuscript Transcriptions Collection]
-''British Literary Manuscripts Online, Medieval and Renaissance, c. 1660-1900''
-(http://gdc.gale.com/products/british-literary-manuscripts-online-medieval-and-renaissance/)
-:Digital microfilm images of literary manuscripts from the British Library, Folger, Huntington, and elsewhere.
+[https://henslowe-alleyn.org.uk/ Henslowe-Alleyn Digitisation Project]
+*Thousands of images from Dulwich College, providing access to the most important archive on professional theatre in early modern England as well as extensive supporting material.
-''The Cecil Papers'' (http://cecilpapers.chadwyck.com/marketing/index.jsp)
-:Ca. 30,000 newly-digitized documents assembled mainly by William Cecil, Lord Burghley, and his son Robert Cecil, earl of Salisbury, 1520-1668, from the archives at Hatfield House.
+University of Pennsylvania, [https://www.library.upenn.edu/collections/special-notable/groups/medieval-and-renaissance-manuscripts-kislak-center Penn in Hand and OPenn]
-''Literary Manuscripts: 17th and 18th century poetry from the Brotherton Library, University of Leeds'' (http://www.literarymanuscriptsleeds.amdigital.co.uk/index.aspx)
-:Digital microfilm images and original color images of 190 manuscripts, with essays and biographies. Searchable by author, title, first line, verse form, manuscript genre, and shelfmark.
+Wellcome Library, [http://library.wellcome.ac.uk/node9300909.html Recipe Manuscripts Online]
+*Images of approximately 92 English manuscript receipt books from 1550 to 1740. Refine the search by limiting to "Online," "English," and "1550 to 1740" (or other date range).
-''Perdita Manuscripts: Women Writers, 1500-1700''
-(http://www.perditamanuscripts.amdigital.co.uk/Default.aspx)
-:Digital microfilm images of over 230 manuscripts compiled by early modern British women, along with detailed indexing, biographical and bibliographical information, and contextual essays.
+[https://shakespearedocumented.folger.edu/ Shakespeare Documented]
+*A database of all known manuscript and print references to Shakespeare, his works, and additional references to his family, in his lifetime and shortly thereafter. Includes hundreds of images of manuscripts, with transcriptions.
-''State Papers Online'' (http://gale.cengage.co.uk/state-papers-online-15091714.aspx)
-:Digital microfilm and original color images of state papers from the National Archives and the British Library, as well as calendars and transcriptions of the Cecil Papers at Hatfield House. The manuscripts are fully searchable through their calendar entries and index points, and are supplemented with essays.
+[http://1641.tcd.ie/index.php 1641 Depositions]
+*Fully searchable digital edition of the 1641 Depositions at Trinity College Dublin Library, comprising transcripts and images of all 8,000 depositions, examinations and associated materials in which Protestant men and women of all classes told of their experiences following the outbreak of the rebellion by the Catholic Irish in October, 1641. Must register to see the images.
-''The Virginia Company Archives'' (http://www.virginiacompanyarchives.amdigital.co.uk/index.aspx)
-:Digital microfilm images, some transcriptions, and contextual material relating to the Ferrar Papers (1590-1790), from Magdalene College, Cambridge.
+[https://www.londonlives.org/index.jsp London Lives, 1690 to 1800, including Minutes of the Court of Governors, Bridewell Hospital, 1559-1803]
+*A fully searchable edition of 240,000 manuscripts from eight archives and fifteen datasets, giving access to 3.35 million names. Start at "Browse Documents."
-'''Useful catalogs and databases'''
+===== Subscription =====
-''A2A – Access to Archives: the English strand of the UK archives network'' (http://www.a2a.org.uk/)
+[http://gdc.gale.com/products/british-literary-manuscripts-online-medieval-and-renaissance/ British Literary Manuscripts Online, Medieval and Renaissance, c. 1660-1900]
+*Digital microfilm images of literary manuscripts from the British Library, Folger, Huntington, and elsewhere.
-Includes items from 390 record offices and other repositories, including the National Archives, searchable by keyword, date, repository, and region. To search only the National Archives, use http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue
-''ArchiveGrid'' (http://archivegrid.org/web/index.jsp)
+[http://cecilpapers.chadwyck.com/marketing/index.jsp The Cecil Papers]
+*Ca. 30,000 newly-digitized documents dated 1520-1668 assembled mainly by William Cecil, Lord Burghley, and his son Robert Cecil, earl of Salisbury, from the archives at Hatfield House.
-:Provides links to finding aids and collection descriptions for North American and British manuscripts and archives of all periods.
-''Archives Hub'' (http://archiveshub.ac.uk/)
+[https://www.amdigital.co.uk/products Adam Matthew databases], including Early Modern England: Society, Culture and Everyday Life, 1500-1700; The Virginia Company Archives; Literary Manuscripts: 17th and 18th century poetry from the Brotherton Library, University of Leeds; and Medieval Family Life,
-:Searches descriptions of archives across over 250 institutions in the UK.
+*Digitized images and microfilm images of thousands of manuscripts, with supporting contextual material and advanced searches. Medieval Family Life includes
+images and searchable transcriptions of the only five major family letter collections to survive from the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries: the Paston, Cely, Plumpton, Stonor, and Armburgh papers.
-Bodleian Library manuscript finding aids and catalogs
-(http://ox.libguides.com/content.php?pid=162584&sid=1373365)
-:Consult the digitized copies of the Quarto catalogues and the Summary catalogues of Western manuscripts, as well as the relevant links under “Western Manuscripts Collections.”
+[https://www.gale.com/primary-sources/state-papers-online State Papers Online, 1509-1714]
+*Digital microfilm and original color images of state papers from the National Archives and the British Library, as well as calendars and transcriptions of the Cecil Papers at Hatfield House. The manuscripts are fully searchable through their calendar entries and index points, and are supplemented with essays.
-British Library Manuscripts Catalogue (http://searcharchives.bl.uk)
-:The British Library recently migrated their (incomplete) catalog to this new database.
-Folger Library catalog and finding aids (http://shakespeare.folger.edu/ and http://findingaids.folger.edu)
+[ancestry.com]
+*Hundreds of thousands of manuscript images from parish registers and other early modern sources.
-:In Hamnet, to limit search to manuscripts, search “material type” = “manuscript” under advanced search, or set date and material type limits under “set limits.”
-Union First Line Index of Poetry (http://firstlines.folger.edu)
+== Useful catalogs and databases ==
-:Online database of the first lines of manuscript verse from a range of repositories (in addition to verse from books printed in England from 1475-1700), searchable by first line, last line (in some cases), author, title, shelfmark, gender, repository, and shelfmark. It is also possible to create a list of all of the poetry in a single volume by searching by call number and then sorting the results by folio or page number.
+[http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ Discovery (catalogue of the National Archives and other UK archives]
+*Discovery holds more than 32 million descriptions of records held by The National Archives and more than 2,500 archives across the country.
-University of Nottingham Library, Department of Manuscripts and Special Collections
-(http://mssweb.nottingham.ac.uk/catalogue/)
-:Manuscript catalog and index to ca. 4500 poems in the Portland (Welbeck) Literary Manuscripts collection. First lines, along with much else, can be searched from the Search the main catalogue > Catalogue Records option (fill in the FirstLine/LastLine field to search a first line).
+[https://researchworks.oclc.org/archivegrid/ ArchiveGrid]
+*ArchiveGrid includes over 5 million records describing archival materials, bringing together information about historical documents, personal papers, family histories, and more. With over 1,000 different archival institutions represented, ArchiveGrid helps researchers looking for primary source materials held in archives, libraries, museums and historical societies.
-James Woolley, ''First-Line Indexes of English Verse, 1650-1800: A Checklist''
-(http://www.bibsocamer.org/BibSite/Woolley/index.pdf)
-Peter Beal, ''Catalogue of English Literary Manuscripts, 1450-1700'' (http://www.celm-ms.org.uk/)
+[https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/search/ Archives Hub]
+*Searches descriptions of archives and online resources across over 360 repositories in the UK.
-:A greatly enlarged and updated version of the printed Index of English Literary Manuscripts, currently only partially launched. It is arranged by writer and includes valuable introductions and descriptions of all known manuscripts associated with each writer.
+[https://archives.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/ Bodleian Library archives and manuscripts finding aids]
+*See also http://ox.libguides.com/c.php?g=422900&p=2887969 for links to the digitized copies of the Quarto catalogues and the Summary catalogues of Western manuscripts, which contain additional manuscripts.
-'''Using and interpreting literary and historical manuscripts'''
-''The National Archives: Research Guides, A-Z''
+[http://searcharchives.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?vid=IAMS_VU2 British Library Manuscripts Catalogue]
-(http://www.catalogue.nationalarchives.gov.uk/researchguidesindex.asp)
+*Also consult the various guides for locating medieval and early modern British manuscripts [https://www.bl.uk/subjects/medieval-and-early-modern-britain here].
-:Indispensable for understanding the purposes of different kinds of official documents and figuring out where to find them.
-''The National Archives. Latin 1086–1733: a practical online tutorial for beginners''
+[http://www.british-history.ac.uk/ British History Online]
-(http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/latin/beginners/)
+*Searchable digital library of over 1,270 volumes of key printed primary and secondary sources for the history of Britain and Ireland, primarily between 1300 and 1800. Searches by place, subject, source, people, or full-text, across a wide array of primary and secondary texts for medieval and modern English history, with frequent additions of new source material, including the Victoria county histories.
-:See the advanced tutorial as well.
-Gabriel Heaton, “Literary Manuscript Analysis”
+[http://www.connectedhistories.org Connected Histories: British History Sources, 1500-1900]
-(http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/ren/projects/publications/lima/)
+*Brings together a range of resources with a single federated search, as well as the ability to save, connect, and share resources.
-:Detailed terminology for describing letter forms and methodology for comparing hands; some links no longer active.
-University of Nottingham Manuscripts and Special Collections, Introduction to Skills Resources
+[https://hamnet.folger.edu/ Folger Library catalog] and [http://findingaids.folger.edu finding aids]
-(http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/mss/learning/skills/index.phtml)
+*In Hamnet, to limit search to manuscripts, search “material type” = “manuscript” under advanced search, or set date and material type limits under “set limits.”
-:Content-rich site for understanding deeds and other archival material, as well as dates, weights, and measures.
-Olney, RJ. Using Manuscript Sources for British History (http://www.history.ac.uk/msarchives/)
+[https://firstlines.folger.edu Union First Line Index of Poetry]
+*Online database of the first lines of manuscript verse from a range of repositories (in addition to verse from books printed in England from 1475-1700), searchable by first line, last line (in some cases), author, title, gender, repository, and shelfmark (that is, call number). It is also possible to create a list of all of the poetry in a single volume by searching by call number and then sorting the results by folio or page number.
-:Required reading before delving into historical sources.
-Institute of Historical Research and the History of Parliament Trust. ''British History Online''
+University of Nottingham Library, [http://mss-cat.nottingham.ac.uk/CalmView/Advanced.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog Department of Manuscripts and Special Collections]
-(http://www.british-history.ac.uk/)
+*Manuscript catalog and index to ca. 4500 poems in the Portland (Welbeck) Literary Manuscripts collection. First lines, along with much else, can be searched from the Search the main catalogue > Catalogue Records option (fill in the FirstLine/LastLine field to search a first line).
-:Searches by place, subject, source, people, or full-text, across a wide array of primary and secondary texts for medieval and modern English history, with frequent additions of new source material, including the Victoria county histories.
-Oxford English Dictionary (http://www.oed.com)
+James Woolley, [http://www.bibsocamer.org/BibSite/Woolley/index.pdf First-Line Indexes of English Verse, 1650-1800: A Checklist]
-:Subscription only. Assists in deciphering and defining obsolete words.
-''Ian’s English Calendar'' (http://people.albion.edu/imacinnes/calendar//Welcome.html)
+Peter Beal, [http://www.celm-ms.org.uk/ Catalogue of English Literary Manuscripts, 1450-1700]
+*A greatly enlarged and updated version of the printed Index of English Literary Manuscripts, currently only partially launched. It is arranged by writer and includes valuable introductions and descriptions of all known manuscripts associated with each writer.
-:Quick reference guide for calculating dates in early modern England.
+== Using and interpreting literary and historical manuscripts ==
+[https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/?research-category=medieval-early-modern-history The National Archives: Research Guides for Medieval and Early Modern History]
+*44 guides that explain the purposes of different kinds of official documents and where to find them.
+[http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/latin/beginners/ The National Archives. Introduction to reading medieval Latin documents.
+*Beginner and more advanced tutorials to the form of Latin used in legal documents up to 1733.
+University of Nottingham Manuscripts and Special Collections, [http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/mss/learning/skills/index.phtml Introduction to Skills Resources]
+*Content-rich site for understanding deeds and other archival material, as well as dates, weights, and measures. See especially the section "Deeds in Depth."
+Olney, RJ. [https://sas-space.sas.ac.uk/4684/ Using Manuscript Sources for British History]
+*Very useful for understanding the administrative history and provenance of early modern English primary sources.
+[http://www.oed.com Oxford English Dictionary]
+*Subscription only. Assists in deciphering and defining obsolete words.
+[http://aulis.org/Calendar/Welcome.html Ian’s English Calendar]
+*Quick reference guide for calculating dates in early modern England.
+[[Category: Research guides]]
+[[Category: Paleography]]