Project Team

Dr. Gillian Macdonald, MSU (Principal Investigator)

Morgan Fox, MSU (Undergraduate Assistant)

Summary

This 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. Networking aims to visualize the world of communication via network analysis during the Revolution (1688-1692). Using the papers of the Scottish Secretary of State, prominent figures in the cabinet, intercepted letters, and figures writing back from the colonies, the project investigates place-based analysis, people-based analysis, and event-based analysis. Given the size of the dataset, it allowed for exploratory data analysis and investigation on different digital tools to identify the best representation of the relationships in the papers. One of the main tools we ended up using was the programming language Python. Through the wireframing of network analysis, this project revealed a complex world of communication in late seventeenth century Scotland. In particular, we examine the thousands of letters exchanged, 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.

It brings a new perspective to the historiographical and historical discussion of the so-called "Glorious Revolution". The proiect's PI, Gillian Macdonald, 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 historians to look beyond person-person comparison and begin to see an aggregate visualization of the period in question.

The seventeenth century was a century of revolution in the British Isles, particularly Scotland. 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.

Given this, understanding the relationships is paramount to visualizing the data. 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.

Networking has also been designed with data democratization in mind. As such we are providing published datasets for reuse in two ways:

1. CSVs will be available in the attached GitHub Repository, accessible through the Repository tab.
2. We are also developing an API that will allow users to directly ask questions about the data.

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.