- Department: History
- Module co-ordinator: Dr. Amanda Jones
- Credit value: 10 credits
- Credit level: M
- Academic year of delivery: 2021-22
- See module specification for other years: 2022-23
Reading, understanding and interpreting the records of the past is a core skill for anyone working in History. This module provides the technical foundation for developing fluent reading of handwritten records at all periods, and the knowledge and practice required to work with Early Modern handwriting. We will learn letter shapes, combination patterns, abbreviations and numbers, using original records in the Borthwick Institute. We will learn the basics of representing texts through editing in order to understand our own practice and the ways in which editors of texts choose to present written materials in printed form. We will use court records, probate records, title deeds, petitions and accounts, concentrating our attention on the period 1500-1720. Class sessions are collaborative and iterative; we will learn from each other in relaxed sessions, with access to the original records in the study space. Our records will be in English, and each session will use an original record and an edited version of at least part of the record.
Occurrence | Teaching period |
---|---|
A | Spring Term 2021-22 |
The module aims to:
After successfully completing this course students should:
Teaching Programme:
Students will attend a 2-hour seminar in weeks 2-9 of the spring term at the Borthwick Institute for Archives.
The provisional programme is as follows:
Week 1: Briefing: Learning to read and handle archival records (1450s)
Week 2: Learning to read (1500)
Week 3: Learning to read, introduction to editing (1530s)
Week 4: Learning to read, editing practice, introduction to numbers and accounts (1540s)
Week 5: Learning to read: secretary hand (1590s)
Week 6: Learning to read carefully, and editing in practice (1590s)
Week 7: Reading with understanding (1620s)
Week 8: Reading with understanding, editing (1690s)
Week 9: Reading with fluency and accuracy, for meaning (1720s)
Task | Length | % of module mark |
---|---|---|
University - project Project Portfolio |
N/A | 100 |
None
Students will submit a project portfolio in week 10 of the spring term for summative assessment, which will test transcription skills, editing and understanding. It will be based on records at the Borthwick. Students will produce an accurate, edited transcription of a passage taken from a Borthwick record, and a commentary (word limit 1000 words) of the record. 50% of the mark will be based on the accuracy and editing of the transcription and 50% on the commentary.
Task | Length | % of module mark |
---|---|---|
University - project Project Portfolio |
N/A | 100 |
For their summative assessment task, students will receive written feedback within four working weeks of the submission deadline, after which the convenor will be available during student hours for follow-up guidance if necessary. For more information, see the Statement of Assessment for Taught Postgraduate Programmes.
For term time reading, please refer to the module VLE site. Before the course starts, we encourage you to look at the following items of preliminary reading:
Hoskin, PM and SL Slinn & CC Webb. Reading the Past: Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century English Handwriting. York: University of York, Borthwick Publications 2001.
- Includes full colour facsimiles, transcripts and reading notes.
Hunnisett, R.F. Editing Records for Publication. London: British Records Association: Archives and the User no 4, 1977.
- The premier text for editing archival records.
Harvey, PDA. Editing Historical Records. London: British Library, 2001.
- Builds on Hunnisett, drawing on Harvey’s extensive experience as an editor.
Hunter, Michael. Editing Early Modern Texts. An introduction to Principles and Practice. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.
- Focuses on literary manuscripts rather than records, and introduces different techniques and presentations.