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Progress update, 8 to 14 November 2014, and masses of new material to transcribe!

By Tim Causer, on 14 November 2014

Welcome along to the Transcribe Bentham progress update for the period 8 to 14 November 2014. During the last seven days not only have volunteer transcribers made further terrific progress, but a whole host of new manuscript images have been uploaded to the Transcription Desk (but more on that later).

11,502 manuscripts have now been transcribed or partially-transcribed, which is an increase of 102 on this time last week. Of these transcripts, 10,434 (91%) have been checked and approved by TB staff.

The more detailed state of progress is as follows:

 

Box No. of manuscripts worked on No. of manuscripts in box Completion
Box 1 225 794 28%
Box 2 470 753 62%
Box 4 0 694 0%
Box 5 199 290 68%
Box 7 0 167 0%
Box 8 0 284 0%
Box 9 6 266 1%
Box 15 75 914 9%
Box 18 3 192 1%
Box 27 350 350 100%
Box 29 22 122 18%
Box 30 1 193 1%
Box 31 18 302 5%
Box 34 38 398 9%
Box 35 286 439 65%
Box 36 32 418 7%
Box 37 31 487 6%
Box 38 59 424 13%
Box 39 11 282 3%
Box 41 83 528 14%
Box 42 79 910 8%
Box 44 52 201 25%
Box 50 166 198 83%
Box 51 379 940 40%
Box 57 18 420 4%
Box 62 57 565 10%
Box 63 120 345 34%
Box 70 301 350 86%
Box 71 663 663 100%
Box 72 613 664 92%
Box 73 151 151 100%
Box 79 199 199 100%
Box 95 126 147 85%
Box 96 534 539 99%
Box 97 127 296 42%
Box 98 220 499 44%
Box 100 190 422 42%
Box 106 0 581 0%
Box 107 500 538 92%
Box 110 2 671 1%
Box 115 276 307 89%
Box 116 505 864 58%
Box 117 360 853 42%
Box 118 240 880 27%
Box 119 522 990 52%
Box 120 18 686 2%
Box 121 132 526 24%
Box 122 302 717 41%
Box 123 17 443 3%
Box 139 40 40 100%
Box 149 1 581 0%
Box 150 233 972 23%
Box 169 187 728 25%
Add MSS 537 729 744 97%
Add MSS 538 625 858 72%
Add MSS 539 686 948 72%
Box 540 3 1012 1%
Add MSS 541 220 1258 17%
Overall 11,502 26,796 44%

During the week, another 4,500 images have been uploaded for transcription, covering an enormous variety of subjects.

Box 540 contains correspondence to and from Bentham, and his family and friends, during the years 1784 to 1788. During this period, Jeremy travelled to Russia to visit his younger brother, Samuel, whom he had not seen for the best part of six years, and the letters feature details of Jeremy’s long and eventful journey, as well as the first inklings of the panopticon scheme. Box 4 details Bentham’s response to the Henry Brougham, the Lord Chancellor’s establishment of bankruptcy courts, Box 7 deals with Bentham’s writings on religion and education, while Box 8 covers some of Bentham’s thoughts on colonies and colonisation.

A number of these boxes contain a miscellany of material. Box 9 includes correspondence, the 1824 codicil to Bentham’s will, and John Bowring’s Memoir of Jeremy Bentham, which was memorably described by Leslie Stephen as ‘one of the worst biographies in the [English] language, out of materials which might have served for a masterpiece’. Box 106 contains Bentham’s detailed plans for a refrigerator which he called the ‘Frigidarium’, a discussion of the liberty of the press, plans for a network of ‘conversation tubes’ which would allow the panopticon inspector to speak to any prisoner in their cell, and part of the journal of Bentham’s secretary, John Flowerdew Colls. Box 110 contains some of Bentham’s constitutional proposals for Portugal, Spain and Greece, as well as European poetry and literature collected by Bentham’s literary executor, John Bowring. Finally, Box 149 includes parts and fragments of a number of works, a little about the auto-icon, the 1831 codicil to Bentham’s will, and a description of Bentham’s illnesses during 1826.

We hope that you enjoy looking through this material, and please do let us know if you have any questions about it! More will follow in the next week or so, and there’s no shortage of fascinating material to work through. Thanks to our colleagues at UCL Creative Media Services for digitising the manuscripts, and at the University of London Computer Centre for uploading them.

Thank you, as always, to everyone who has donated their time so generously to TB during the last seven days. It remains as greatly appreciated as ever.

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