Dr. Heather Wolfe, Folger Curator of Manuscripts, will be directing a four-week intensive summer institute on the English secretary hand in June on behalf of the Folger Institute.
Supported by a major grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, this four-week course will provide an intensive introduction to reading and transcribing secretary and italic handwriting in the Tudor-Stuart period. Fifteen participants will also experiment with contemporary writing materials, learn the terminology and conventions for describing and editing early modern manuscripts, and, as time allows, discuss the important and evolving role of handwritten documents within a wider context of print, manuscript, and oral cultures. The summer institute emphasizes the skills needed for the accurate reading and transcription of texts, but attention may also be given to the instruments of research, codicology, analytical bibliography, and textual editing. Examples will be drawn from the manuscript collections of the Folger Shakespeare Library, and transcriptions will become part of the Early Modern Manuscripts Online (EMMO) corpus.
The Mellon Foundation pays them to learn how to read and transcribe the sometimes challenging secretary hand. The particulars, including eligibility, are described here:
https://folgerpedia.folger.edu/English_Paleography_(Mellon_Summer_Institute)
Contact [email protected] with any questions. Those working in Italian, Spanish, and French should look to https://www.newberry.org/mellon-summer-institutes-vernacular-paleography
