Transcribathon 2021: Revealing Recipes

4 March 2021
Revealing Recipes: Top Tips from Early Modern Women:

Lady Sedley’s from the RCP and Lady Ayscough’s from the Wellcome Collection

UPDATE: We’ve added Ann Fanshawe’s manuscript to our transcription for today, because we’ve made such great progress.

Please join the Early Modern Recipe Online Collective (EMROC), Royal College of Physicians (RCP) and the Wellcome Collection for a one-day manuscript adventure on March 4, from 8am to 4pm EST; 1PM to 9 PM GMT. This worldwide event offers a chance to help make two medical recipe books searchable for users around the globe.

Click Here to Start Transcribing

We’ll be transcribing two (make that three) fabulous 17th century medical recipe books: Lady Sedley’s from the RCP and Lady Ayscough’s from the Wellcome Collection. And we’re added Ann Fanshawe’s to ensure we don’t run out of pages. Drop in, or stay all day! 

You’ll have the chance to:

  • Discover more about the history of the books direct from experts at the RCP and Wellcome Collection. Check out the Revealing Recipes schedule of online talks and events here, and register for access 10am-noon EST (3-5 pm GMT) during the transcribathon.
  • Learn about early modern recipes and domestic healthcare.
  • Take part in conversations with experts on Twitter, and more.

And all from the comfort of your own home!

For more background on the manuscripts we’re transcribing this year, see our Ayscough Project and Sedley Project pages. There, you can also find useful videos about the manuscripts, as well as links to their the manuscripts in full.

Transcribers will be working around the globe.  Participants will virtually meet scholars from around the world and emerge from the day with a line for their CV—all from their own home, classroom, or office! NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY – we’ll walk you through the coding and offer pointers on the handwriting.

Keep up with the day’s events here on the EMROC webpage, and on Twitter and Zoom. Felix, assistant archivist at the RCP, will also be on hand @RCPMuseum from 9-9:30am EST,  2-2.30pm, to chat about Lady Sedley’s recipe book and the RCP’s other amazing archives.

We are grateful to the Folger Shakespeare Library for providing a customised transcription platform on From the Page for this event. We’ll be posting more on accessing and using the platform soon.

Interested in joining our Transcribathon virtually? Contact Lisa Smith, at lisa.smith@essex.ac.uk or @historybeagle, or jump in on the day.

On this page, please find a series of resources to orient, help, and inform.

Key links

Transcription FAQ and information about Getting Started with Transcription.

EMROC blog (for quick and dirty blog posts as things happen, as well as more thoughtful posts later)

Twitter (for those of us live-tweeting the event, at #EMROCtranscribes; more suggested hasthtags here)

Revealing Recipes Workshop, with live mini-lectures from scholars and librarians. 

Royal College of Physicians event page.

EMROCK 2021 Spotify Playlist

Pre-transcribathon survey so we can learn more about our participants. (Thank you!!!)