Sarah Coles Stevenson: Window to the Transatlantic World
Panel
1B: A New Model for Digital Editing: Founding Women and Federated Documentary Edition
Abstract
In 1789, Sarah Coles Stevenson was born in Virginia to John Coles II and Rebecca Elizabeth Tucker Coles. In 1816, she married Andrew Stevenson, a rising star in Virginia’s Democratic Party. Their only child, a daughter, died young. In 1836, President Andrew Jackson named Andrew Stevenson ambassador to Great Britain. Coles Stevenson moved with her husband to London, where they remained for five years as he carried out his work. Though she was elite, then, Stevenson led no extraordinary, independent life. Other women in the Founding Women project were movers and shakers unto themselves. Stevenson was not. She authored no books; she championed no causes. Her primary identities were as a wife, a sister, and a daughter. I argue that this is exactly what makes her an integral inclusion in the Founding Women project. Stevenson’s position as wife of an ambassador, without an occupation of her own, allowed her to observe and interact with an incredible range of people, places, and events. And her sense of duty as a sister prompted her to write voluminous letters to her siblings in America about everything she saw. From her perch in London, Stevenson commented on British high politics and culture, American politics and culture, consumption habits, material culture, gender norms, and more. The breadth of these letters will thus interest historians of many different subspecialties. The letters’ breadth is also what lends them well to digitization. A hard-copy edition of her papers would not be able to explain, let alone explore, the many different people and places with which Stevenson came into contact on a daily basis. Editorial decisions would have to be made based on who would be most likely to use Stevenson’s papers, resulting in an edition that would cater primarily to Americanists. A digital edition, on the other hand, will allow us to link to explanations of the vast majority of British, American, and Continental people and places. Digitally tagging everything from British politicians to French fashion to American elections will allow Stevenson’s papers to reach their full potential as an invaluable resource for scholars in many different fields, on both sides of the Atlantic.
Sarah Coles Stevenson: Window to the Transatlantic World
In 1789, Sarah Coles Stevenson was born in Virginia to John Coles II and Rebecca Elizabeth Tucker Coles. In 1816, she married Andrew Stevenson, a rising star in Virginia’s Democratic Party. Their only child, a daughter, died young. In 1836, President Andrew Jackson named Andrew Stevenson ambassador to Great Britain. Coles Stevenson moved with her husband to London, where they remained for five years as he carried out his work. Though she was elite, then, Stevenson led no extraordinary, independent life. Other women in the Founding Women project were movers and shakers unto themselves. Stevenson was not. She authored no books; she championed no causes. Her primary identities were as a wife, a sister, and a daughter. I argue that this is exactly what makes her an integral inclusion in the Founding Women project. Stevenson’s position as wife of an ambassador, without an occupation of her own, allowed her to observe and interact with an incredible range of people, places, and events. And her sense of duty as a sister prompted her to write voluminous letters to her siblings in America about everything she saw. From her perch in London, Stevenson commented on British high politics and culture, American politics and culture, consumption habits, material culture, gender norms, and more. The breadth of these letters will thus interest historians of many different subspecialties. The letters’ breadth is also what lends them well to digitization. A hard-copy edition of her papers would not be able to explain, let alone explore, the many different people and places with which Stevenson came into contact on a daily basis. Editorial decisions would have to be made based on who would be most likely to use Stevenson’s papers, resulting in an edition that would cater primarily to Americanists. A digital edition, on the other hand, will allow us to link to explanations of the vast majority of British, American, and Continental people and places. Digitally tagging everything from British politicians to French fashion to American elections will allow Stevenson’s papers to reach their full potential as an invaluable resource for scholars in many different fields, on both sides of the Atlantic.