Text and image donations?

[Stephanie Wood]

Dear List members,

Together with a team here at the University of Oregon, I am putting together
a database of texts and images called "Gender in Early Mesoamerica."  If you
have any short texts (paragraphs or short documents from the sixteenth
through eighteenth centuries that you have transcribed and translated from
indigenous languages of Mesoamerica) or any photographs you have taken of
pictorials, stone carvings, pottery, etc., that you'd be willing to donate
(with full attribution) to this database, please contact me.  We would be
delighted to receive anything that might highlight gender roles and
attributes (male, female, transgender), whether directly or indirectly.  We
are interested in gods/goddesses, creation stories, historical narratives,
prescribed behavior, information about daily life, etc.

If your materials are as yet unpublished, that would be wonderful.  If you
have materials that have been published but for which you might be able to
help us obtain copyright permissions, that would also be super.  Naturally,
we will want as much information as possible about the location of the
original texts and information about the images (who took the photograph,
what does it capture, when, where, etc.).

We are additionally looking for people who are native speakers who might be
willing to read some short texts aloud into a tape recorder, so we can make
digital sound files.  We will be trying to get a grant to pay for such help.

As we currently envision it, the database will eventually be fully
searchable and accessible free online to the benefit of anyone interested in
the topic.  It will also have a feature where visitors can respond to
interpretations of the material and leave their own analyses, to be
incorporated into the database.  We'd love to have it be an international,
cooperative endeavor.

Discussion of the idea behind the database would be welcomed on the list.
You may also respond to me privately.

Many thanks, Stephanie Wood