Hello dictionary lovers - or people required to read this post! I’m Shantelle, a master’s student in the History program here at UCF. This semester I am embarking on an internship with the Samuel Johnson Dictionary Project (SJDP). The project’s aim is to digitize and make freely available both the 1755 and 1773 editions of the Samuel Johnson Dictionary (surprise). I’ve been volunteering on the project since 2022, when I first transferred to UCF for my bachelor’s degree, starting with proofreading the transcriptions and checking links, and most recently doing research for what we call “no match” quotes. This has been incredibly fun, looking up what seems like a quote with no home (or author) and finding where it belongs, making information available that may have been missing for over 200 years.
As an intern, though, I will be mixing it up again! I will be splitting my time between those missing no matches and a new task: researching quotes from The Spectator to determine the original author and/or the issue that the quote comes from – hopefully both. One of my greatest loves is research, so these two tasks are both very exciting to me, though to others they may seem tedious. I truly enjoy the search and chase, the seeming impossibility of an answer which falls right into place after a bit of work.
Joining SJDP was initially something I did just because it sounded like fun. I’m very detail oriented, love old books, and wanted to get more involved at the university so volunteering seemed like a no-brainer. However, the longer I was involved the more I realized the importance of projects like this. Archival work in general is important, but even more so is the idea of democratizing and widely disseminating the ability to access that archival material. Making things like this dictionary available digitally ensures that far more people will have access, rather than only having a physical copy in an archive or library. It also ensures the long-term survival of that primary source, rather than exposing it to human touch repeatedly. Travel is expensive and having only one or a few copies available in random archives inherently reduces the amount of people who can access the source. Additionally, and equally as important as physical (or digital) accessibility, since SJDP is available for free, there isn’t a paywall blocking access. Knowledge should be freely and widely available, and though this is ‘just’ a dictionary, it’s a great addition to the digital work being done in the field!
This week has mostly been training (like finding the actual issues of The Spectator), refreshing myself on the regular tasks, and introductions in the webcourse since we don’t meet in person. I’m very excited to get started fully – not only on the no matches, but also on this new form of research I’ll be doing! It might sound like a silly cliché, but I am always excited to find opportunities to expand my research capabilities and skill set. Now, if only the French language was as easily accomplished!