Progress update, 14 to 20 December 2013, and UCL closure

Welcome along to the progress update for 14 to 20 December 2013, which is also our 200th post on the blog! Excellent progress has been made during the last seven days: 11,603 words of text have been transcribed, along with a further 4,740 words of TEI XML.

6,646 manuscripts have now been transcribed or partially-transcribed, which is an increase of 46 on this time last week. Of these transcripts, 6,357 (95%) are complete and locked after having been checked by Transcribe Bentham staff.

The more detailed state of progress is as follows:

• Box 1: 16 manuscripts transcribed of 794 (2%)
• Box 2: 464 of 753 (61%)
• Box 5: 89 of 290 (30%)
• Box 15: 1 of 914 (0%)
• Box 27: 350 of 350 (100%)
• Box 35: 285 of 439 (64%)
• Box 41: 69 of 528 (12%)
• Box 42: 51 of 910 (5%)
• Box 50: 148 of 198 (74%)
• Box 51: 368 of 940 (39%)
• Box 62: 55 of 565 (10%)
• Box 70: 295 of 350 (84%)
• Box 71: 663 of 663 (100%)
• Box 72: 612 of 664 (92%)
• Box 73: 151 of 151 (100%)
• Box 79: 199 of 199 (100%)
• Box 95: 121 of 147 (82%)
• Box 96: 528 of 539 (97%)
• Box 97: 71 of 296 (23%)
• Box 98: 214 of 499 (42%)
• Box 100: 182 of 422 (41%)
• Box 107: 447 of 538 (83%)
• Box 115: 276 of 307 (89%)
• Box 116: 483 of 864 (55%)
• Box 117: 0 of 853 (0%)
• Box 119: 0 of 990 (0%)
• Box 121: 118 of 526 (21%)
• Box 122: 272 of 717 (37%)
• Box 139: 38 of 38 (100%)
• Box 150: 33 of 972 (3%)
• Box 169: 49 of 728 (6%)
• Overall: 38% of the 17,205 manuscripts currently uploaded to the website have been transcribed.

Over the last few months, we have added more and more new material to the Transcription Desk for transcription. These unpublished manuscripts include material relating to the final failure of Bentham’s panopticon penitentiary scheme and evidence of the scale of his bitterness towards the British government; Bentham’s work in drafting the 1798 Thames Police Bill; more of his writings on political economy; his plan to ‘euthanise’ the Church of England; and, most recently, more detail relating to the panopticon, including architect Willey Reveley’s sketches of the proposed prison. All of these manuscripts can be accessed via our ‘Untranscribed Manuscripts‘ list, which are divided into the boxes comprising the UCL Bentham Papers. From this page, you can also access a fuller description of the contents of each box.

Today’s progress update will be the last full update until the new year, as today UCL closes for the Christmas and new year break. As regular readers will know, Bentham regarded such holidays as ‘useless holy days’ which could be spent more productively working, though we take a slightly softer line than the big man. From 20 December 2013 until 6 January 2014, we will be on leave, which means that we will be unable to check submitted transcripts during this period. The Transcription Desk will, however, remain available at all times, though it will take longer than usual for us to answer any email queries. Normal service will resume on Monday 6 January, and we apologise in advance for any inconvenience which our absence may cause.

We would also like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has contributed to Transcribe Bentham during the last twelve months, which is greatly appreciated by all of us working on the project. We wish you the best for the holiday period, and look forward to another year of transcription!