#But I've already sunk several hours into this so can't give up now! I always vastly underestimate the amount of time it takes too | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

the-busy-ghost · 1 month

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Idk why every time I have a project that involves using the Register of the Great Seal for something even slightly more complex than looking up a single isolated charter, I always have a lovely plan where I think it will only take me a couple of hours to go in, check the index, and take the numbers I need down. And then I end up having to skimread the whole damn volume.

#No I know why #It's because the index is fucked up that's why #All due respect to those Victorian and Edwardian lads who went to the tremendous trouble of compiling all these sources #But this particular method of indexing leaves a lot to be desired #Does NOT have everything I need in it #And by the time you realise that some lands might pop up where least expected you start to convince yourself it would be safer #Just to read the whole thing #It's 800 pages long #I have been at this since 4 and I'm not even an eighth of the way through #Would be much quicker if I had the physical volume but it's a very old rare book so the library have it under strict control #Fortunately of course it HAS been digitised which is fantastic #Lots of sources for mediaeval Scottish history that were compiled into printed editions in the nineteenth century have been digitised #They are very easy to get ahold of and in my biased opinion it is easier to do online primary source research for Scotland than England #But 800 pages staring at a screen (which is NOT a format I can easily retain information from even if it didn't make my eyes hurt)#Having to physically scroll down the page rather than just flip a page #Is just not ideal #And this is the only volume in the series which is on Hathi rather than Internet Archive and personally I find indexes more difficult to us #On Hathi than internet archive #Anyway #That's how you end up making the bad decision to work your way through an 800 page volume and make yourself go blind #Just to find some charters #But I've already sunk several hours into this so can't give up now! I always vastly underestimate the amount of time it takes too #Also a certain degree of Ill as well. Like I feel I have to Suffer For My Craft-suffering being back problems and 19th century antiquarians #Alright this is officially the most boring rant I have ever had

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