Systems of Transmitting Early Modern Manuscript Verse, 1475-1700

Are We There Yet? Notes Towards Benchmarking an Experimental AI-Assisted Workflow for Humanities Data Cleaning and Reconciliation | Journal of Open Humanities Data Are We There Yet? Notes Towards Benchmarking an Experimental AI-Assisted Workflow for Humanities Data Cleaning and ReconciliationDiscussion PaperAuthorsErin A. McCarthyAbstractThis paper introduces a novel AI-assisted pipeline developed to prepare data for the European Research Council-funded projec...

Why not spend some time this Friday catching up on the STEMMA blog, starting with this new post by intern Cate?

Guest Post: (Lack of) Disability Representation in Early Modern Literature Discover how disability was portrayed in Early Modern literature, with a focus on Thomas Randolph’s 1630 poem. Uncover the stigma and cultural views toward disability in this thought-provoking analysis.

We're delighted to share a guest post on the STEMMA blog by Jordan Ho. Jordan was one of two interns from Lehigh University to join our team in Galway this summer. In this post, Jordan considers collaboration, co-authorship, and credit, both in the early modern period and today.

Guest Post: Rethinking ‘Idea-Capital’ and Co-Authorship as Counter-Canon in Early Modern Manuscript Culture From the Devonshire Manuscript to Beaumont & Fletcher, early modern literature thrived on collaboration. What can co-authorship teach us about breaking hierarchies in academia today? A guest post from STEMMA intern Jordan Ho explores these questions and more.

New on the STEMMA blog! A hackathon report by Caitlin (featuring special appearances of Jan and Ishankie)!

STEMMA Hackathon (6th - 9th July 2025) - STEMMA In a rare week of gorgeous sunshine, researchers from across the world visited Galway to take part in the STEMMA Hackathon, hosted at the PorterShed, a collaborative workspace for startups and entrepreneurs. From 6th to 9th July, the STEMMA team invited scholars to come and work with the current dat...

And the grand finale on Day 3!

PorterShed | University of Galway | English, University of Galway | European Research Council

Some photos from the first two days of our recent hackathon PorterShed!

English, University of Galway | University of Galway | European Research Council

Echoes and Imitations in Early Modern Manuscripts: Flattery or Farce? - STEMMA Did early modern readers mistake imitations for John Donne’s poetry? This deep dive into manuscript culture explores misattributed works, poetic imitation, and literary reception in 17th-century England—uncovering the hidden network of textual circulation.

Congratulations to STEMMA PhD student
Millie Randall
on her excellent paper, "Late Seventeenth Century Readers as a Model for Creativity," today at the Third Annual Postgraduate Research Symposium in the School of English, Media and Creative Arts (English, University of Galway). You had all of us in stitches!

It's a big day for STEMMA: all of our data sources have been imported into our database! 🥳

Thanks to our partners at Ember Technology Ltd for all of their work on this. Roll on, data reconciliation!

We've teamed up with the University of Galway for The STEMMA Project, a combined effort to digitise and analyse ancient historical manuscripts. 📜✍️

We have been using our expertise to turn fragmented historical documents into a structured digital collection. This involved deciphering thousands of unique date formats and implementing innovative data cleansing techniques.

Together with the University of Galway, we've made significant progress in preserving and creating accessible and valuable literary heritage for both academic research and public access.

Here’s what established Professor of English Literature and Computational Humanities / PI of STEMMA, Erin A. McCarthy, had to say about working with us...

“The Ember team has exceeded my expectations, not only because of their technical and project management expertise but because of their curiosity about the historical source material and the project’s bigger implications for those interested in it.”

Our team would like to say a massive thank you to Erin and the team at the University of Galway, their dedication and expertise in the project has been invaluable.

We’d also like to extend our thanks to the Irish Research Council and the European Research Council as the success of The Stemma Project would not have been possible without their support. We are incredibly grateful for their contributions and partnership throughout the project.

To find out more about our work with The STEMMA Project, you can check out our case study here: https://www.ember.ltd/case-studies/university-of-galway 🏛️💻

Surprise! A new 42-month post on Work Package 2. Applications are due 1 June by 5 pm Irish time. Please contact erin.mccarthy [at] universityofgalway.ie with any informal enquiries.

Postdoctoral Researcher - STEMMA: Systems of Transmitting Early Modern Manuscript Verse, 1475–1700 at University of Galway Looking for a new job opportunity in academia? Check out this job opening for a Postdoctoral Researcher - STEMMA: Systems of Transmitting Early Modern Manuscript Verse, 1475–1700 on jobs.ac.uk!