Get To Know Medieval Londoners

I volunteered for this project and want to stay involved, are there any further volunteer opportunities?

Yes! Our parent project, the Medieval Londoners Database, is currently in search of volunteers to assist in sourcing, creating, and processing datasets. An overview of the types of records we work on is available here. It includes property records but many other types of medieval records as well. We would love to hear from you if you have an idea for a dataset that could be included, or if you would like to assist in processing existing data.

If you are interested in joining MLD as a volunteer, please email Maryanne Kowaleski at kowaleski@fordham.edu and/or Grace Campagna at gcampagna1@fordham.edu. We look forward to hearing from you!

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What is the purpose of this project?

Get to Know Medieval Londoners aims to collect data on a large set of medieval property deeds from London, England. There are two types of data: 1) transcriptions; and 2) structured geographical and biographical data on the people and places that appear in the deeds.

The original medieval documents are currently in an archive in London, inaccessible to the general public. However, their location is not the only reason they are inaccessible. The handwriting on the documents (called English Court Hand) is very difficult for all but trained scholars to read, not to mention that most are in Latin. By having volunteers transcribe and answer questions about the translated index cards, we are working towards making historical material more accessible. People should have access to their own history!

What is a property deed, and where did we get them?

A property deed is a record of a transaction. The transaction recorded in a deed can be one of several things: the purchase or sale of land, a rental agreement between a tenant and the owner, or conferring rights to use a commercial property for a specified period of time. See the Glossary section of the Field Guide for a detailed breakdown of property-related terms.

The original medieval deeds are housed in the London Metropolitan Archives (LMA), reference code CLA/023. The index cards (transcriptions and translations of the original documents), are at the Institute for Historical Research (IHR), part of the University of London.

Which workflow should you choose?

There are three workflows to choose from, each the cater to different interests and skill sets.

The Transcribe workflow involves long-form transcription of entire property deeds. The deeds range in length from one side of a 5x8in index card, to two double-sided index cards. Volunteers can complete this workflow with little to no knowledge of property deeds. Because the deeds all follow a standard format, transcription becomes much easier after the first few cards.

In Identify Places, volunteers will locate the year of a property deed and then search for the names of streets and parishes (churches). While this workflow is slightly more difficult than the one above, it is the shortest of the three. Volunteers can quickly familiarize themselves with parish and street names using the Places: Parishes, Wards, and Streets section of the field guide.

Identify People is the longest and most complex workflow, but also the most rewarding. Tasks in this workflow ask volunteers to identify the name of each individual who appears in a record and then answer a series of questions about them, including gender, marital status, and role in the transaction. This workflow allows volunteers to delve deep into the lives of medieval Londoners.

What about classification mistakes?

Don't worry! Multiple volunteers will see each subject, so any accidental errors or inconsistencies will be resolved during data processing.

The transcription guidelines for this project look different than those for other projects, why?

Our "transcription philosophy", so to speak, is a bit different from what you may have seen on other projects. We are more interested in the text itself than the format of the card, and thus it is not as important to replicate the exact contents of each line, the spacing, capitalization, etc. in transcriptions. The original transcribers were not always consistent with how they marked certain features or added their own insertions, making a more standardized approach unrealistic. Check out the Transcription Guidelines in the field guide for more info!

What will we use this data for?

All of the data collected as part of this project will be uploaded to the Medieval Londoners Database, part of a project from Fordham University's Center for Medieval Studies. This database is an open-access, searchable collection of individuals who lived in London between 1100 and 1520.

Additionally, the data will form the basis for several publications and a Master's thesis at Fordham University titled "Digital Humanities and Collaborative Research in Medieval Studies: Crowdsourcing the Get to Know Medieval Londoners Project".

Will volunteers receive credit for their work?

Yes! All contributors to Get to Know Medieval Londoners will receive a Cataloguer credit (see below) in the Medieval Londoners Database for each record they helped classify. Unless you let us know otherwise, we will use your screen name. If you do not wish to have your information published on the MLD site, please let us know in Talk, send a message, or email gcampagna1@fordham.edu.

Can you get volunteer hour credit for participating in this project?

Yes! If you need volunteer hours for school or another reason, please fill out this form. Please keep track of your own hours. We will send you a confirmation email after filling out the form.

Why do we have so many Talk boards?

We think discussion can often be the most important part of a project. The Talk boards allow researchers and volunteers to communicate and make discoveries together. We believe that researchers and scholars have just as much to learn from volunteers as volunteers do from us. Not to mention how much we all have to learn from historical sources.

We encourage you to use the Talk boards frequently - no such thing as dumb questions or silly comments!

Other questions?

Let us know in Talk, or message one of the project team members!