State Papers, Elizabeth, completed

The final batch of manuscripts from the State Papers, Foreign, for the reign of Elizabeth, were added to MEMSO today, completing our project to make the manuscripts images for the period 1558-1572 available. Subsequent manuscripts are made available in separate collections. More manuscript news coming very soon...

Additional Manuscripts from the State Papers, Foreign, & State Papers, Spain (1553-1780)

(TNA SP 70/87, f. 642r. MEMSO Permalink )

Users will already have noticed that manuscript images from the The National Archives (UK) are increasingly a key element in Medieval and Early Modern Sources Online (MEMSO). The first wave of a major expansion of our manuscript images was launched on Friday, 4 July, with the availibility of TNA SP 70, The State Papers, Foreign, Elizabeth I (1558-1577) (part I of II, with the remaining MSS appearing in August), and SP 94, State Papers, Foreign, Spain (1577-1780).


The manuscripts are arranged for ease of use and access in high definition greyscale images, and we will be adding further metadata and links between printed books and manuscripts over the coming weeks. However, of particular interest to many users will be the fact that most of the new images from the State Papers, Spain, are absent from the printed volumes of Calendars of State Papers, Spain, and Calendars of State Papers, Foreign.

Manuscripts of the State Papers, Elizabeth, and State Papers, Spain, going online

(Detail from TNA SP70/6 f.4r. To be published in June as part of Medieval and Early Modern Sources Online (MEMSO). Letter from Throckmorton to Elizabeth I, Paris, 1 August 1559, partly in cipher. Printed copy already available to subscribers at http://sources.tannerritchie.com/browser.php?ipid=31164)

In the next two weeks a major addition will be made to the manuscript content of Medieval and Early Modern Sources Online (MEMSO):

Part 1 of 2: TNA SP/70 State Papers, Foreign, Elizabeth I

Complete: TNA SP/94 State Papers, Spain (mostly not printed in Calendar of State Papers, Spain)

As the first publisher to take on the large scale publication of manuscripts from the UK National Archives, we are pleased to announce that our next major additions of manuscripts to Medieval and Early Modern Sources Online will be made in the next few weeks, as part of the continuing rollout. At the same time an improved interface will be launched to enable better navigation of the manuscripts, while a large proportion of the images will be in high quality grayscale, rather than the monochrome which was favoured by the archives in the past. They will also be linked to the discussion forum, where we hope users will assist each other collaboratively with getting the most value out of the resource.