The Role of the Association for Documentary Editing (ADE)
Founded in 1978, the Association for Documentary Editing (ADE) provides community and resources for individuals working on recovery of texts, setting standards and sharing best practices that reflect a commitment to the highest professional standards in transcription, editorial methods, and indexing. Further, the ADE supports the journal Scholarly Editing and promotes active research in the field, including uncovering and sustaining the cultural record, the use of editing methodologies in the college and university classroom, and the publication of microeditions. The ADE also serves as a liaison to federal funding agencies as a benefit to members.
ADE aims to foster connections among individuals engaged in editing, recovery, and other research activities, which we support and encourage at our annual conference.
Resources for Aspiring Documentary and Recovery Projects
Each editing project operates uniquely, depending on its subject and scope. Some projects are led by a single editor, while others are larger, collaborative efforts involving teams of scholars. For thorough education on the formation of an editing project, please visit the online repository of courses at eLaboratories.org. Below is a brief description of the editing process, with the emphasis that editing projects can take many paths and what falls below is only a brief sketch for illustrative purposes:
- Item Collection: The first step in any project is to gather copies of all relevant items, which may include documents, material objects, oral history recordings, etc. In some cases, this collection can number in the hundreds of thousands of items.
- Cataloging: Once gathered, the items are cataloged, often using databases, to organize the collection for easy reference.
- Selection: Editors select which items will be published, taking into account the project’s scope, format, and intended audience.
- Transcription and Proofreading: Editors transcribe or detail the items from their original forms, often using facsimiles, and then proofread the text multiple times to ensure accuracy and fidelity to the originals.
- Annotation and Contextualization: Editorial notes and annotations are added to provide context for the reader, offering contextual background and explanations for the item’s significance.
- Publication: Practitioners must decide how to publish their materials. Print editions require a manuscript for publication, which typically involves proofreading, formatting, and preparing an index for each volume. For digital editions, which are increasingly the norm in our field, the items are often transcribed and encoded to be searchable, combining text and images in a digital format.
Projects produce a range of related scholarly materials, such as articles, exhibits, websites, and teaching aids, which make the works of historical figures accessible to scholars, students, and the general public. Some of this scholarship can be found in Scholarly Editing.
The Impact of Documentary Editing
The work done by the ADE, its members, and collaborative spaces like **eLaboratories** not only helps to preserve and publish important historical documents, but it also facilitates broader access to these materials. By making key texts available in multiple formats—from traditional printed editions to online, searchable databases—documentary editing serves as an essential tool for scholars, students, and the public alike. In doing so, it ensures that the legacies of important figures and historical moments continue to inform and inspire future generations.
