Electronic Edition of the Kievan Chronicle

[Daniela Hristova]

Dear SEELANGers,

I am posting this message to inquire whether any of you are involved in or
aware of any work in progress on creating an electronic searchable edition
of the Kievan Chronicle (I use the name "Kievan Chronicle" to refer to the
middle part of Ipat'evskaja letopis', i.e., the part between the Primary
Chronicle and the Galician-Volhynian Chronicle). I am in the process of
applying for a substantial grant from the University of Chicago and it is
not unlikely that the project would be approved and funded. The idea is to
digitize and make available as a searchable document via the web, first,
the Kievan Chronicle, and then, provided that we develop some sound
strategies how to deal with all the potential pitfalls, some more medieval
Slavic manuscripts. In order to improve the searchable potentials of the
digitized text, I also envision linking the diplomatic transcription with a
normalized one (thanks go to David Birnbaum for suggesting this strategy to
me) as well as building a concordance from the electronic edition. If
everything goes as conceived and planned, I want to believe that the final
product would be of great interest and value to the whole field of medieval
Slavic studies; that is why the online version will be made freely
available to everybody.

Having in mind all the time, money, and efforts that would be invested in
the project, the worst would be if they are spent doing redundant work.
Therefore I would very much appreciate any information whether something
similar is under way at some other institution. In case there is not, it
would be very helpful (for making a good case for the project) to hear what
the colleagues in the field think of the idea. In addition, I am very eager
to hear suggestions about the best software package for such a project,
strategies for proofreading and correcting the scanned text, any potential
obstacles in constructing the searches, etc.

Thank you all very much in advance!

Daniela S. Hristova
Assistant Professor
Slavic Department and the College
University of Chicago

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