Historical Manuscripts Commission volumes - a major new project

Yesterday TannerRitchie published the first volumes in a major new project to digitise the publications and reports of the The Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts.

The Commission (more usually referred to as "The Historical Manuscripts Commission" or just "HMC") was founded in 1869 with the intention of making enquiry into all collections and repositories of historical manuscripts and papers in the United Kingdom. Its many reports and "appendices" (in fact complete volumes of primary sources in their own right), published over the period of over a century, contain a treasure-house of material for medieval, early modern and modern historians and genealogists, taken from the family archives, charter chests and private collections of the nobility and citizenry of Britain and Ireland, as well as university colleges, diocesesan and cathedrals archives, and the archives of towns, boroughs and other corporate bodies.

Until now these volumes have been both inaccessible and daunting to use, even for the skilled historian. TannerRitchie is undertaking a major programme not only to digitise, but also to catalogue (through metadata and bookmarks) this series more fully, to enable users to exploit this incredible resource to an extent never possible before.

Details of the contents of each volume will appear here in due course. In the mean time, a detailed catalogue of the volumes can be viewed at http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/academic/pdf/bibliography.pdf

If you have a particular volume you would like to see available, please let us know, or post a comment on our forum

MEMSO 2.7 - More simple to use, more manuscripts

Less than two months after launching MEMSO 2.6, last night we launched MEMSO 2.7, which includes the latest incremental updates to the user interface. This time around we have been concentrating on simplifying the user interface in a number of important ways, while maintaining or improving functionality.

We believe new users will find this the simplest version of MEMSO to use so far, enabling them to find the material they are interested in more quickly.

At the same time we have made accessing the manuscript images from the State Papers at the UK National Archives more central to the resource in preparation for major additions to the manuscript content over the next few weeks. Comprehensive coverage of the State Papers, Elizabeth, Spain and France are on the way between the next few days and the end of the summer.

If you would like to take a trial to MEMSO, please contact us and we can usually have a trial in place the same day.

MEMSO is upgraded often, and user interface improvements come along every month to two months. That's because we are constantly learning from user feedback, and because we believe web resources should never be viewed as 'finished'. Subscribers to MEMSO since 2006 have seen it develop from a highly functional but more conventional resource, into one of the most innovative historical databases available. As ever, new features are still in development ...

The Rolls Series - Ten new titles added today

Ten new volumes from the Rolls Series have been added to TannerRitchie's website today. Here's the list, including great resources for the history of medieval London, and the reign of Henry VII. See all our latest titles here.

1. Liber de Illustribus Henricis - Book of the Illustrious Henries, John Capgrave, volume 1 (973-1473)
2. Memorials of King Henry VII, ed. James Gairdner, volume 1 (1485-1509)
3. Munimenta Gildhallae Londiniensis - Muniments of London Guildhall, volume 2.1 (1250-1320),
4. Munimenta Gildhallae Londiniensis - Muniments of London Guildhall, volume 2.2 (1250-1320),
5. Munimenta Gildhallae Londiniensis - Muniments of London Guildhall, volume 3 (1250-1420)
6. Eulogium (Historiarum sive Temporis): Chronicon .. a Monacho Quadam Malmesbriensi Exaratum (Rolls Series), volume 1 (0-1366)
7. Eulogium (Historiarum sive Temporis): Chronicon .. a Monacho Quadam Malmesbriensi Exaratum (Rolls Series), volume 2 (0-1366)
8. Eulogium (Historiarum sive Temporis): Chronicon .. a Monacho Quadam Malmesbriensi Exaratum (Rolls Series), volume 3 (0-1366)
9. Historia Monasterii S. Augustini Cantuariensis (Rolls Series), volume 1 (597-1418)