The purpose of the Primary Source Cooperative at the Massachusetts Historical Society (the Cooperative, MHS) is to publish online the work of editors who are preparing the content of archival and other manuscript records for scholarly and public access. Founded in 2018 with the support of a Digital Edition Publishing Cooperatives planning grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, the Cooperative is a collaboration among the MHS, Northeastern University Library, and, at present, the four founding member editions. With the award of an implementation grant in 2020, the Cooperative is building the infrastructure devised during the planning grant and also pursuing its broader mission: contributing to and cultivating the rich and adaptive environment needed to improve the production of new editions and the growth and accessibility of documentary publishing.
Learn more about the “why” of the Cooperative.
About the Massachusetts Historical Society
Founded in 1791, the Massachusetts Historical Society is an invaluable resource for American history, life, and culture. Its extraordinary collections tell the story of America through millions of rare and unique documents, artifacts, and irreplaceable national treasures. One of the nation’s most respected research libraries, the MHS holds more than 3,600 manuscript collections comprising in excess of 12 million document pages; personal and family papers constitute the core of the manuscript collection. Visitors can also enjoy public talks, tours, exhibitions, and scholarly seminars and conferences, and anyone can view selected digitized collections at www.masshist.org.
About the Digital Scholarship Group at Northeastern University Library
The Digital Scholarship Group is an applied research and development group within the Northeastern University Library. DSG provides expertise, infrastructure, and strategic guidance for researchers and projects at Northeastern, and also works collaboratively to develop inter-institutional projects with groups like the Primary Source Cooperative.