Mapping the Scottish Reformation. University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland. Michelle D. Brock and Chris R. Langley, Project Co-Directors; Hristo Meshinski, Stewart Cromar, and Ewan McAndrew, Pilot User Interface Team. https://maps.mappingthescottishreformation.org/. Created 2017; Accessed November 6, 2024.
I’ve chosen to review the digital project Mapping the Scottish Reformation, which launched in 2017, and is “Built with data from manuscripts held at National Records of Scotland”.[1] The co-directors that started the project are Michelle D. Brock of Washington and Lee University in Virginia and Chris R. Langley of Newman University per the site, though Dr. Langley has worked at the Open University since 2022.[2] There didn’t seem to be an institutional affiliation initially, however the Accessibility page states “This website is run by the University of Edinburgh,” so at some point they may have moved hosting responsibilities, if not full responsibility, to them.[3]
I will be writing for The Public Historian, which would categorize this site as a Digital Exhibit, though I think their content categories should be more expansive or descriptive, as I had to cross-reference their options with the ones used for the Journal of American History to determine the best fit. Regardless, this site is geared towards researchers and is used to track the movement of clergy in the Scottish Reformation during the years of 1560 to 1689, though it could be useful to a wide range of people.[4] This mapping project is not only of interest to me in general, but my overarching thesis research deals with Scotland during this time period, specifically Mary Stuart, who was part of the Scottish Reformation since she was the head of state during the initial transformation of Scotland as a Catholic to Protestant nation.
[1] Michelle D. Brock and Chris R. Langley, “About Mapping the Scottish Reformation,” About, Mapping the Scottish Reformation, accessed November 6, 2024, https://maps.mappingthescottishreformation.org/about/
[2] Brock and Langley, “About Mapping the Scottish Reformation”; “Dr Chris Langley,” OU people profiles, The Open University, accessed November 6, 2024, https://www.open.ac.uk/people/crl243.
[3] “Web Accessibility,” About, Mapping the Scottish Reformation, accessed November 6, 2024, https://maps.mappingthescottishreformation.org/web-accessibility/.
[4] Brock and Langley, “About Mapping the Scottish Reformation.”