As a research unit of the University of Virginia, IATH's goal is to explore and expand the potential of information technology as a tool for humanities research. To that end, we provide our Fellows with consulting, technical support, applications programming, and networked publishing facilities. We also cultivate partnerships and participate in humanities computing initiatives with libraries, publishers, information technology companies, scholarly organizations, and others interested in the intersection of computers and cultural heritage.
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Leonardo Da Vinci's Treatise on Painting |
Chaco Digital Initiative |
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Circus in America |
Traditions of Exemplary Women |
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The Lives of Saints |
Salem Witch Trials |
The
electronic archive is the first, systematic study of the many manuscripts
of the Treatise on Painting. Characterized by variations of images
and text, the manuscripts themselves contain invaluable internal
evidence, which can be analyzed effectively only through information
technology. The electronic archive will make available the manuscripts
of the abridged Treatise on Painting , allow for the search and comparison
of their texts and images, and thus provide for the systematic study
of the verbal and visual evidence of the manuscripts themselves.
The
Chaco Digital Initiative is a collaborative effort to create an electronic
research archive that will integrate much of the widely dispersed
information on Chacoan history. This integrated archive will allow
scholars to more effectively and efficiently address the many unresolved
issues regarding culture change and organization in the canyon and
in the surrounding region. These issues have broader implications
as well since they are central to achieving a better understanding
of Pueblo history throughout the Southwest and to more broadly studying
the nature of human sociopolitical organization and change.
The
Circus In America, 1793 - 1940 examines the unique characteristics,
cultural impact, and relationships in the development of the circus
as one of the most popular and significant forms of entertainment
in America. The site looks at the circus’ transition from small
performer operated shows into big business. As circuses grew so did
the associated problems. The circus developed unique solutions to
their problems and these solutions were adopted by other industries.
Likewise, the circus learned valuable lessons from industry and used
those ideas to their benefit. Though historians trace the origins of
the modern circus to late eighteenth century England, the circus
reached its height as a popular art form in the nineteenth century
America. Ironically, the transient nature of the early nineteenth
century circus makes it a difficult topic to study. 
This
project focuses on the Lienü zhuan (Traditions of Exemplary
Women) of Liu Xiang (77-6 B.C.), the earliest extant book in the
Chinese tradition solely devoted to the moral education of women.
The book consists of biographical accounts of female role models
in early China and became the standard textbook for women’s
education for the next two millennia. The Lienü zhuan offers
important insights into the culture, politics, and social structure
of early China, as well as into the representation of women in various
phases of China’s history. This project includes a translation
of the text, a book-length study, and a digital archive that will
serve as a publicly accessible tool for scholarly exploration (in
both English and Chinese) of women’s social, legal, and ritual
status as represented in the texts of specific periods in Chinese
history
The "Lives
of the Saints" Project will focus on those Lives that were written
in French (including Anglo-Norman but not Occitan), in verse or prose
or both between c. 880 and 1504 of the Christian era. These texts
(also known collectively as hagiography) were arguably the most widely
enjoyed literary and religious works of the Middle Ages. Today, however,
most of them languish in manuscript vaults and in faulty, rare, century-old
editions; very few have been translated into modern French or English.
One main goal of this project is to demonstrate both the central
role of hagiography in medieval French culture and the inherent appeal
of the works in order to stimulate further research, especially the
preparation of editions and translations that will make the Lives
accessible to all readers.
The
Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive and Transcription Project
consists of an electronic collection of primary source materials
relating to the Salem witch trials of 1692 and a new transcription
of the court records. The Salem witchcraft events began in late February
1692 and lasted through April, 1693. All told, at least twenty-five
people died: nineteen were executed by hanging, one was tortured
to death, and at least five died in jail due to harsh conditions.
Over 160 people were accused of witchcraft, most were jailed, and
many deprived of property and legal rights. Accused persons lived
in the town of Salem and Salem Village (now Danvers) and in two dozen
other towns in eastern Massachusetts Bay Colony.