1. Cross-dressing records in the Times Digital Archive
This research project, "Cross-dressing records in the Times digital archive" is part of a larger program of research on gender in newspaper and periodical records from c.1730 to 1884. The aim of this MITACS project is to locate and analyze records of cross-dressing individuals from a multi-year window on the online database of the Times of London, mainly from the mid nineteenth century to 1884. An expansive understanding of "cross-dressing" is used, including but not limited to trans, lesbian and gay, and instrumental dimensions. The student research assistant will be trained and supported to work with the online Times Digital Archive to locate records, to compose brief summaries of the located records, and to log the records with summaries within an analytical database, the Waterloo Cross-Dressing Archive, that is directed by the academic supervisor. The database is currently hosted on a platform called Heurist which is intuitive and ease to navigate. Key goals of this research project are to locate and explore multiple years of cross-dressing records from the Times during the mid and later nineteenth century, to participate in building an important resource (the database) for research in the humanities, and to make other contributions to the development of the database. Contributing to this database, both as a research output and as a research tool for scholars, is the main research outcome of this project.
Research area, student roles & skills
Research area: I am a scholar of eighteenth-century and Romantic period literature and culture. This project is part of my research on gender, class, and sexuality in the representation of gender-variant garb among working people in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and the impact of those representations on literary treatments of gender, especially the class-related implications of those treatments. The work bears on feminist, queer, and transgender studies of the period from literary, historical, and cultural perspectives, and constitutes an important component of working-class history. The geographical focus is Britain, Ireland, and (in English media) France, but that scope may increase.
Student roles:
The major duties and responsibilities of this position are:
Location and documentation of relevant records from digital archives;
Organization and record keeping of research findings;
Creation and population of searchable database of research findings;
Location and review of current research on project topics;
Review of related digital resources and platforms for research dissemination.
A typical work week will involve searching and recording information from digital archives (50%), database population and social media work (15%), additional research activity, such as literature reviews (15%), interaction with the lead researcher (15%).
Skills required:
Excellent English reading skills;
Strong verbal and written communication skills;
Intermediate use of Excel as a text database, Word;
Familiarity with library catalogues, databases, and online research tools;
Knowledge of website architecture desirable but not expected or required.