The Digital Temple has enjoyed the generous support of the
following persons and institutions.
Ian Lancashire, a pioneer of the digital humanities at the University of Toronto,
has from the beginning provided inspiration, guidance, and encouragement. His
presence is felt in all aspects of this resource. Also at Toronto, Randy
McCleod's studious suspicion of Herbert editors, past and present, informed the
project's initial conception and has remained a vital influence on its editorial
philosophy.
The Digital Humanities Summer Institute, under the direction of Ray Siemens,
provided instruction in text encoding and digital editing—and,
crucially, contact with a network of experts who remained committed to
supporting the project throughout its development. Thanks are due especially to
Susan Schriebman, who introduced Robert Whalen to the Versioning Machine and,
with Amit Kumar and Sean Daugherty, accommodated his suggestions for
enhancements; to Julia Flanders, Dot Porter, and Syd Bauman for expert
instruction in digitizing methods and techniques; and again to Syd Bauman for
his generous contribution to the development of several knotty text
transformations.
James Cummings and the Oxford Text Archive provided enhancements to the
Versioning Machine and the discrete-witness display.
David Sewell and Shannon Shiflett at University of Virginia Press were
instrumental in devising the edition's search-and-retrieval mechanisms and in
realizing the interface's design aesthetics.
Ray Siemens, William Bowen, Gary Shawver, Gabriel Egan, and Elizabeth Clarke
helped to publicize and generate interest in the project, while Arthur Marotti's
and Ian Lancashire's endorsements helped to secure the necessary funding.
Northern Michigan University has provided multiple years support by way of
release time, materials, and travel funds. Whalen thanks in particular English
Department Heads James Schiffer and Ray Ventre for accommodating an increasingly
reduced teaching schedule; Associate Provost Cynthia Prosen and Deans Terry
Seethoff and Michael Broadway for financial support; and Andrew Smentkowski, NMU
Grant Writer, for his persistence and commitment in time and energy to helping
the editors to secure external funding.
Christopher Hodgkins thanks Timothy Johnston, Dean of the College of Arts and
Sciences at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, for his early and
constant support of the project; to Lou Harrell of UNCG’s Office of Contracts
and Grants for crucial help in developing the project budget; and to English
Department Business Officer Lydia Howard for administering the grant.
Both Hodgkins and Whalen wish to thank UNCG Graduate Assistant Lauren Wallis for
her invaluable help in individually translating the revised annotation files
back into TEI-XML, many of them more than once, and for proofreading the final
transcriptions of the Williams and Bodleian manuscripts. Much credit for this
edition’s exactitude is hers; any remaining flaws are our own.
An indispensable feature of this edition is the high-resolution images. The
editors wish to thank David Wykes at Dr. Williams's Library, Bruce
Barker-Benfield and Samuel Fanous at the Bodleian Library, Anne-Marie Walsh at
the Folger Shakespeare Library, and Penny Kaiserlian at the University of
Virginia Press for their patience and determination in devising a single
licensing agreement. Thanks too to the British Library for the digital capture
of Williams MS. Jones B62.
Whalen is grateful to the National Endowment for the Humanities for a 2009-2010
Research Fellowship, and both editors are deeply indebted to the NEH for a
2010-2012 Scholarly Editions Grant. Absent these funds, completion of the
project would not have been possible.
We wish also to thank members of the Herbert scholarly community for their
interest and support: Helen Wilcox, Elizabeth Clarke, Paul Dyck, and Sidney
Gottlieb for encouragement; Richard Strier for examining a beta version of the
edition and offering helpful feedback; and attendees of the 2011 meeting of the
George Herbert Society in Powys, Wales. "How happy were our part, / If you, dear
souls, would thrust your hearts / Into these lines."
The editors' families, finally, have been most gracious in their support of this
project. We are blessed with their sustaining love, and grateful for their
enthusiasm toward our interest in George Herbert.