Preparation for print publication of volumes 3, 4, and 5 on the ratification of the Bill of Rights and digital publication of supplemental documents. (36 months) 

The Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights (DHRC) is one of the premier scholarly editing projects in the United States. Its mandate is to collect and publish the documentary record of the debate over the ratification of the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights between 1787 and 1791. Copies of relevant documents have been collected from several thousand libraries, archives, historical societies, town clerk and county offices, and private collections. All books, pamphlets, broadsides, newspapers, and magazines published during this period have been searched. Over 17,000 manuscripts and 48,000 newspaper items have been accessioned. All manuscript collections for the time period are searched. In addition to scholars, DHRC volumes are used by judges, lawyers, and politicians in shaping public law and policy. The volumes have been cited by the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. district and appeals courts, and in many law reviews.

Preparation for publication of volumes 12, 13, and 14 of the papers of Andrew Jackson (1767-1845), seventh president of the United States. (36 months)

The Papers of Andrew Jackson is a scholarly project to collect, edit, and publish, in print and online, the extant literary record of the seventh U.S. president. This research is vital for scholars of early U.S. political, social, diplomatic, and military history, and to political scientists, communications scholars, and researchers across the humanities. Our volumes engage with the rise of the U.S. nation-state, its relations with Indigenous nations and European empires, and contested definitions of citizenship, and thus respond to the "More Perfect Union" initiative. We are producing a scholarly edition of Jackson's papers in a seventeen volume bound series that is also available in two electronic formats. To date, we have published eleven volumes, with a twelfth (Volume XII: 1834) nearing completion; after that, we will have five more volumes to go. We expect to complete the full series by roughly 2035. The project URL is: https://thepapersofandrewjackson.utk.edu/.

Preparation for publication of an open-access print and digital edition and translation, from Nepali to English, of the six books of Subi Shah (1922-2008), a Nepali performer and educator who documented Nepali folk music, drama and dance. (36 months)

This project will translate six volumes of Nepali performer Subi Shah's work into English and publish them digitally and in print, with accompanying scores, and audio and video recordings. Shah (1922-2008) was a Nepali performer and educator who made it his life’s work to develop, sustain, and promote Nepali folk performance. His writings on the varied genres that make up the Pangdure tradition of the central Nepali hills are the only existing scholarship that analyzes and provides concrete examples of all aspects of performance (song, instrumental music, dance, drama) with detailed information about their interrelationships. They thus provide an essential resource for scholars and performers, including information published nowhere else. This project contributes to these traditions' cultural sustainability by involving local performers, and to decolonizing performance studies by challenging and posing concrete alternatives to Eurocentric structures of knowledge.

Preparation for digital publication of the interview notes of Viola Muse (1891-1981), a writer who took part in the Florida Federal Writers Project from 1936 to 1940. (12 months) 

The Viola Muse Digital Edition will present the 73 discrete manuscript and typescript documents (totaling 262 pages) that comprise the Viola Muse Collection at the Jacksonville Historical Society. Muse was a local hairdresser and an interviewer/writer with the Negro Writers Division of the Florida Federal Writers Project (1936-40). Our edition will provide images and transcriptions of her fieldwork on Black society and Black history in Jacksonville as well as a scholarly introduction and headnotes/annotations for the documents.

Preparation for print publication of five volumes of works by Mark Twain (1835-1910) and updates to the Mark Twain Project Online. (36 months)

The Mark Twain Project asks support for a full-scale critical edition of Following the Equator, and for work needed to publish, both in print and on its digital edition, Mark Twain Project Online (MTPO), three major volumes in the Works of Mark Twain series: Pudd’nhead Wilson, The Innocents Abroad, and San Francisco Correspondence 1865-1866. The first two of these are also to be adapted for publication in the Mark Twain Library series, which brings the critically-established texts and explanatory notes to general readers and classrooms. Mark Twain's Letters, Volume 7 is to be prepared for publication on MTPO, along with five other editions already published in print by the UC Press; and the texts of 1,405 Mark Twain letters are to be transcribed, edited, supplied with critical apparatus, and published online. Support is sought for the ongoing management and curation of the project's textual and image datasets, improvements to the digital infrastructure, and development of MTPO's features and interface.

Preparation for publication of volumes 8 and 9 of the papers of American civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968), covering the years 1962-1964.  

The Martin Luther King, Jr., Papers Project's principal mission is to publish the fourteen-volume annotated scholarly edition of King's most historically significant correspondence, sermons, speeches, published writings, and other works. Since its founding in 1985, the Project has published seven volumes of The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr., which have become fundamental reference works for historians, scholars, and students. The edition, which is scheduled for completion in 2043, provides an unprecedented glimpse into the modern civil rights movement through King's life and works. Our website, https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/, founded in 1995, includes facsimiles, audio/visual recordings, and PDF and HTML versions of the edition's first six volumes. This application for funding responds to the NEH's "A More Perfect Union" initiative to examine how America's founding ideals of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness have been expanded for a pluralistic society.

Preparation for online publication of English translations of seminar lectures delivered by French philosopher Gilles Deleuze (1925-1995). (36 months)

The aim of our project (The Deleuze Seminars) is to translate the seminar lectures given at the University of Paris between 1979 and 1987 by the influential French philosopher Gilles Deleuze (1925-1995) and to make them available online at a website devoted to the project (deleuze.cla.purdue.edu). Deleuze is widely recognized as one of the most important and influential European philosophers of the twentieth century, and his writings have had a significant impact not only in philosophy but in disciplines such as film studies, psychology, political science, art history and art criticism, and literary theory. The project will make Deleuze’s work available to a broad English-speaking audience in the humanities.

Preparation for digital publication of 180 African Marian stories preserved in parchment manuscripts, which will be catalogued, transcribed and translated from Ge'ez (classical Ethiopic) into English. (36 months)

The African Humanities Folkloric project (AHF) will provide students and scholars with web and print access to hundreds of vivid stories written for centuries in Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea, and Ethiopia about the miracles that the Virgin Mary performed for the faithful, whether sinners or saints. By increasing U.S. access to short, meaningful African narratives about healing, reparative justice, and personal ethics in a violent world, the AHF project is part of ensuring that the humanities in the United States is founded on a truly global canon. The NEH Scholarly Editions and Scholarly Translations Grant would fund the labor of experienced researchers with rare language skills to catalog stories in parchment manuscripts, translate dozens of stories into English, and write short introductions to them. The project will begin October 2021 and end 36 months later, in September 2024.

Planning and development of an edition and translation to English of Lakota and Dakota literature, including songs, stories, letters and epics, from the earliest known to modern times. (12 months)

AIHEC proposes to create a detailed plan for developing an anthology of Siouan literature in translation in the series of Native Literatures of the Americas published by the University of Nebraska Press. This would be the first work to present a comprehensive literary landscape in Lakota/Dakota languages from the earliest known to modern times. The project involves engagement of the language communities in identification of texts for translation and the presentation of their cultural context.

Preparation for print and online publication of volumes four and five of the writings of John Dickinson (1732–1808), statesman from Delaware and Pennsylvania. (36 months)

The John Dickinson Writings Project (JDP) is working with the University of Delaware (UD) to publish The Complete Writings and Selected Correspondence of John Dickinson (UD Press) in an estimated 12 print volumes. It seeks NEH funding to hire two full-time Assistant Editors to complete Vol. 4 (1767–1769) and 5 (1770–1775) and purchase the indexing software CINDEX. The JDP launched in 2010 with an NEH grant. It has published Vol. 1 (2020). Vol. 2 will appear in early 2021, and Vol. 3 will appear in late 2021. We anticipate the project ending in 2039. Dickinson served in every national congress and convention (1765-1787). He wrote more for the American cause than any other, including most of the nation’s first state papers. The Founding era cannot be fully understood without reading his works. He was the only one to advocate for rights for subordinated groups—blacks, women, Indians, the poor, and criminals. This project is an ideal fit with the “More Perfect Union” initiative.

Preparation to edit and publish annotated translations in a digital format of two parlamentos (indigenous treaties) signed in Chile in 1774 and 1803. (24 months) 

The project proposed for the NEH Translation Planning grant is the translation of a of a portion of the Chilean Mapuche Parlamentos peace treaties to plan for further translations and a full scale digital edition.

Preparation for publication of volumes 5 and 6 of the Selected Papers of Jane Addams and a digital edition of the social reformer’s writings and letters from 1901-1935. (36 months)

The Jane Addams Papers Project is a scholarly editing project that will publish documents covering the years 1901-1935 in two formats. The first, the Jane Addams Digital Edition, is a freely-available edition of images, transcriptions, and metadata for all correspondence and writings. The second, The Selected Papers of Jane Addams, is a seven-volume edition that will contain transcribed and annotated documents covering the same years, with the most historically significant documents selected for publication. The project is also conducting a search for new Addams material that will be added to its publications and developing educational resources to encourage the use of the materials. It also serves as a practical experience using digital humanities tools for undergraduate students at the college.

Preparation of a critical edition and performance scores of An American in Paris and Porgy and Bess by George (1898-1937) and Ira Gershwin (1896-1983), and to commence work on nine other musicals that include Cuban Overture, I Got Rhythm Variations, Primrose, and Blue Monday, among others. (36 months)  

While the works of George and Ira Gershwin are readily accessible in non-scholarly imprints and recordings, they too often circulates in inconsistent and inaccurate versions. Until our project, even such landmark musical scores as Rhapsody in Blue, An American in Paris, and Porgy and Bess suffered from substandard editions that misrepresented the Gershwins’ artistic vision. The George and Ira Gershwin Critical Edition provides scholarly yet practical editions to restore the brothers' intentions. We also have a public educational program, with three primary goals: 1. To inform the public of the GCE’s research and performance activities through its website, blogs, and informational videos. 2. To provide scholars and performers with each volume’s critical reports, as well as with associated forums through which they can discuss the Initiative’s research. 3. To mentor U-M students in writing and research, particular through editorial work as assistants and through the Initiative’s blog.

Preparation for print publication of a critical edition and score of Le trouvère, Un ballo in Maschera, Juvenilia, and Lombardi alla prima Crociata by the Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901), and to continue work on four additional Verdi operas: Falstaff, Otello, Romanze, and Les vêpres siciliennes. (36 months)

The scholarly critical edition of the complete works of Giuseppe Verdi www.verdiedition.org makes available to scholars and performers reliable editions of the music of a major historical figure. It includes operas at the core of the repertory, e.g., Rigoletto, Il trovatore, La traviata, Otello, and Falstaff, as well as the Messa da Requiem and other non-operatic works. Eighteen out of a projected thirty-seven titles are now in print, with two more appearing in 2022-2025 and a target completion year of 2050. Entirely based on original sources, the edition produces musical scores freed from inauthentic interventions that have become the standard for performance and recording worldwide. It also presents detailed histories of the works—from composition, to early performance, to broader cultural influence up to the present day.

Preparation for publication of volumes 33 through 37 of the Revolutionary War series of the papers of George Washington (1732-1799). (24 months)

The Papers of George Washington is a scholarly documentary editing project that edits, publishes, publicizes, and makes accessible a comprehensive edition of George Washington's public and private papers. This edition, available in both digital and print formats, has been divided into six series, five of which have been completed: the Diaries; the Colonial Series; the Confederation Series; the Presidential Series; and the Retirement Series. Project staff now focuses on completing by 2028 the Revolutionary War Series. The University of Virginia Press has published seventy-nine of a projected ninety-three print volumes. The Washington Papers also are accessible on the web. Since 2007, all of our volumes have appeared in UVA Press's Rotunda digital edition following publication of the print edition. In addition, Founders Online incorporates all previously published volumes, along with "Early Access" transcriptions of our remaining unpublished material: http://gwpapers.virginia.edu.

Preparation for online publication of materials from the political campaigns of Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), 16th president of the United States. (12 months)

The Papers of Abraham Lincoln is a documentary editing project dedicated to identifying, imaging, transcribing, annotating, and publishing online free of charge all documents written by or to Abraham Lincoln during his lifetime (1809-1865). The Papers of Abraham Lincoln aspires to foster new and innovative scholarship on Abraham Lincoln, antebellum America, and the Civil War by replacing The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, which encompassed 6,769 documents in eight volumes and two supplemental volumes (1953-55, 1974, 1990), as the standard compilation of Lincoln documents. With the inclusion of incoming correspondence and newly discovered documents written by Lincoln, The Papers of Abraham Lincoln will offer scholars, students, and enthusiasts an additional 99,566 documents from which to evaluate Lincoln’s life and era. The project is responding to NEH’s “A More Perfect Union”: America at 250.

Preparation for publication of volumes 22 and 23 of the papers of John Adams (1735-1826) and volumes 16, 17, 18 of the Adams Family’s correspondence. (36 months)

The Adams Papers Editorial Project at the Massachusetts Historical Society (MHS) is the authoritative scholarly edition of the diaries, letters, official records, public writings, and literary miscellanies written by three generations of the Adams Family of Massachusetts, including Abigail Adams, John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Louisa Catherine Adams, Charles Francis Adams, and their families. Since 1956, the project has published 56 volumes, with 49 freely available online (https://www.masshist.org/publications/adams-papers/). This family record charts the generational shifts in American life from the Revolution through the Civil War. As the nation’s 250th anniversary approaches, editors are focused on the founding generation’s efforts to establish “A More Perfect Union,” a complex saga that will unfold in 17 more volumes by 2039. The Adams Papers has received continuous aid from the NEH since 2003; we seek further support to make this unparalleled resource accessible to all.

Preparation for print and digital publication of 13th-century philosopher Henry of Ghent’s Questiones ordinariae (Summa), articles 73-75. (36 months)

This will be the first critical edition of Henry of Ghent’s Summa, articles 73-75. It will be published by Leuven University Press. Henry of Ghent was the most important philosopher and theologian in the last decades of the thirteenth century, between Thomas Aquinas and John Duns Scotus. His thought was influential in the medieval and modern periods and beyond. This edition covers the last articles of his major work (the Summa), which deal with philosophy of language—a topic of major significance in the history of philosophy and in contemporary scholarship. The edition will promote translations and studies of this central topic in this major figure.

Preparation for publication of volumes 8 and 9 of the papers of James Monroe (1758-1831), fifth President of the United States. (12 months).

The Papers of James Monroe is a longstanding scholarly editing project dedicated to making the correspondence and other public and private papers of the fifth president of the United States more accessible to researchers, teachers, students, and general readers. The project is sponsored by the University of Mary Washington and funded primarily by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Staff collect, transcribe, and annotate selected documents for publication in print in a series of ten volumes issued by ABC-CLIO and online in a digital edition produced by Rotunda, the digital imprint of the University of Virginia Press. A Comprehensive Catalogue of the Correspondence and Papers of James Monroe was released in two volumes in 2000. The first volume of The Papers of James Monroe appeared in 2003. Subsequent volumes have followed at regular intervals. The most recent, Volume Seven, came out in 2020. The proposed grant will be applied to the preparation of Volumes Eight and Nine.

Preparation for print publication of an annotated translation into English of ten Yiddish and Russian short stories written in the Soviet Union about the Soviet Jewish experience of World War II and the Holocaust. (24 months)

In the Shadow of the Holocaust: Short Fiction by Jewish Writers from the Soviet Union (under advance contract with Stanford University Press) provides researchers, educators, students, and general readers with a critical, annotated translation into English of Yiddish and Russian works written in the aftermath of the most significant Jewish tragedy of the 20th century. The volume recovers a body of literature whose very existence has been denied because of prevailing attitudes about the lack of Jewish culture in the USSR. The stories show that Soviet Jews profoundly engaged fundamental questions about the Holocaust: how to witness and provide testimony, how to remember victims, and how to live on in the face of overwhelming destruction. The anthology brings readers into an encounter with language, settings, images, events, memories, and experiences that are utterly distinct and yet also shared by communities everywhere that have suffered mass public violence, dislocation, and loss.

Preparation for publication of volumes 10 and 11 of the selected papers of American inventor Thomas Edison (1847-1931). (36 months)

This grant will fund work on the book edition of the Thomas A. Edison Papers and the transition of that edition from chronological volumes covering 2-3 years to thematic volumes covering the last four decades of Edison's life. During the grant period we will also work on building out our digital image edition and replicating this edition on the Internet Archive as a second copy for preservation and long-term access.

Preparation for online publication of Walt Whitman’s (1819-1892) late-life writings and poems including November Boughs and Good-Bye My Fancy. (36 months) 

We seek support from NEH to edit the late-life writings of Walt Whitman (1819-1892) and to make them freely available on The Walt Whitman Archive. Our work will feature two experimental mixtures of prose and verse from Whitman's late-life period, November Boughs (1888) and Good-Bye My Fancy (1891), along with approximately 315 manuscripts (1425 surfaces) that contribute to their genetic development. In his late-life phase, the poet of the body had become the poet of the aging body, and the poet of perfect health had become the poet of disability. Through Whitman we encounter aging and disability without illusions, without apology, without embarrassment.

Preparation for publication of a print and digital edition of two sixth-century Latin texts, the Jubilees and the Testament of Moses, attributed to the Jewish patriarch Moses. (12 months)

This project will provide scholars and the general public with an edition of a collection of books attributed to Moses but excluded from the Jewish Bible. The two books, Jubilees and the Testament of Moses, provide important insight into Jewish thought from two thousand years ago, complementary to insight from the Dead Sea Scrolls and the New Testament. These texts are concerned with Jewish law and a figure who sacrifices his own life to bring about the kingdom of God. The books are preserved in Latin translation in a single manuscript that was erased and heavily damaged. Advanced multispectral imaging has recently made it possible to read text and observe other features of scribal culture. A stable scholarly edition will be produced, peer-reviewed, printed, and distributed by a major scholarly publisher. The images, transcription, translation, and notes will be linked in a free interactive online edition.

Preparation for print and publication of an annotated translation of Liaozhai’s Chronicles of the Strange written by Pu Songling (1640–1715), a well known Chinese writer. (36 months)

Our project—“‘Liaozhai's Strange Tales’: A New Complete Annotated Translation”—will produce the first accurate, annotated, and illustrated English translation of Pu Songling’s “Liaozhai zhiyi (Liaozhai’s Chronicles of the Strange).” This collection of nearly 500 stories, first published in 1766, is unquestionably the most famous in literary Chinese, with a profound influence on the Chinese fantastic imagination. Although anthologies of selected tales have been translated into English and other languages, the full extent and artistry of the collection remains inaccessible to non-Chinese-reading audiences because existing editions exclude most of its stories, and many tales require significant annotation to recuperate their full meanings. By undertaking a complete and annotated English translation—which meets the highest scholarly and literary standards—we aspire to make the riches of Pu Songling’s world masterpiece available both to the general public and the specialized reader.

Preparation for print and digital publication of six volumes of medieval literary texts (13th to 15th centuries) and implementation of a re-designed digital interface. (36 months)

The Middle English Text Series (METS) is now in its 32nd year of providing affordable and open-access critical editions of medieval texts for researchers and students. 106 volumes have been published as of Fall 2020. This proposal requests funding to support the print and digital publication of 6 volumes, and implementation of a re- designed digital edition to enhance and expand user access, support, and interaction. The primary purpose of METS is to make available for scholarly use critical editions of the textual tradition of medieval Britain. The focus of this project is upon vernacular texts from the 13th to the early-16th centuries that move beyond the 'canonical' authors, expanding our understanding of and access to the multilingual and multicultural culture of a vibrant and global British Isles. With its digital and print editions, the Series has a global reach and influence, with users from the UK, France, Italy, and Germany to China, Korea, India, and Australia.