Who were the nuns? Database development and extending access

最初的项目对英国女修道院的成员和玛丽沃德学院的英国成员进行了全面的研究，这些学院在英国被禁止的时期成立。这些机构有超过3907名成员（主要是英国人），都是在1600年至1678年流亡欧洲大陆时成立的。他们一直呆在那里，直到法国大革命及其相关的暴力迫使他们离开他们的第二故乡。该项目和相关研究表明，它们是具有国际联系的重要基金会。在这个项目之前，历史学家对修道院的研究很少，他们的文件和活动在很大程度上仍然是未知的。一个重要的额外产出是即将出版的出版物（Pickering & Chatto, 2012-13），是来自所附修道院的六卷手稿来源，这将大大提高项目的知名度。玛丽女王已承诺长期维护和支持数据库和网站。大多数（22个）是封闭的修道院，另外14个主要是由玛丽·沃德和她的追随者建立的较小的房子。他们并不是孤立于世界的：他们的联系和网络广泛传播，包括英国王室成员、布鲁塞尔大公以及欧洲各地世俗和教会阶层的成员。修女们建造了大量的修道院和学校，委托创作艺术和音乐作品，并为妇女创建了重要的图书馆和学习中心。他们一直在吸引成员，直到最近，除了两个，其余的都幸存了下来。鉴于目前收到的积极反馈，谁是修女？项目，后续资金将通过开发当前的网站和学习日，进一步与更广泛的公众受众接触。我们将：-加强在现有网站上提供的搜索基于已经为原项目进行的研究。-制定方法，提供有针对性的动态统计搜索，以便在三个具体标题下分析英国修女的生活-生命周期，县社区和社会网络。-通过向个别条目添加地点图像来增强数据库。-与历史协会合作，在精心挑选的地点为当地和家庭历史学家举办一系列四次专题讨论会，以发展对数据库和有关材料的使用。拟议的项目团队建立在参与原始拨款的个人的经验基础上，我们已经确定了支持新IT应用程序所需的专家。詹姆斯·凯利（James Kelly）最初是在原项目中担任博士后研究助理，随着经验的增长，他与原项目经理卡罗琳·鲍登（Caroline Bowden）博士密切合作，证明了他对项目的宝贵价值。鲍登博士即将退休，但她打算以顾问的身份继续参与该项目。简·百老汇博士和凯瑟琳·济慈-罗汉博士都表示了他们对新提议的热情和支持。Jan Broadway创建了现有的成功数据库（http://www.history.qmul.ac.uk/wwtn/database.html），并渴望进一步发展。历史研究所的计算机技术人员将根据需要增加专业知识。凯瑟琳·济慈-罗汉在她的家谱集的基础上，将贡献一节专门分析支持家庭网络的社会阶层。玛丽皇后大学地理系的成员已承诺提供地理信息系统制图支持。与历史协会拟议的伙伴关系将确保提供更广泛的目标受众，使结果尽可能超越学术界，包括家庭历史学家。这将使我们能够获得更多关于数据库和网站可能用途的反馈。

The original project made a comprehensive study of the membership of the English convents and the English members of Mary Ward's Institute established during the period when they were proscribed in England. These institutions with more than 3907 (mainly English), members were all founded in exile in continental Europe from 1600 to 1678. They remained there until the French Revolution and its associated violence forced them to leave their adopted homelands. The project and related research has shown that they were significant foundations with international connections. Prior to the project, the convents have been little studied by historians and their documents and activities have remained largely unknown. One significant additional output is the forthcoming publication (Pickering & Chatto, 2012-13) is six volumes of manuscript sources from the enclosed convents and this will significantly raise the profile of the project. Queen Mary has undertaken to maintain and support the database and website in the long term.Most (twenty two) were enclosed convents with a further fourteen mainly smaller houses founded by Mary Ward and her followers. They were not isolated from the world: their contacts and networks spread widely, including members of the royal family of England, the archdukes of Brussels and members of lay and ecclesiastical hierarchies across Europe among their supporters. The nuns built substantial convents and schools, commissioned works of art and music, and created important libraries and centres of learning for women. They continued to attract members and all except two survived until recently.Given the positive feedback currently being received by the Who were the Nuns? project, the follow-on funding will permit further engagement with a wider public audience through developing the current website and study days. We will:- Enhance the searches provided on the existing website based on research already undertaken for the original project.- Develop methodology to provide directed dynamic statistical searches in order to analyse the lives of the English nuns under three specific headings - life cycles, county communities and social networks.- Enhance the database by adding images of places to individual entries.- In partnership with the Historical Association, set up a series of four symposia for local and family historians in carefully-chosen sites for study days to develop the use of the database and related material.The proposed project team builds on the experience of the individuals involved with the original grant and we have identified specialists needed to support the new IT applications. James Kelly started as the post-doctoral research assistant on the original project and proved invaluable to the project as his experience grew, working closely with the original project manager, Dr Caroline Bowden. Dr Bowden is retiring but is intent on continuing her association with the project in an advisory role. Both Dr Jan Broadway and Dr Katharine Keats-Rohan have indicated their enthusiasm and support for the new proposal. Jan Broadway has created the existing successful database (http://www.history.qmul.ac.uk/wwtn/database.html) and is eager to take it further. Computer technicians at the Institute of Historical Research will add expertise where required. Katharine Keats-Rohan, building on her fine collection of family tress, will contribute the section devoted to analysis of the social class of the supporting family networks. Members of the Geography department at Queen Mary have undertaken to provide GIS mapping support.The proposed partnership with the Historical Association will secure delivery of a wider target audience making the results as accessible as possible beyond the academic world to include family historians. This will allow us to get more feedback about the possible uses of the database and website.