Reconstructing student reading habits in eighteenth-century Glasgow: enlightenment systems and digital reconfigurations

Sangster, M. , Baston, K. and Aitken, B. (2021) Reconstructing student reading habits in eighteenth-century Glasgow: enlightenment systems and digital reconfigurations. Eighteenth-Century Studies, 54(4), pp. 935-955. (doi: 10.1353/ecs.2021.0098)

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Abstract

This essay discusses eighteenth-century student borrowings from the University of Glasgow, using these as a case study to examine how digital transformations of manuscript sources might help us move beyond received narratives and technologies of Enlightenment. It argues that while many of the assumptions of digital systems are inherited from Enlightenment discourses, freeing data from the confines of physical space using simple digital approaches has considerable potential for allowing us to construct a fuller, more detailed, and more democratic history of eighteenth-century readers and reading, surfacing idiosyncrasies, continuities, sociality, and forms of interconnection.

Item Type:Articles
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Aitken, Mr Brian and Sangster, Professor Matthew and Baston, Dr Karen
Authors: Sangster, M., Baston, K., and Aitken, B.
College/School:College of Arts & Humanities > School of Critical Studies > English Language and Linguistics
College of Arts & Humanities > School of Critical Studies > English Literature
Journal Name:Eighteenth-Century Studies
Publisher:Johns Hopkins University Press
ISSN:0013-2586
ISSN (Online):1086-315X
Published Online:17 August 2021
Copyright Holders:Copyright © 2021 ASECS
First Published:First published in Eighteenth-Century Studies 54(4): 935-955
Publisher Policy:Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy

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Project CodeAward NoProject NamePrincipal InvestigatorFunder's NameFunder RefLead Dept
300859Enlightenment Readers in the Scottish UniversitiesMatthew SangsterThe Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland (CARNEGTR)RIG007479Arts - English Literature