Vetusta Monumenta: A Digital Edition and Antiquarian Archive

FAIN: RQ-255691-17

Mizzou (Columbia, MO 65211-3020)
Noah Heringman (Project Director: December 2016 to May 2024)
Crystal Belle-Lane Lake (Co Project Director: January 2017 to May 2024)

Preparation of an open-access digital edition of the first three volumes of Vetusta Monumenta [Ancient Monuments], a series of prints and essays published by the Society of Antiquaries of London from 1718 to 1906. (36 months)

We are producing a digital edition of Vetusta Monumenta [Ancient Monuments], the series of spectacular antiquarian prints published by the Society of Antiquaries of London from 1718 to 1906. The plates depict a huge variety of artifacts and monuments, ranging from the Rosetta Stone to the ruins of Fountains Abbey. By commissioning these large engravings with accompanying essays, the Society of Antiquaries developed a research agenda based on preservation and set the stage for a widespread and enduring fascination with the past and its objects. We have digitized all 337 engravings, completed the introduction, and over two dozen commentaries while creating a state-of-the-art digital platform, now live at http://vetustamonumenta.org. We seek NEH support for the second phase of the project: researching and writing the commentary for the 144 remaining eighteenth-century plates, perfecting the interface, and seeing Volumes I-III through peer review and final publication.

Associated Products

Vetusta Monumenta (Web Resource)
Title: Vetusta Monumenta
Author: Noah Heringman
Abstract: Vetusta Monumenta is the title of a published series of illustrated antiquarian papers on ancient buildings, sites, and artefacts, mostly those of Britain, published at irregular intervals between 1718 and 1906 by the Society of Antiquaries of London.
Year: 2017
Primary URL: http://vetustamonumenta.org

Vetusta Monumenta and the Making of a Digital Edition (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: Vetusta Monumenta and the Making of a Digital Edition
Abstract: This keynote talk provided an overview of the NEH-funded digital edition of Vetusta Monumenta prior to the day-long exhibition event, Digital Editions Day, at the Occidental College Library.
Author: Noah Heringman
Date: 3/2/2018
Location: Occidental College, Los Angeles, CA
Primary URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PUj4oxsixA&feature=youtu.be
Primary URL Description: The link goes to a 360-degree video (mouse over or turn your phone to see the whole room) uploaded to youtube by the Occidental College Digital Liberal Arts program.

Ancient Objects and New Media: Vetusta Monumenta and the Remediation of Antiquity (Conference/Institute/Seminar)
Title: Ancient Objects and New Media: Vetusta Monumenta and the Remediation of Antiquity
Author: Noah Heringman
Abstract: This one-day symposium at the Society of Antiquaries of London, organized by the Vetusta Monumenta editorial team, featured ten distinguished speakers from around Great Britain.
Date Range: 6/24/2019
Location: Society of Antiquaries, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London
Primary URL: https://us6.campaign-archive.com/?u=5557bc147d34993782f185bde&id=c27243df1b#mctoc4
Primary URL Description: This link goes to an announcement concerning the event on the SAL web site.
Secondary URL: http://sal.org.uk
Secondary URL Description: This is the main web site of the Society of Antiquaries.

Ancient Objects and New Media (Book Section)
Title: Ancient Objects and New Media
Author: Noah Heringman
Author: Crystal B. Lake
Editor: Noah Heringman
Editor: Crystal B. Lake
Abstract: This is a special issue of the journal Modern Philology collecting work by researchers involved in or inspired by Vetusta Monumenta. The volume contains five full-length research articles by scholars from the US, UK, and Germany along with an introduction coauthored by ourselves. The volume was submitted to the journal's editors in November 2020 and is currently going through peer review. Publication is expected in 2022.
Year: 2020
Access Model: Modern Philology is a scholarly journal published by the University of Chicago Press.

“Media History and the Making of a Digital Edition” (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: “Media History and the Making of a Digital Edition”
Author: Heringman, Noah
Abstract: This presentation used a close analysis of one plate and commentary page from the edition, a facsimile of the 1534 decree of Oxford against the jurisdiction of the Pope (VM 1.62), to explain the principles and architecture of the digital edition. It also presented a larger argument about media history as a them of this print and preoccupation of the printmakers which links them to our time.
Date: 2/21/20
Primary URL: https://sites.dartmouth.edu/mediainventories/
Primary URL Description: This is the web site for the first meeting at Dartmouth, organized by the same group of scholars. The second meeting, at which I presented (2020), was held at the University of Missouri and a third (2022) is planned for the University of British Columbia.
Conference Name: Media Inventories of the 19th Century (international symposium hosted by the Department of German and Russian Studies, Univ of Missouri

Vetusta Monumenta and the Making of a Digital Edition (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: Vetusta Monumenta and the Making of a Digital Edition
Abstract: In this presentation I surveyed the kinds of monuments depicted in Vetusta Monumenta and discussed the relationship between the preparatory drawings for two of the plates (VM 1.35-36 and 1.57) and the prints themselves.
Author: Heringman, Noah
Date: 4/12/19
Location: School of Visual Studies, University of MIssouri
Primary URL Description: None available

Vetusta Monumenta and the Making of a Digital Edition (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: Vetusta Monumenta and the Making of a Digital Edition
Abstract: In this Zoom talk for a lay audience I compared the original print volumes--folio volumes an impressive 50 cm tall--and our digital edition of the same content. All the materials were staged in the Special Collections reading room and the presentation was organized by Ellis Library for the Friends of the University of Missouri Libraries.
Author: Heringman, Noah
Date: 3/4/21
Location: Ellis Library, University of Missouri
Primary URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeIg3MO599Q.
Primary URL Description: This is a recording of the lecture/screencast in its entirety.

Vetusta Monumenta (Database/Archive/Digital Edition)
Title: Vetusta Monumenta
Author: Heringman, Noah
Author: Lake, Crystal B.
Abstract: This is the primary product of the grant, a digital edition of the eighteenth-century print series. It was originally entered by agency staff in 2017 as a Web Resource, but the product is better described as a digital edition.
Year: 2019
Primary URL: http://vetustamonumenta.org
Primary URL Description: See above
Access Model: open access

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