Project History
The George Eliot Archive project was launched in December, 2018. After three years of preparation, our project was finally ready for public presentation on the eve of 2019, which was a special year for George Eliot scholars. It was the bicentenary of the author's birth.
For more than a decade, my scholarship has focused on George Eliot. I think of the George Eliot projects as the culmination of all my previous work and teaching in the fields of literature, biography, publishing, and digital humanities.
From 2013-2021, I was a faculty member at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL), an early leader in digital humanities. I am thankful for internal grants and the mentoring provided by colleagues in the College of Arts and Sciences, the Center for Undergraduate Research, the English department, and the Center for Digital Research in the Humanities.
In the fall of 2021, I joined the faculty of Auburn University (AU) in Alabama. With the AU Libraries' exceptionally supportive administration and a brilliant new team of undergraduate and graduate students, the George Eliot Archive and its sister projects continue to grow and improve. Here are the Archive's sister sites:
1. George Eliot Review Online In partnership with the UK's George Eliot Fellowship, the digitized version of this important peer-reviewed journal from 1970 to the present issue was launched in December, 2017; and
2. George Eliot Scholars Our newest sister project, launched in 2021, is a quickly expanding digital commons, where we are collecting open-access journal articles and providing a digital forum where current scholars may contribute their own works on George Eliot, including articles, blogs, syllabi, conference papers, videos, adaptations, and more.
These three related, ever-expanding digital projects would not have been possible without these essential team members:
(1) the advisory editors, my generous colleagues in the fields of Victorian literature, digital humanities, and computer science, whose expert guidance has saved us from errors and reminded us of what would be essential for researchers;
(2) department heads, deans, and internal university grant programs at both the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and at Auburn University who facilitated research time and funding opportunities;
(3) and most importantly, the dedicated graduate and undergraduate research assistants (named on the Project Team page) whose dedication to building meaningful collections, maintaining the highest professional standards, facilitating a smooth workflow, and constantly improving the design and functionality of our websites for maximum accessibility shows on every page.
Thank you to everyone who has helped to build these projects over the years and supported us in various ways. We feel truly privileged to be able to continue this work.