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Re: RAIN: Medici family archives



This story was given very good coverage in the Chronicle of Higher
Education in the February 16th edition.  Worth looking for.  A couple of
excerpts below:

He's Got Mail: a Scholar's Campaign to Unearth the Writings of the Medicis
Millions of unknown letters offer a window into the 16th century
By JENNIFER K. RUARK
Florence, Italy

On a weekday afternoon, throngs of tourists pass right by the
brown-concrete Archivio di Stato di Firenze, just off Piazza
Beccaria.  They're headed toward the Duomo or the Uffizi Gallery, the
Palazzo Vecchio or the Boboli Gardens. But as far as Edward Goldberg is
concerned, this nondescript library is just as intriguing as any
Renaissance cathedral. Sitting in a study off the main room, he seems
oblivious to the incessant ring of a nearby telephone. He is doing what he
loves best: reading other people's mail.

(snip)

In 1993, after turning his back on American academe, he and some friends
founded the Medici Archive Project, a not-for-profit effort to excavate
what he likes to call the equivalent of an Egyptian pyramid or a Mayan
temple. Virtually all of the mail sent or received by Florence's ruling
family between 1537 and 1743 has been preserved -- three million letters,
along with thousands of maps, drawings, orders, and bills of lading,
filling a kilometer of shelf space here in the archives. "It's the most
complete documentary record of any princely regime in early modern Europe,"
says Mr. Goldberg. "Yet we don't know what's in there, except in very broad
outline."

If he has his way, we will. The archive will be fully cataloged and
indexed, allowing scholars to search electronically by artist, patron, or
subject -- be it "fountains and hydraulics" or "toys, games, and sports."
And scholars may someday be able to read the complete documents online from
anywhere in the world. Already, Mr. Goldberg and his research team have
created a guide to thousands of them, providing sample reports on many of
the volumes, background information, and a feature called "Document of the
Month" at a World Wide Web site (http://www.medici.org).
_____________________________________________________________________
Claude B. Zachary                        |          ISD - Special Collections
University Archives & Manuscripts    |  East Library Building 227
czachary@usc.edu                          | University of Southern California
(213) 743-2435                  |    Los Angeles, CA  90089-0182
fax:  (213) 740-2343

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