I can surely speak on behalf of every historian on this list: Thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you. I have been eagerly awaiting publication of this material for more years now than I care to think--it will be a huge improvement on the early transcripts I have been using. Your hard and careful work is truly, deeply, and much appreciated. All warm regards, Kevin ---- Original message ---- >Date: Tue, 3 Jun 2008 09:48:18 -0400 >From: "Edmund Berkeley, Jr." <[log in to unmask]> >Subject: Robert "king" Carter project finished >To: [log in to unmask] > >I am pleased to report that my electronic edition, "The Diary, >Correspondence, and Papers of Robert 'King' Carter of Virginia, 1701-1732," >(http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/users/berkeley/) is essentially finished. I >have some cleanup and checking to do but that work probably won't be visible >to users of the site. > >Scholar's Lab at the University of Virginia Library (successor to the >Electronic Text Center) hosts the site, and has a pretty good search >capability in place after some teething problems when new software was >installed around the first of this year. A search pulls up the section of >text in which the searched word appears. One can also pull up the >bibliographic header. Unfortunately the "Full Text" link does not work, but >one can find that by going to the "Read and Search The Transcribed Texts" >screen where all the documents in the database are listed chronologically. > >It has been said of Carter (in his obituaries and in many places since his >death) that he owned 1,000 slaves when he died on August 4, 1732. My >spreadsheet total of his slaves as enumerated in the extensive inventory of >his estate shows 745 slaves held on nearly sixty quarters in eight Virginia >counties. I have created an alphabetical list (available on the website) of >those slaves that shows their family members, farm or quarter where held, >county, and work skill if given. > >I commend the sections of Carter's inventory that list the goods in his >Brick House Store to those interested in everyday life in the colony. I was >startled, for instance, at the variety of fabrics held by the store, and had >to mine many sources to identify some of them. My particular thanks go to >Liinda Baumgarten, curator of textiles and costumes at Colonial >Williamsburg, for her generous and patient assistance with my many inquiries. > >I also commend the inventory's lists of the many books--some 300--that >Carter owned, predominantly legal and theological, but including some >history and other topics.. Whenever possible, I have included in footnotes >the full title of each book to expand the brief entry in the inventory. It >has not always been easy to determine some titles even with online access to >the English Short Title Catalogue and the many national library catalogues. > >If you should find an error in the material on the site, please let me know >about it. Making changes and corrections is now very easy for me to do with >the new software. > >Ned Berkeley > >______________________________________ >To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at >http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html Kevin R. Hardwick, Ph.D. Department of History James Madison University ______________________________________ To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html