Rare Book School 1995
Course 16: Introduction to Electronic Texts
David Seaman
Electronic
Text Center, University of Virginia
July 10-15, 1995
African American resources from UVa.
This week-long course provides a
wide-ranging and practical exploration of electronic
texts and related technologies.
The course is aimed primarily (although not exclusively) at librarians
planning to develop an etext operation, and at
scholars keen to develop, use, and publish electronic texts as part of
their own textual, research, and pedagogical work.
Drawing on the experience and resources available at UVa's Electronic
Text Center, the course will cover the
following areas: how to find existing etexts; how to use a scanner to
create etexts, including digital image facsimiles;
the necessity of
Standard
Generalized Markup Language (SGML) for etext
development and use; text analysis
software; the management and use of on-line text databases; and the
creation of World Wide Web hypertexts.
As a focus for our study of etexts, the class will create an
electronic version of a print or manuscript text, mark its
structure with SGML tagging, create digital images of sample pages and
illustrations, produce a hypertext version, and
make it all available on the Internet.
Applicants need to have basic Internet literacy (including e- mail).
Some experience with the World Wide Web will be
an asset. In their personal statement, applicants should assess the
extent of their present knowledge of the electronic
environment, and outline a project of their own to which they hope to
apply the skills learned in this course.
The following documents are from the University of
Virginia Library Special Collections. They were transcribed and marked up
according to the TEI Guidelines by the attendees of
Introduction to Electronic Texts (Rare Book School 1995).
Usage governed by our
Conditions of Use.
- 1794.
Antislavery circular. (Acc. 6490)
A printed letter by Anthony New (1747-1833;
Congressman from Virginia, 1793-1805) commenting on recent public
issues including the slave trade. The letter is a circular
intended for public distribution to New's constituents.
Prepared by William Wortman.
- 1795.
Anonymous. The Sorrows of Yambu; or
The Negro Woman's Lamentation (AJZ3660)
A broadside of a song describing the trials of a woman captured and sold into slavery
and her subsequent conversion to Christianity.
Prepared by Terese Heidenwolf.
- 1796.
Southern Planter to Citizens of the Southern States
Accuses Thomas Jefferson of Being a Threat to Slavery.
(Acc. McGregor 1796.T6 293597)
A printed broadside directed at slave holders of the South warning
them of the possible dire results of electing Thomas Jefferson to the
Presidency of the United States. Citing and quoting from
Jefferson's Notes on Virginia, the author, A Southern
Planter, points outs Jefferson's views on the deleterious effects
of slavery on both master and slave.
The author sees the abolition of slavery
as resulting in the destruction of the Southern States.
Prepared by Katherine Donahue.
- 1816.
Slavery -- Africans Halt Slave Ship. (Acc. 8557-a)
Diary of Stirling Murray, a fragment from 1816 dealing with the slave
trade in Havana. Incoudes a description of the seizure by an African chief
of a slave ship's cargo in order to rescue his warriors.
Prepared by Jan Horner.
- 1816.
Sale of Slaves. (Acc. 10737)
A receipt for purchase for a slave named Nancy,
sold to Jared Williams, Junior by Nancy E. Williams on June 27, 1816.
Prepared by Terri Boekhoff.
- 1837. Sale of Slaves. (Acc. 10775)
Autograph letter, initialed, by [Mrs.] A. M. S[mythe] to her cousin,
2 leaves, written from the Court House at Wyeth, Virginia. This
letter concerns the sale of a family of slaves . Mrs. Smythe's
family is being forced, by depressed circumstances, to move the
"North Western Territory" (Manitoba, Canada). She is concerned
that her "all", a family of slaves (Sally, with 3 children) are
purchased by someone in her immediate family. She describes the
slaves, to whom she feels "attached",as "faithful" and "saleable"
and lists them individually with comments on their health and
working skills.
Prepared by Chris Petter.
- 1839.
Runaway Slave: Leesburg, Va. (Broadside 1839).
A broadside issued by William K. Ish and Joseph L. Hawling, of
Leesburg, Virginia, dated June 10, 1839, offering $300 for
the recovery of three escaped slaves (Bob, Charles, and Alfred), the
former two individuals owned by Ish; the latter by Hawling.
Prepared by
John Davenport.
- 1840.
Runaway Slave: Culpeper County, Va. (Broadside 1840.R5344)
"$100 Reward" is a broadside issued by William T. J. Richards (of
Richards' Ferry, Culpeper county, Virginia), administrator of the James
Richards estate, dated September 24, [18--?], for the recovery of an
escaped slave named Abram.
Prepared by John Davenport.
- 1841. Slaves. Buckingham County. (Acc. 7786-M)
A writing book in which R. J. Hubard keeps a "Register
of the Negroes owned by me".
Prepared by Dominique Coulombe.
- 1841.
Slavery. (Acc. 38-137)
A pre-Civil War document, a personal letter from Mrs. M. L. Brooke to
her husband in 1841. Mrs. Brooke discusses household matters,
including the buying and selling of slaves, and local happenings.
Prepared by Donna Bussell.
- 1855.
Public Hiring of Free Negroes, Fredericksburg, Va.
(Broadside 1855.P9)
A broadside issued by W. A. Mann and John A. M. Lusk,
dated February 5, 1855, offering for auction the labor of seven free Negroes
to work off their taxes owed for various tax years in the period 1852-1854.
Prepared by John Davenport.
- 1855.
Slavery -- Sales & Breeding (Acc. 49)
On April 18, 1855, G. B. Wallace of Strawberry Hill wrote to Andrew
reporting an "unruly slave." Wallace also described the slaves he
would like to purchase in replacement.
Prepared by Lisa Johnston.
- 1856.
Cabell, William D., letter to Joseph Cabell, Norwood,
Virginia, 18 Aug.
Cabell wrote his brother that a Henry Felix had been presented at
court for selling spirits without a licence: a valuable slave had died from
drinking "poisonous" brandy, and "many negro[e]s have been killed by it in this
county." He also commented on family finances, crop yields, and
improvements to his home at Norwood.
Prepared by Mary Lacy
- 1858.
Freedman -- Letter from Mildred Carr in Liberia to James Miner
Letter from Mildred Carr, a freed slave, in Liberia to her former
owner, James Miner, requesting clothing,
commenting on life in Liberia, and giving news of deaths and activities
in her family.
Prepared by Phil McCray.
- 1858-59. Descriptions of Slaves. (Acc. 530)
Excerpt from manuscript account book kept by the Watson family with
dates, sums, and descriptions of payments made to their slaves from
1858-1860. Includes two slaves: Jim, a gardener and handyman, and
Eliza, a house slave serving as nurse to the family's children.
Prepared by Russell Johnson.
- 1864. Black Soldiers -- Petition for Equal Pay (# 6968-b, Barrett)
Thomas Wentworth Higginson prepared this manuscript perhaps as a
memorandum for himself. It gives the text of his petition to Congress,
sent as a telegram, requesting elimination of disparities in pay between
African American soldiers who were free before 1861 and those who gained their
freedom at a later date.
Prepared by John Kneebone.
Connect to the Modern
English section of the Electronic Text Center's online library, where
these texts can be found in a larger context.
- Terri Boekhoff, Rudi Publishing
- Donna Bussell, San Francisco State University
- Dominique Coulombe, Brown University
- John Davenport, University of St. Thomas
- Katharine Donahue, UCLA
- Terese Heidenwolf, Lafayette College
- Jan Horner, University of Manitoba
- Russell Johnson, UCLA
- Lisa Johnston, Sweet Briar College
- John Kneebone, Library of Virginia
- Mary Lacy, Library of Congress
- Phil McCray, Cornell University
- Chris Petter, University of Victoria
- William Wortman, Miami University
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