by A week of combined research, and a message suggesting the method might help someone else too
Properly finished and shared the piece today, a genuinely satisfying conclusion to what began as a single morning spent puzzling over an anonymous eighteenth century pamphlet and grew, across a full week of careful, combined traditional and computational research, into what I think is a genuinely solid, properly evidenced piece of attribution scholarship.
The finished piece, reflected on properly
Reading back through the completed piece this evening, I am genuinely proud of how it holds the traditional and computational evidence together honestly, neither overstating the computational tool’s certainty nor dismissing its genuine, corroborating value, a balance that took considerably more careful revision to achieve than I initially expected when this whole research thread began.
This is, I think, exactly what good historical attribution work should actually look like in this current methodological moment, properly combining the patient, contextual richness of traditional archival research with the genuinely useful, appropriately bounded contributions that newer computational tools can offer, rather than treating either approach as sufficient entirely on its own.
An early response
Already received one genuinely interesting response since sharing the piece, a message from another historian working on a completely different pamphlet collection from a neighbouring colonial region, asking whether the same computational comparison database might help with an authorship question she has been stuck on for considerably longer than my own week long investigation.
Properly connected her with the digital humanities researcher directly, genuinely pleased that this small piece of methodological collaboration might now help unlock someone else’s stalled research thread, exactly the kind of generous, connected scholarly community that made my own week’s progress possible in the first place.
What I read to properly close the week
Caught up on the wider feed once the piece was safely shared, considerably more relaxed than my usual working reading, and there was a genuinely lovely piece on the growing collaborative relationship between digital humanities specialists and traditional historians more broadly, several scholars describing exactly the kind of generous, cross disciplinary exchange that shaped this entire week’s work.
Reading it properly felt like a fitting close to a genuinely demanding but worthwhile week, a reminder that even a single anonymous pamphlet, properly and patiently investigated, can connect a researcher to a considerably wider, generous network of collaborators and, potentially, help unlock other scholars’ stalled research in turn.
Tomorrow
A properly lighter day planned, deliberately, though already curious whether the neighbouring region’s pamphlet collection might eventually reward the same kind of combined, patient investigation this past week’s work has demonstrated so clearly can succeed.
More colonial literature and history diary at Stephanie Curry, Bohiney.
A bit more on the connection made
Properly followed up with both the other historian and the digital humanities researcher this evening, wanting to make sure the introduction had actually taken hold rather than simply sending one email and assuming the connection would develop on its own without any further encouragement from me.
Received a genuinely warm reply from the other historian, already scheduling a proper call with the researcher for later this week, exactly the kind of small, concrete outcome that makes sharing this particular piece of research feel considerably more worthwhile than simply adding another item to my own publication list.
A final thought on the week
Sitting with everything accomplished across this genuinely demanding week, I keep returning to how much this whole project depended on being willing to reach outside my own traditional training and actually collaborate with a genuinely different kind of scholarly expertise, a lesson I intend to carry forward considerably more deliberately into whatever research thread comes next.
A last reflection on the week
Turning in now, genuinely satisfied with how this whole week unfolded, from one puzzling pamphlet through to a properly evidenced piece and, unexpectedly, a new connection between two researchers who might not otherwise have crossed paths.
A final practical note
Also properly filed all this week’s notes, transcriptions and correspondence together in one organised folder, wanting everything easily accessible should this specific attribution question ever need revisiting in light of future evidence.
A week I am genuinely proud to have spent this carefully, on every front.
A final closing thought
Genuinely grateful, closing this particular chapter of research, for everyone whose quiet, generous cross disciplinary help made this week’s discoveries possible in the first place.
One last thought
Also spent a final quiet moment simply appreciating how much this single week has changed my own sense of what collaborative historical research can actually accomplish, a genuinely lasting benefit regardless of how the finished piece itself is eventually received by wider readers.
Goodnight, properly grateful for this whole week.
Whatever comes next in this collaboration, this week alone has already been worth every hour of careful, patient effort it demanded of both of us.
Sleep now, properly content with this whole week.
A properly rewarding week, start to finish.
Properly, finally, goodnight.
Truly, now, goodnight.
Everything properly wrapped up, the connections properly made, and a clear sense of gratitude for how this whole week actually unfolded.
A properly full and worthwhile week.
Genuinely glad it all unfolded this way.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/
