Lynn Ransom: A Progress Report on the New Schoenberg Database of Manuscripts

The Schoenberg Database of Manuscripts (SDBM) is an internationally recognized resource for the study of manuscript transmission. It contains over 200,000 manuscript records, representing approximately 90,000 manuscripts produced before 1600. Our records are drawn from over 12,000 auction and sales catalogues, inventories, catalogues from institutional and private collections, and other sources that document sales and locations of manuscript books.

In its current form, the SDBM assists researchers in locating and identifying manuscripts from Europe, Asia, and Africa produced before 1600, establishing provenance, and aggregating descriptive information about specific classes or types of manuscripts. As such, it is the largest repository of manuscript data in the world. Yet, its current organizational structure and technological platform place unnecessary limits on its potential and value. Consequently, the University of Pennsylvania Libraries has begun a redevelopment of the SDBM to become an online, user-driven, collaborative tool for studying the history of manuscript transmission and a universal finding list of the world’s manuscripts.

The outline for the project was presented at the 14th Conference on the Care and Conservation of Manuscripts. The present paper will provide an update on progress made since then and discuss the challenges in creating community-based research tool for manuscript studies.