Networking the Revolution is an online project based on a larger scholarly project on the late-seventeenth century revolution in Scotland and the wider British Isles. Events in the late seventeenth-century changed the relationship between the monarch and parliament and set the stage for turbulence as the infant empire would realize as the blast wave of the Revolution rippled through Scotland, Ireland, England, and the larger Atlantic world. The communications revolution between 1450 and 1700 transformed the capacity for Europeans–and those in the British Isles–to communicate and engage with each other. Gutenberg’s printing press and the network of universities around Europe provided useful channels for books, ideas, and letters to travel from country to country. During the late seventeenth century, the evolution of newsletters and newspapers allowed information to travel more quickly along those networks.

The Scottish government, Scottish noblemen and ladies, and others had surprisingly large communication networks that traversed the Atlantic, Europe, and some much further. This project is an ongoing effort to bring together letters connecting important figures during the Revolution of 1688-90 whether Jacobite or Williamite. The letters mainly date from 1688 to 1692. Presently, the project has computationally analyzed extant manuscripts from the Papers of the Leslie Family, Earls of Leven and Melville and the Papers of the Douglas Hamilton Family, Dukes of Hamilton and Brandon, the Secretary of State and High Commissioner for Parliament in Scotland respectively.

We sought to understand a more holistic picture of the conflict as well as reconstitute the networks of communication that existed despite the commotion of the period. The reasoning for studying this conflict is three-fold. First, the Revolution of 1688-90 is still a relatively understudied conflict and has experienced a small efflorescence in recent years. Second, it helps historians understand what ends up being saved in a collection and an archive. Third, by recreating these networks and relationships it allows us to look beyond person-person comparison and begin to see an aggregate visualization of the period in question.

The project is a marriage of early modern Scottish history and computational data science. It brings together methods of network science, prosopography, and traditional early modern political history surrounding communication. Because of this, it brings a new perspective to the historiographical and historical discussion of the so-called "Glorious Revolution".

Using network analysis, we examine thousands of letters that were exchanged during this formative period; where they came from and went to, their contents, and who sent them to who. In doing so, we are investigating contemporary perceptions of communication and networks and historicizing communication that has become central to twenty-first-century understandings of the how people are connected to one and other.

At this present venture there will be almost 2,000 letters represented in the data visuals on this repository and project. In the future, the project will endeavor to include networks concerning the letters of the privy council from 1688-1692 and the Colonial Papers from 1689-1692. These letters are striking not only for their differing perspectives but also because of how interconnected each of the individuals is within the corpora represented in this digital aid. Hopefully this resource will offer new material for the study of the late-seventeenth century revolution.

Funding for this project so far has been generously provided by the DH@MSU Seed Grant Program which has allowed the project to get to where it is. The project is spearheaded in LEADR and will continue to make use of the existing infrastructure and resources that the lab offers to build and grow.