In the last Journal of the Civil War Era Muster post, Lindsey R. Peterson highlights how digital scholarly collections can help historians recover lost histories from the Civil War era.
Archives and special collections have long connected users with the raw materials of our history. Researchers visiting our reading rooms encounter the past one page, photograph, and reel at a time. With collections so important to our cultural heritage, history, and future, we’ve been asking: How can university libraries expand access to these materials, help users understand them, and prepare the next generation of scholars and professionals?
When the University of South Dakota Libraries hired me, part of that vision was to deepen the library’s commitment to archival access while also creating meaningful, hands-on professional development opportunities for humanities students. One powerful way archives and libraries are doing both is through digital scholarly editing.
But what exactly are scholarly editions, and how do they differ from collections in digital libraries?
