The William Blake Archive Project
Records, 1995-2002. Finding Aid.
Summary Information
The William Blake
Archive Project records
1995-2002
Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities
(University of Virginia)
6 boxes (4.6
cubic feet)
Language: English
CBI 174
The William Blake
Archive Project Records consist of meticulously preserved materials which
reflect the Project’s entire development from its inception in 1995 to the time
the records were given to CBI in 2002. These records include grant proposals,
meeting minutes, project participants’ email correspondence, the public “Blake
update” message board, screen captures from the 1995 HTML demo forward, user
comments, and technical materials documenting the development of the Blake
Archive Document Type Definition.
University of
Minnesota Libraries. Charles Babbage Institute.
Access and Use
The records were given to the Charles Babbage Institute by John
Unsworth, Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities at the University
of Virginia (IATH), in May 2002.
Access to the collection is unrestricted.
The Charles Babbage Institute does not hold the copyright to the
materials in the collection. Researchers may quote from the collection under
the fair use provisions of the copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code).
The William Blake Archive Project Records, (CBI 174), Charles Babbage
Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.
Arrangement
The materials in this collection are arranged into the following
groups:
- Blake Camp: Agendas and Minutes, 1997-2002
- Grant Applications, 1998-2001
- “Update on the William Blake Archive,” 1996-2002
- blake-proj messages, 1997-2002
- “About the Archive,” April 2002
- Screen Captures, undated, 1995-1996
- Document Type Definition (DTD) Files, 1997-1999
- Blake Archive Description (BAD) Files, 1997-1998
- User Comments, 1996, 1999-2002
- Papers and Articles about the Archive, 1995-2002
Historical Note
The William Blake Archive Project was proposed in 1993 by the
Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities (IATH), a humanities
computing research center located at the University of Virginia,
Charlottesville, as an experiment in hypermedia scholarly communication. A
collaboration was formed between the IATH, directed by John Unsworth, and three
noted Blake experts, the latter of whom also serve as the editors of the
William Blake Archive Web site: Morris Eaves, University of Rochester; Robert
Essick, University of California, Riverside; and Joseph Viscomi, University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
The William Blake Archive Project, as a pioneer in the area of
electronic scholarship, represents one of the earliest and most influential
examples of electronic scholarship, establishing standards for electronic
editing, site construction, and digital reproduction, serving as the model for
subsequent projects.
The William Blake Archive Project Web site (
http://www.blakearchive.org) was
first launched in 1996 and is located and maintained at the IATH. The Project
Web site unifies access to the dispersed prints, paintings and poems of William
Blake (1757-1827). A growing number of contributors to the Web site’s visual
and literary contents include originals borrowed from American and British
institutions, as well as a major private collector, who have given the William
Blake Archive the permission to use thousands of Blake’s images and texts free
of charge. Most of the original Blake texts and images are otherwise difficult
to view because of their obscure location or fragile condition.
Project participants met annually at “Blake Camp.” All other
project-related communication of this intensive scholarly collaboration was
conducted via email.
The William Blake Archive Project has been sponsored by the Library of
Congress and supported by a variety of institutions including the Getty Grant
Program, Essick Foundation, National Endowment for the Humanities (Preservation
and Access Grant), Paul Mellon Centre for the Study of British Art, University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Sun Microsystems and Inso Corporation.
Project participants consisted of Director John Unsworth, University
of Virginia; Editors Morris Eaves, University of Rochester; Robert Essick,
University of California, Riverside; and Joseph Viscomi, University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill; Technical Editors Matthew Kirschenbaum, University of
Maryland, College Park; and Andrea Laue, University of Virginia; and Project
Manager Andrea Dickens, University of Virginia. An advisory board is composed
of thirteen scholars from various American academic institutions such as
Columbia University, Loyola University, University of California, University of
Virginia, as well as British institutions such as University College London,
the British Museum, London and the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge.
Collection Scope and Content Note
The William Blake Archive Project Records consist of meticulously
preserved materials which reflect the Project’s entire development from its
inception in 1995 to the time the records were given to CBI in 2002. These
records include grant proposals, meeting minutes, project participants’ email
correspondence, the public “Blake update” message board, screen captures from
the 1995 HTML demo forward, user comments, and technical materials documenting
the development of the Blake Archive Document Type Definition. All electronic
records have been printed onto paper.
The Blake Camp records consist of agendas and meeting minutes of these
annual meetings from 1997 to 2002. Information includes subjects discussed at
the meetings as well as various decisions made about Project details.
Grant Applications include grant application materials consisting of
detailed information about the Project for three proposals to the following
organizations: National Endowment for the Humanities (Preservation and Access
Grant), Getty Grant program and the Paul Mellon Centre for the Study of British
Art.
“Updates on the William Blake Archive” consists of printed copies of
Project Web site newsletters which give users a detailed progress report about
the William Blake Archive Web site, such as new texts and visual items most
recently available or forthcoming on the Web site, as well as information about
funding and updates to other portions of the Web site. These newsletters
appeared four to six times annually.
The bulk of the collection is comprised of the blake-proj messages
(entire contents of Boxes 1-3, and Box 4, folders 1-17, Box 5, folders 7-12,
Box 6, folders 1-9) that consist of the email correspondence between various
collaborators of the Project from 1997 to 2002 which provides a detailed
documentation of the development and daily operation of the project. “About the
Archive” reflects the name of a part of the Web site which includes contents of
eleven separate Web site links containing documentation and supplementary
information about various aspects of the William Blake Archive. Folder names
reflect the separate respective link names.
Screen Captures includes full-color print-outs of four samples of
image captures from the Web site in assorted versions.
Blake Archive Description (BAD) Files include print-outs of samples of
three encoded Blake texts from the Web site: The Book of Thel, The Book of
Urizen and Visions of the Daughters of Albion. These project-specific DTDs are
used to encode William Blake’s works as physical artifacts at the object and
collection level.
User Comments consists of a very small sampling of Web site user email
comments and suggestions about the Web site sent in 1996 and from 1999 to 2002.
Paper and Articles about the Archive include articles written
predominantly by editors and staff members of the William Blake Archive Project
for publication in journals about various aspects of the Project. consist of
four print-outs in one folder of encoded description describing the proposed
encoding terms and consistent structure of the documents to be included in the
Web site. These documents reflect modifications to portions of the Web site
between 1997-1999.
Subject Terms
- This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog
of the University of Minnesota Libraries. Researchers desiring materials about
related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these
headings.
- Blake, William, 1757-1827 -- Archives.
- Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities
- William Blake archive
Box and Folder List
| Location |
Title |
| |
Blake Camp: Agendas and Minutes, 1997-2002 |
|
Box 4 |
Blake Camp 1997: Agenda Box 4, Folder 18
|
| |
Blake Camp 1998: Agenda and Minutes Box 4, Folder 18
|
| |
Blake Camp 1999: Agenda and Minutes Box 4, Folder 18
|
| |
Blake Camp 2000: Agenda and Minutes Box 4, Folder 18
|
| |
Blake Camp 2002: Agenda Box 4, Folder 18
|
| |
Grant Applications, 1998-2001 |
|
Box 4 |
National Endowment for the Humanities Grant,
1998-2001 Box 4, Folder 19
|
| |
Getty Grant Materials, September 1998 Box 4, Folder 20
|
| |
Paul H. Mellon Grant Materials, August 1998 Box 4, Folder 21
|
| |
"Update on the William Blake Archive," 1996-2002 |
|
Box 4 |
"Update on the William Blake Archive," 1996-2002 Box 4, Folder 22
|
| |
blake-proj messages, 1997-2002 |
|
Box 1 |
Messages, May 1997 - May 1998 Box 1
|
| |
Messages, May - December 1998 Box 1
|
|
Box 2 |
Messages, May - December 1998 Box 2
|
| |
Messages, January - September 1999 Box 2
|
| |
Messages, September 1999 - February
2000 Box 2
|
|
Box 3 |
Messages, September 1999 - February
2000 Box 3
|
| |
Messages, March - August 2000 Box 3
|
|
Box 4 |
Messages, March - August 2000 Box 4
|
|
Box 4 |
Messages, August 2000 - May 2001 Box 4
|
|
Box 5 |
Messages, June - December 2001 Box 5
|
|
Box 6 |
Messages, June - December 2001 Box 6
|
| |
Messages, December 2001 - March 2002 Box 6
|
| |
"About the Archive," April 2002 |
|
Box 4 |
Archive at a Glance, April 2002 Box 4, Folder 23
|
| |
Editorial Principles, April 2002 Box 4, Folder 24
|
| |
About the Editors, April 2002 Box 4, Folder 25
|
| |
Tour of the Archive, April 2002 Box 4, Folder 26
|
| |
How to Use the Archive (Help Documentation),
April 2002 Box 4, Folder 27
|
| |
Standards References and Abbreviations, April 2002 Box 4, Folder 28
|
| |
Frequently Asked Questions, April 2002 Box 4, Folder 29
|
| |
Technical Summary, April 2002 Box 4, Folder 30
|
| |
Articles About the Archive, April 2002 Box 4, Folder 31
|
| |
Plan of the Archive (through 2002), April 2002 Box 4, Folder 32
|
| |
The Blake Archive in the context of IATH, April 2002 Box 4, Folder 33
|
| |
Screen Captures, undated, 1995-1996 |
|
Box 4 |
Demo Version, 1995 Box 4, Folder 34
|
| |
Beta Version, 1996 Box 4, Folder 35
|
| |
Version 1.0, undated. Box 4, Folder 36
|
| |
Version 2.0, undated. Box 4, Folder 37
|
| |
Document Type Definition (DTD) Files, 1997-1999 |
|
Box 4 |
blakephys.dtd Box 4, Folder 38
|
| |
bad.01.dtd Box 4, Folder 38
|
| |
bad.19.dtd Box 4, Folder 38
|
| |
bad.dtd Box 4, Folder 38
|
| |
Blake Archive Description (BAD) Files, 1997-1998 |
|
Box 4 |
thel.f.bad1.sgm Box 4, Folder 39
|
| |
thel.f.bad2.sgm Box 4, Folder 39
|
| |
thel.f.blakephys1.sgm Box 4, Folder 40
|
| |
thel.f.blakephys2.sgm Box 4, Folder 40
|
| |
urizen.g.bad.sgm Box 4, Folder 41
|
| |
urizen.g.bad2.sgm Box 4, Folder 41
|
| |
urizen.g.blakephys.illus.sgm Box 4, Folder 42
|
| |
urizen.g.blakephys.illus1.sgm Box 4, Folder 42
|
| |
urizen.g.blakephys.sgm Box 4, Folder 42
|
| |
vda.c.bad1.sgm Box 4, Folder 43
|
| |
vda.c.bad2.sgm Box 4, Folder 44
|
| |
vda.c.blakephys.sgm Box 4, Folder 44
|
| |
User Comments, 1996, 1999-2002 |
|
Box 4 |
User Comments, 1996, 1999-2002 Box 4, Folder 45
|
| |
Papers and Articles about the Archive, 1995-2002 |
|
Box 4 |
Hitchcock. Susan Tyler. “A Romantic of the 21st
century.” C-VILLE Weekly, 20-26 February 2001 Box 4, Folder 46
|
| |
McGrance, Sally. “’Fearful Symmetry’ Now in Pixels
Bright.” The New York Times, Thursday, 22 July 1999 Box 4, Folder 47
|
| |
Murphy, Robin. “Illuminating William Blake.”
Intelligent Agent 2.2. Box 4, Folder 48
|
| |
Blansfield, Karen C. “Tyger, Tyger, byte by byte.”
OIT Review (Spring/Summer 1995) Box 4, Folder 49
|
| |
Editors and Staff of The William Blake Archive. “The
Persistence of Vision: Images and Imaging at the William Blake Archive.”
September 2000 Box 4, Folder 50
|
| |
Editors and Staff of The William Blake Archive. “The
William Blake Archive.” September 1997 Box 4, Folder 51
|
|
Box 5 |
The Wordsworth Circle 30.3
(Summer 1999) Box 5, Folder 1
|
| |
Eaves, Morris, Robert N. Essick. And Joseph Viscomi.
“The William Blake Archive: The Medium When the Millennium is the Message.”
Romanticism and Millenarianism. . Ed. Tim Fulford.
New York: Palgrave, 2002 Box 5, Folder 2
|
| |
Eaves, Morris. “Behind the Scenes at The William Blake
Archive: Collaboration Takes More than E-Mail.” The
Journal of Electronic Publishing 3.2 (December 1997) Box 5, Folder 3
|
| |
Viscomi, Joseph. “Digital Facsimiles: Reading the
William Blake Archive.” Computers and the Humanities
36 (2002) Box 5, Folder 4
|
| |
Kirschenbaum, Matthew. “Documenting Digital Images:
Textual Meta-Data at the Blake Archive.” The Electronic
Library 16.4 (August 1998) Box 5, Folder 5
|
| |
Kraus, Kari. “ ‘Once Only Imagined’: An Interview with
Morris Eaves, Robert N. Essick, and Joseph Viscomi on the Past, Present, and
Future of Blake Studies.” Box 5, Folder 6
|
|
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