Dictionary of Old English: 2000 Progress Report
The year 2000 got off to a splendid start at the Dictionary with the publication, in January, of the first CD-ROM of our Corpus. We see the CD-ROM Corpus as complementary to our Web Corpus. It provides a full-text database but has no supporting software so users are free to run their own programs on the data. On the other hand, the Web Corpus comes with a powerful search engine but the output is limited to a three-sentence context. We consider the production of the CD-ROM Corpus to be a trial run for the major undertaking of publishing fascicles A through F on CD-ROM this coming year. In preparation for this, we have continued the systematic revision and updating of our previously-published fascicles and have now completed Æ, B, C and E, with only A and D remaining. A corrected and updated version of the Web Corpus was issued in April. We are delighted that to date almost 70 institutions have purchased annual subscriptions to this research tool. As always, the major focus of our work is the writing and revision of new entries, and we have made significant strides in the writing of entries in F, G and H, including the large and complex preposition/adverb fore and its many related compounds.
Technological Advances
We feel that this year we have made extraordinary progress in the technological aspects of the Dictionary. Our systems analyst, Peter Mielke, has completed first stage tagging of fascicles A through E and of as much of F as has been input. As well, he has devised new in-house tools to aid in entry-writing and revision: an entry-tracking system; a variant text comparison tool which groups readings in the gospels, psalter glosses and canticles for easy comparison; and a variant spelling/phrase search which allows for wild card or regular expression searches. This year we have also purchased much-needed hardware, though we still plan, as funds allow, to replace our aging Sun SPARCstations. We were delighted, in November, that our Director of Computing, Professor Richard Venezky of the University of Delaware, was able to pay a brief visit to the project to see first-hand the technological advances at the Dictionary.
Grants and Gifts
We continue to search for funds to ensure the completion of the Dictionary. We are happy to report that in the course of the year we have been awarded one-year grants by the British Academy, London; the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, New York; and the McLean Foundation, Toronto; a two-year grant (2000-2002) by the National Endowment for the Humanities; and a five-year Challenge grant (2000-2005) by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, New York. We are indeed grateful to these funding bodies, for without them there would be no Dictionary of Old English.
Dissemination and Outreach
We are always keen to show our work to as wide an audience as possible. In April, the project participated in the Humanities and Social Sciences Book Fair at the University of Toronto, where we were able to demonstrate the CD-ROM Corpus. We are delighted that from October 9, 2000 until February 5, 2001, the Dictionary is being featured in the 2000 Community Exhibit Program at the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. This exhibit, organized by the University of Toronto's Public Affairs Department, highlights Ontario's spirit of innovation in the twentieth century, and it is expected that approximately 250,000 politicians, tourists, school children and taxpayers from across Canada will have viewed it by the time it closes.
This year, as always, we have been pleased to welcome scholars and students from around the world who used our materials for their research. Among those who were here for an extended period were Mr. Glenn Davis of the University of Texas, Austin; Mr. Stefan Dollinger of the University of Vienna; Professor Dorothy Haines of Shorter College, Rome, Georgia; and Professor Low Soon-Ai of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
Our staff continues to represent the project at conferences. In May, Antonette diPaolo Healey attended the Advisory Board meeting at the Richard Rawlinson Center for Anglo-Saxon Studies and Manuscript Research at Western Michigan University and participated in the 35th International Congress on Medieval Studies, where she demonstrated the Web Corpus, as well as attending the festivities in honor of Prof. Rosemary Cramp. Also in May, Pauline Thompson gave a paper to the Canadian Society of Medievalists at the Congress of Social Sciences and Humanities in Edmonton, Alberta. In December, Antonette diPaolo Healey attended the meeting of the MLA in Washington, where she gave a report on the project to the Old English Executive Committee.
International Advisory Committee
We would like to welcome a new member to our International Advisory Committee, Professor Andy Orchard of the University of Toronto.
Staff
EDITOR: Antonette diPaolo Healey
REVISING EDITOR: Joan Holland
DRAFTING EDITORS: David McDougall
Ian McDougall
Pauline Thompson
EDITORIAL STAFF: Catherine Georgi
Peter Mielke (Systems Analyst)
Elaine Quanz
INTERNATIONAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE:
Roberta Frank: Yale University
Helmut Gneuss: University of Munich
Simon Keynes: University of Cambridge
Andy Orchard: University of Toronto
Fred C. Robinson: Yale University
E.G. Stanley: Pembroke College, Oxford
DIRECTOR OF COMPUTING:
Richard L. Venezky: University of Delaware
RESEARCH ASSISTANTS:
Aidan Conti
Sarah Downey
Damian Fleming
Jonathan Grove
Holly Jagger
Brent Miles
Connell Monette
Mark Sundaram
STUDENT ASSISTANTS: Sandra Alvarez
Julia Blake
Eisar Al Sukhni (Mentorship student)
Neeraj Mathur (Mentorship student)
EDITOR, Toronto Old English Series: Roberta Frank
EDITOR, Publications of the Dictionary of Old English: Roberta Frank
Funding
- The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (formerly the Canada Council): Grants in Aid of Research, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975; Major Editorial Grants, 1976-81, 1981-86, 1986-91, 1991-96; Grant from the Federal Matching Funds Policy, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991; Special Presidential Grant, 1993; Consortium Support Programme 1996-98, 1998-2000
- British Academy
- Connaught Fund, University of Toronto, 1986-1991
- Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, 1998-99,1999-2000, 2000-2001
- Early English Text Society
- Marc Fitch Fund
- Foundation for Educational and Social Development, Boston
- Jackman Foundation
- Macdonald-Stewart Foundation
- McLean Foundation, 1992, 1995, 1998, 2000
- Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, 1985-90, 1994-99, 2000-
- National Endowment for the Humanities, Research Tools Program, 1991-93, 1993-95, 1995-98, 1998-2000, 2000-
- Presidents' Committee, University of Toronto
- Salamander Foundation, 1998-2001
- University of Toronto
- Xerox Corporation University Grants Committee
FREINDS OF THE DICTIONARY OF OLD ENGLISH FUNDRAISING CAMPAIGN
We wish to acknowledge the very generous contributions the project has received during the past year. Donors who supported our research in memory or in honor of individuals are also noted separately at the end of the list. All of us on the project are grateful to each one of you. We would like to mention especially the generous donation of $864 from the International Society of Anglo Saxonists. The strong support of the most important scholarly organization in our field has been invaluable to us. In addition, we received a magnificent gift of 200 shares of Nortel stock from a private benefactor in response to the Mellon Challenge. The securities sold on the Toronto Stock Exchange in July for $21,240 ($14,284 US). This first gift stock to the project was donated anonymously in memory of Ashley Crandell Amos and Angus Cameron. We are also very grateful to all those scholars who have kindly donated books to the DOE library. Such contributions of publications, both new and old, enable us to maintain our research collection. We hope to have included all who have so generously supported our work, but must apologize to any of our donors inadvertently left off this list of acknowledgements.
Up to $499
Estate of Sharon Butler
Thomas Cable
James Carley
George Clark
Glenn M. Davis
Jacek Fisiak
Rivi Frankle
Catherine Georgi
Joseph Harris
Ann M. Hutchison
Low Soon-Ai
Mary McDougall Maude
Hubert Morgan
Robert Ochs, Jr.
William and Lucille Owen
David Parsons
Winifred Irene Potter
Charles Roger Smith
Paul Remley
Gaby Waxenberger
$500 and above
St. Clair Balfour
Wendy Cameron
Wendy Cecil-Cockwell
Paul Gooch
Antonette diPaolo Healey
E.D. and M.P. Hirsch
M. Jean Houston
Sarah Larratt Keefer
A.B. Kingsmill
Philip Oliver Maude
Gordon Pratt
George and Jennifer Rigg
Pauline Thompson
Anonymous (2)
IN MEMORY OF ASHLEY CRANDELL AMOS
Anonymous
Gaby Waxenberger
IN MEMORY OF ANGUS CAMERON
Anonymous
M. Jean Houston
Mary McDougall Maude
Philip Oliver Maude
Hubert Morgan
IN MEMORY OF COLIN CHASE
George and Jennifer Rigg
IN MEMORY OF ROWLAND L. COLLINS
J.P. Carley
A.M. Hutchison
IN MEMORY OF RUPERT D. HOPE
George and Jennifer Rigg
IN MEMORY OF ALICE AND GRANGE KINGSMILL
Allison and Bill Kingsmill
IN MEMORY OF HANS KURATH
Jacek Fisiak
IN MEMORY OF JOHN C. POPE
E.D. and M.P. Hirsch
IN MEMORY OF L.K. SHOOK
Sarah Larratt Keefer
IN MEMORY OF RENA TASCA WEBSTER
A. diPaolo Healey
IN MEMORY OF B.J. WHITING
Joseph Harris
