¶ 1
Leave a comment on paragraph 1 0
For my final project, I have attempted to write a grant proposal, for a NEH Scholarly Editions and Translations grant, for the Jacob Leisler Papers Project. Briefly:
“If approved, funding for the Jacob Leisler Papers Project, would allow for the digital publication, in the form of a website, of the collected translated and transcribed documents relating to the life of Jacob Leisler, merchant and politician of colonial New York. Previously inaccessible, because of their dispersal throughout numerous archives, and the obstacle of multi non-English languages in the documents, these important records would benefit scholars and researchers in a diverse set of fields, including studies of the Atlantic world, commerce, piracy, religious conflict, colonial governments, European history, and the emergence of the United States. No comprehensive publication of records relating to Leisler has been produced, this project aims to correct that oversight.”
¶ 2 Leave a comment on paragraph 2 0 The translations/transcriptions that would make up the bulk of the website content were created over a period of decades by Dr. David W. Voorhees, Director of the Jacob Leisler Institute for the Study of Early New York History, a research institute that grew out of the Papers Project. http://jacobleislerinstitute.org/
¶ 3 Leave a comment on paragraph 3 0 I envision a simple but useful interface, that would allow researchers to search the transcribed materials. A mock-up of a page from the site is below, though if the project were to actually go forward it would need help from actual designers and developers.
¶ 4 Leave a comment on paragraph 4 0
¶ 5 Leave a comment on paragraph 5 0 The process of writing the grant proposal was more difficult than I had expected, and in some areas (like the budget) I felt like I was in new waters. But overall, I think it is a good start, and hope that it may be useful in the future.