George Eliot Archive

Sara Tong Author

04/02/2021 Added

4 Plays

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A rundown of the accomplishments of the George Eliot Archive, and what I've done for this project.

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[00:00:02.120]Hi, everyone.
[00:00:03.300]In the spring of 2021, I was granted an opportunity to work
[00:00:07.160]on the George Eliot Archive edited by Dr. Beverly Rilett.
[00:00:12.700]So what is the George Eliot Archive?
[00:00:15.840]The archive consists of a myriad of media
[00:00:18.290]that involve George Eliot and her works.
[00:00:21.180]From newspaper articles
[00:00:22.470]to letters from close friends and family,
[00:00:25.210]this archive intends to preserve
[00:00:27.050]all of the various encounters of Eliot's life,
[00:00:30.090]diving deep into her personal life
[00:00:31.900]while also documenting the various events of her life.
[00:00:36.130]This archive was made possible through Dr. Rilett
[00:00:39.480]along with many undergraduate and graduate students
[00:00:41.960]throughout the years.
[00:00:43.560]With years of hard work and motivation,
[00:00:46.030]the archive serves as an insight for any of Eliot's readers.
[00:00:53.230]My task for this archive for the spring of 2021
[00:00:58.120]was to upload images of letters from previous authors
[00:01:01.770]from the New York Public Library onto our metadata.
[00:01:05.350]While this section hasn't been published yet on our website,
[00:01:08.520]we have been working hard behind the scenes
[00:01:10.330]to ensure that all the images are comprehensive
[00:01:13.200]for any of our future readers.
[00:01:16.810]The four programs
[00:01:18.170]that the George Eliot Archive team used the most
[00:01:22.580]was Photoshop, Adobe Acrobat Pro,
[00:01:25.290]Microsoft Excel, and Omeka.
[00:01:28.270]For Photoshop, we optimize images
[00:01:31.270]that we have uploaded or scanned from our sources,
[00:01:35.420]cleaning up the images to the best of our abilities
[00:01:37.960]so that we provide the highest of qualities
[00:01:40.500]onto our website
[00:01:41.870]so that readers will be able to view them
[00:01:44.700]as clear as possible
[00:01:47.170]while also doing our best to our abilities
[00:01:50.440]regarding the ancient wear and tear of the sources.
[00:01:54.830]We also use Adobe Acrobat Pro
[00:01:57.370]where we compile and crop all our images into PDFs
[00:02:01.600]so that any user that comes across our website
[00:02:06.860]will have an easy time to access any of the files
[00:02:09.960]that they need to get to.
[00:02:13.217]Microsoft Excel, this is where we enter and update
[00:02:17.280]Excel sheet items with items in our folders,
[00:02:20.930]and we organize them so that it will be easy
[00:02:23.710]for any future researcher to access any file
[00:02:27.370]and search them up really easily
[00:02:29.700]while also documenting whatever items we already have
[00:02:34.220]in our archive.
[00:02:36.080]On Omeka, we upload all our completed works onto Omeka,
[00:02:40.350]and then we ensure
[00:02:41.190]that everything looks right for publication.
[00:02:44.180]Omeka is our metadata
[00:02:45.460]where we upload all of our projects onto,
[00:02:50.490]where we have transcriptions, images of whatever we have,
[00:02:54.920]and it's stored in this metadata
[00:02:57.100]where it is organized by tags
[00:02:59.810]so that our users will be able to access
[00:03:02.750]any of the resources they need with ease.
[00:03:09.150]My second task
[00:03:11.220]was to transcribe any letters
[00:03:13.120]that were in the New York Public Library
[00:03:16.120]that have never been transcribed before.
[00:03:18.770]Prominent figures in this section were authors
[00:03:21.240]such as Harriet Beecher Stowe and Caroline Henell Bray.
[00:03:25.700]Through these letters, we were able to get a glimpse
[00:03:28.300]of the relationships between the women,
[00:03:30.640]how their friendship persevere
[00:03:32.780]despite the long distances between them,
[00:03:35.890]as George Eliot was from England
[00:03:37.910]and then such as,
[00:03:39.890]women such as Harriet Beecher Stowe lived in America.
[00:03:43.840]But despite of the big differences between them in distance,
[00:03:48.270]they still managed to maintain a close relationship
[00:03:50.890]and wrote to each other often.
[00:03:54.209]Through these letters,
[00:03:55.380]we also see how Eliot had affected their lives positively.
[00:03:59.380]We learned a side that isn't available through her works,
[00:04:02.120]allowing a more personal insight into Eliot's life.
[00:04:07.250]The George Eliot team motivates each other
[00:04:09.870]through various ways.
[00:04:11.690]Each week, we meet up
[00:04:12.820]to discuss new features we uploaded or discovered,
[00:04:16.110]motivating and inspiring each other.
[00:04:18.480]As a team, we also help each other in various ways,
[00:04:21.660]spending hours looking over a letter
[00:04:23.890]to get to transcribe it,
[00:04:25.730]filling out blanks and deciphering words from each paper.
[00:04:30.360]As you can see on the screen,
[00:04:31.660]on the left was some of my work
[00:04:34.710]that I've done from transcribing a letter
[00:04:37.140]before I met up with one of my fellow teammates.
[00:04:40.330]And then on the right
[00:04:41.500]is one of the almost-finished products.
[00:04:44.040]As you can see, it's a lot more polished,
[00:04:46.940]the words flow a lot better,
[00:04:48.060]and then it's almost ready to be uploaded to our metadata
[00:04:51.360]and ready to be published.
[00:04:56.487]"What do we live for,
[00:04:57.680]if it is not to make life less difficult for each other?"
[00:05:01.450]George Eliot.
[00:05:02.800]I chose this quote
[00:05:03.740]because this is exactly what this archive does.
[00:05:07.470]We scour through the internet and libraries
[00:05:12.290]for any of, anything that mentions George Eliot
[00:05:15.860]for the conveniency and to preserve her life and work.
[00:05:22.520]This project has been an amazing opportunity
[00:05:24.670]that I have been granted.
[00:05:26.340]Being a part of the team that works together to preserve
[00:05:28.930]the works of such an amazing writer, such as George Eliot,
[00:05:32.670]has been astounding and incredibly rewarding.
[00:05:35.840]I've learned a lot these weeks,
[00:05:37.970]having a newfound appreciation
[00:05:39.690]to those who work tirelessly
[00:05:41.940]behind the scenes of archives for all future readers.
[00:05:46.390]Thank you.

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George Eliot Archive

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