May Project Report

1. Collections
Earlier this month items were selected from the Rosenberg Collection at the Imperial War Museum for inclusion in the project. Included are all of Rosenberg's "War" poems and poetry drafts, drafts of the play "The Unicorn", a selection of letters and other miscellaneous items (photographs and sketches). Many thanks to Vivien Noaks for giving her time and advice in making the selection.

Recently we visited the Edward Thomas Collection at Cardiff University Library and selected a number of poetry manuscripts, letters, and photographs, for the archive. The majority of items have now been selected for Thomas, with the exception of the National Library of Wales which we will visit shortly. Images of the Thomas Manuscript ADD 44990 were received from the British Library and are in the process of being catalogued.

We have been offered a rich selection of items by the Vera Brittain Estate for inclusion in the archive. Many thanks to Mark Bostridge for his support, and also to Andrea Peterson for her input and advice tracking down other women poets to include in the project.

The curators of a number of collections (Thomas, Graves, Blunden) held by various Oxford University libraries have been contacted and we will be visiting these collections to identify any other appropriate items.

3. Metadata and Cataloging
Cataloging continues for the images received.

4. Project Management
The Project Plan was submitted to the JISC, along with a detailed budget and break down of work tasks. The project plan in available from the website.

Kate and Stuart will be attending the JISC Digitisation Programme Meeting on 13th and 14th June in Colchester.

5. Technical Development
System architecture has been spec-ed and is currently under peer review by inhouse system developers.

5. Copyright and Permissions
Copyright letters are being finalised.

6. Events
Preliminary work has gone into the workshop being jointly run with the English Subject Centre in November and potential speakers contacted. Thank you to Guy Cuthbertson and Andrea Peterson for agreeing to participate at the event.