Folger Shakespeare Library admin by Trustees of Amherst College (Folger Shakespeare Library)

The Folger Library will create a free, searchable database of the transcriptions of 10,700 unbound and 1,050 bound early modern (1500-1700) English manuscripts, encompassing a spectrum of genres, formats, and subject matter. The project addresses the need to provide a complete cross-section of English society in this period. The Folger Early Modern Manuscripts Online (EMMO) interface will provide tools for others to continue this work in a sustainable way. This will support a virtual community of transcribers and eventually those—including amateur scholars and students in post-secondary classrooms—who wish to acquire paleographical skills and to research Folger manuscripts of all time periods and languages. The resource will be shared with other institutions or projects devoted to accurate transcriptions of texts, particularly those written in early modern scripts.