10,385 theses down, 2,115 to go!

Posted on January 10, 2018 by Gavin Willshaw

The Library’s project to digitise its entire collection of PhD and doctoral level theses is now entering its final phase, with the team on track to have all 17,000 volumes scanned by May and online by the end of 2018.

To date, the team has digitised 10,385 individual theses out of an internal target of 12,500 – in total, over 2.6 million pages have been scanned, making this the largest digitisation project the Library has ever undertaken. In addition to the work in-house, approximately 4,500 volumes were outsourced to Autodocs, our scanning partner, in 2017.

Robbie Burns’ Moustache: one of the 10,385 theses digitised to date. Accessible at https://www.era.lib.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/21286

We have now almost completed the scanning of the 20^th and 21^st century collections, and the 19^th century handwritten theses are due to be digitised by the end of January. The final three months of the project will then be dedicated to digitisation of the older printed Latin volumes – medical theses dating from the mid 18^th to mid 19^th centuries. A small collection of even earlier theses, dating from as far back as 1599, will be photographed by our colleagues in the Digital Imaging Unit.

After digitisation, the theses are uploaded to the Edinburgh Research Archive (ERA), where they are available to download for free. We have now uploaded over half of the collection to ERA, and by the end of January we will be ahead of our target to have all Edinburgh PhDs online by the end of 2018.

Theses digitised by this project are currently being downloaded over 3,000 times per month, with the most popular to date being The Social differentiation of English in Norwich by Peter Trudgill, which has been accessed almost 350 times since it was added to ERA last year. Other popular titles include Myo-Mint’s Study of the interpersonal dimension of narrative fiction with specific reference to power and control in Muriel Spark’s Memento mori and its implications for the teaching of English literature in a TEFL context (272 downloads) and Ji-Hwan Song’s Business ethics and the corporate manipulation of expressions (256 downloads).

Title page for Peter Trudgill’s PhD – The Social Differentiation of English in Norwich. Accessible at https://www.era.lib.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/16333

We will be showcasing some of these works in an exhibition that will be running in the CRC at the end of the year. As well as telling the story of the Edinburgh PhD from the earliest 16^th century disputations through to the modern, A4, typed and bound thesis, the exhibition will feature examples of interesting authors, unusual topics and highlight some of the more surprising things we have found within the humble PhD volumes.

Giulia’s recent blog post mentioned some of these – we’ve also come across items ranging from the grisly (laminated slices of human lung) to the darkly comedic (a bullet in a thesis which the author had accidentally shot himself with). And that’s not even mentioning the test tubes, vials and envelopes of mysterious white powder that have been unearthed by the team over the last two years…

Bullet in a thesis

Now that the project is entering its final phase, we are beginning to discuss how the content might best be used once all digitised theses are online. There is already strong demand for researchers for digital theses but we are keen to explore other ways that we can make use of, and open up, this large data set. In addition to work we’ve already undertaken with uploading a thesis to Wikisource, our Digital Scholarship Developer Mike Bennett is exploring how we can match digitised theses to their author pages on Wikipedia using authority records, as well as working on a tool which enables the bulk generation of Wikidata records for theses.

Keep an eye out for further updates as we enter the final stages of the project.

Gavin Willshaw (gavin.willshaw@ed.ac.uk)

Images of early Islamic architecture: a record of destroyed antiquities in Iraq and Syria

Posted on January 12, 2017 by fmowat

Aleppo. Madrasa al Zahariyeh

The aim of our PhD thesis digitisation project is to make available the unique research of the University of Edinburgh. This research has a greater significance when, within the pages of the theses, we uncover photos of places and buildings that no longer exist; our collection becomes important for the future preservation of world cultural heritage.

In the past year a great deal of research has been undertaken on collecting images of Palmyra that date to a period before it was damaged (in 2015), as well as of other Syrian archaeological sites.[1] Much of this work depends upon using archival images of the areas in question, often from personal collections. Such images can aid with digital, and perhaps eventually physical, reconstructions. Some of the items that we have scanned as part of our thesis digitisation project, and that are now available on ERA (Edinburgh Research Archive, by ‘Abbū ,1973 and Al-Janābī 1975), also include images of buildings destroyed or damaged in past few years, not just in Syria but also in Iraq.

In the last year much media attention was given to those buildings and archaeological sites which date to the pre-Islamic era, such as Palmyra. However, many early Islamic structures and sites have also been subject to destruction, although these are often less well publicised. Furthermore due to the turbulent situation in the areas in question it can be rather difficult to ascertain if a building has been destroyed or when damage took place.

Although there may be little that can be done to prevent this destruction, we can ensure to properly look after and maintain documents relating to the artefacts in question and make them publicly available so that these can be used for digital reconstructions. This blog will focus, in particular, on those early-Islamic buildings destroyed in 2013/14 in Aleppo (Syria), Samarra (Iraq), and in Mosul (Iraq).

Mosul. Mausoleum of al-Imam Yayha ibn al-Qasim.

The two theses mentioned above and dating from the 1970’s, contain images of buildings in these areas: The Ayyubid domed buildings of Syria by ‘Ᾱdil N. ‘Abbū (1973) and Studies in Mediaeval Iraqi Architecture by Ṭāriq Jawād Al-Janābī (1975). Both theses present a catalogue of monuments. In the first the Ayyubid dynasty is examined over the period from AD 541-1260, focusing on the areas of Damascus and Aleppo. The second thesis covers the time period between the 6^th and the 8^th centuries AD and areas ranging from Baghdad, Wasit, Mosul, Al-Kifil, Kufa, Basra and Amadiya. The contents of the first chapter are wide ranging, reading: the Saljuq period, the Abbasid Caliphate during the 6^th to 7^th centuries A.H., the Atabikids of Iraq, the Mongol invasion and the Ilkhanid Period, the Jalairids.

Aleppo. Madrasa al Zahariyeh

The types of monuments discussed in both works include: madrasas (koranic schools; some of these built at the request of the Sunni madhab),[2] turbas, mosques, ribats, minarets, palaces and mausolea.

These works are so important for preserving the past because they include many good quality photographs, including of the type of minor decorative details that are difficult to reproduce accurately, such as wood and stucco windows and façades.[3]

Samarra. Mausoleum of Imam Dur.

Mosul. Mausoleum of Imam Bahir.

Mosul: mausoleum of Imam Bahir.

Mosul. Mausoleum of Imam Bahir.

To highlight the importance of these works a selection of photos from the theses are included, depicting buildings that are now damaged or destroyed. In Aleppo: the Al-Sultaniyeh mosque and the madrasa Al-Halawiyah. The Imam-al-Daur in Samarra. In Mosul: the masjid of al-Imam Ibrahim, the mausoleum of Imam Bahir, that of al-Immam Muhsin, the shrine of al-Imam Yahya ibn al-Qasim, and that of al-Imam ‛Awn al-Din (known as Ibn al-Hasan).

Aleppo: the Al-Sultaniyeh Mosque

Aleppo. Madrasa al Zahariyeh

Also known as the Al-Sultaniyah Madrasa, this 12^th century building incorporates several rooms around the courtyard known as the Madrasaa al Zahariyeh. It was destroyed on December 7^th 2014.[4]

Aleppo: the Madrasa Al-Halawiya

This Byzantine cathedral became a madrasa (Koranic school) in the 13^th century. Attempts were made in 2013 to protect one of the wooden niches dating from this time. However this work had to be abandoned due to the conflict in the area.[5] The building was damaged recently in the same incident that destroyed the great mosque, with which it shared grounds.[6]

Samarra: the Mausoleum of Imam al-Daur

Samarra: the mausoleum of Imam al-Daur

Dating from 1085, this Shia shrine was destroyed in October 2014.[7]

Mosul: Masjid of al-Imam Ibrahim

Mosul. Masjid of al-Imam Ibrahim.

This building now appears to be destroyed in satellite photography.[8]

Mosul: the Mosque and Shrine of al-Imam al-Bahir

Mosul. Mosque of Imam Bahir.

This shrine was likely destroyed in September 2014.[9]

Mosul. Mausoleum of al-Imam al-Bahir

Mosul: the Mosque and Tomb of al-Imam Muhsin

Mosul. Mosque and tomb of al-Imam Muhsin (al-Madrasa al-Nuriya)

Also known as the madrasa al-Nuriya, this 11^th century site was likely destroyed between December 2014 and December 2015.[10]

Mosul: the Shrine of al-Imam Yahya ibn al-Qasim

Mosul. Mausoleum of al-Imam Yahya ibn al-Qasim

This 13^th century Shia shrine located on the Tigris riverbank and was destroyed as of July 2014.[11]

Mosul: Shrine of al-Imam ‛Awn al-Din (known as Ibn al-Hasan)

Mosul. Mausoleum of Imam ‘Awn al-Din.

One of the few structures to survive the Mongol invasion of Iraq, this 13^th century shrine was reportedly destroyed on the 25^th of July 2014.[12]

While it is impossible to undo the damage wreaked in some of the most archaeologically rich parts of this world, and there is frustratingly little that can be done to reverse the far greater loss of human lives, it is perhaps a small comfort to know that in some way we may contribute to the future preservation and potential reconstruction (digital or otherwise) of important monuments that are now lost.

Bibliography and further information

‘Ᾱdil N. ‘Abbū (1973) The Ayyubid domed buildings of Syria, PhD thesis, University of Edinburgh.

Ṭāriq Jawād Al-Janābī (1975) Studies in Mediaeval Iraqi Architecture, PhD thesis, University of Edinburgh.

UNESCO on the ancient city of Aleppo: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/21

UNESCO on Iraq: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/21 and http://whc.unesco.org/en/news/1239/

Monuments of Mosul in danger: http://monumentsofmosul.com/

Blue Shield Press on monuments in Syria and Iraq: http://www.ancbs.org/cms/en/press-room

A recent conference was held at the University of Edinburgh on Syria (between the departments of History, Classics and Archaeology, Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies and the Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies).

References

[1] Some recent examples of this work: http://futurism.com/3d-imaging-is-helping-us-save-history-for-the-future/ and http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/next/ancient/digital-preservation-syria/

[2] see Abbu (1993), p. ii.

[3] Al-Janabi, (1975) chapter VI; and Abbu (1973) sections 4, 5 and 8.

[4] http://hyperallergic.com/168740/syrian-military-bombs-significant-13th-century-complex/ and http://www.syriaphotoguide.com/home/aleppo-al-sultaniyeh-mosque-%D8%AD%D9%84%D8%A8-%D8%AC%D8%A7%D9%85%D8%B9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B3%D9%84%D8%B7%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%8A%D8%A9/ and http://apsa2011.com/apsanew/aleppo-partial-destruction-of-the-al-sultaniah-mosque-following-an-explosion-07-12-2014/#jp-carousel-4714

[5] http://apsa2011.com/apsanew/4074/

[6] http://www.syriaphotoguide.com/home/aleppo-great-mosque-%D8%AD%D9%84%D8%A8-%D8%AC%D8%A7%D9%85%D8%B9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%83%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%B1/ and http://eamena.arch.ox.ac.uk/impact-risks/explosives/

[7] https://www.cemml.colostate.edu/cultural/09476/iraq05-057.html

[8] http://monumentsofmosul.com/list2/18-i16

[9] Current satellite image: http://monumentsofmosul.com/list2/26-i35

[10] Current satellite image http://monumentsofmosul.com/list2/27-i37 and https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=017b3a45d45f439bb5e595491b9dc826

[11] http://monumentsofmosul.com/list2/8-i4 and http://archnet.org/sites/4356 and http://www.iraqinews.com/features/urgent-isil-destroys-1400-year-old-mosque-located-west-mosul/

[12] http://monumentsofmosul.com/list2/9-i5 and https://conflictantiquities.wordpress.com/2014/07/28/syria-iraq-islamic-state-destruction-shrine-mashhad-al-imam-awn-al-din/ and http://archnet.org/sites/3841

The Invisible Cities Of Edinburgh

Posted on September 29, 2016 by mlogan

[Click images for full-size view]

This study is concerned with examining the evolution of status areas in the context of Edinburgh. Status areas were defined in three period analyses in 1855, 1914 and 1962…

(Gordon, 1971, vol.1:(i))

Only the second volume of this thesis was able to be scanned at this time, and so the many maps, charts, and illustrations it contained were all discovered without the context of the main volume. Despite this, they still provide evocative snapshots of a former time.

Invisible Cities (Calvino, 1972/1974) also examines how cities change, and how they must continue to change lest they become a dead city, like Troy. Each of the snapshots below, shows a very different city with different characters and different purposes, of different smells and appearances, and very different populations: “cities of delight and desire, cities tinged with regrets, vibrant cities, failing cities, seemingly impossible cities that defy logic and time” (Yuen, 2015) and each pretending to the same name and approximate location of ‘Edinburgh’. Continue reading →

Destructive scanning of duplicate theses

Posted on September 2, 2016 by pmarsden

Hello, I’m Pete Marsden one of the digitisation assistants working out at the Gyle in West Edinburgh, and this is what I get up to……..

Here is a sneak peek behind the scenes at the library annexe where the thesis digitising team are hard at work. We have over 20,000 theses, most of which are duplicates, to scan over the next 18 months.

The theses are double checked on our spreadsheet to ensure that they are indeed duplicates and haven’t previously been scanned, when we are happy with this, the thesis has its boards removed with a sharp knife.

Removing the boards with a Stanley knife

The next stage is to remove the binding using a manual guillotine and a bit of elbow grease. The thesis is now ready to move on to the scanning stage.

Removing the binding with a manual guillotine

A Kodak i4250 document scanner is utilised for this step, this scans at 150 pages per minute producing pdf format files which are then sent to the image processing stage (more of which later).

Kodak i4250 document scanner

Next time we will look at the image processing using Limb software.

Lost in translation: marble’s marvels

Posted on August 22, 2016 by ggiganti

When we think about submitting a piece of academic work/reserach, whether it is a PhD thesis, an essay or an article, standardisation always comes to mind. Formatting, referencing, and structuring are an integral part of academic writing and although most students dread the final adjustments, they are necessary. Most of us have been

Figure 1
Detail of a marbled endpaper

encouraged to use specific fonts, framing the page with xx margins, using formulaic headers. Personally, during my studies, I stayed away from unusual/somewhat artistic document structures and layouts, used the paper provided by the library’s printer and applied Cambria à gogo. I was required to provide both print and digital versions of my essays, but always followed the department guidelines. I did not think much of it. I understood that beautiful formatting was not necessary and might have cost me time and efforts.

Standardisation is a key component of essay writing but it was not so crucial in the past. Digitising theses from different decades of the 20^th century, we have noticed how free the students were when it came to producing and printing their own work. Not all theses have acknowledgements, indexes, or even page numbers. They are printed on different sheets of papers, bound by different covers. Some early theses are of course, are handwritten and impossible therefore to ‘standardise’ But even with the spread of typewriters, homogeneity was hard to achieve; an Olivetti might have a different font from an IBM typewriter. Here at the Library Annexe, we have seen thesis bound in snakeskin leather, cardboard, and dealt with a lot of poor quality carbon copies. Authors seemed free to experiment with what suited them, what they found most aesthetically pleasing (and probably with what they could afford.).

Figure 2
A Marbling bath

Working in digitisation gives you the privilege of dealing closely with physical collections items, scrutinising them, handling physical objects every day, We have the opportunity to experience all the material that gets lost in the digital translation: the binding, the weight and sometimes the smell and texture of the book. After looking at hundreds of theses, spotting differences gets easy. One thing I love to keep my eye on is marbled endpapers (figures1,3,4,5).

Marbling is a printing technique that creates patterns similar to the ones naturally found in stone marble. In paper marbling, paint colours are transferred to a liquid surface, usually water or other adhesive solutions. With the help of chemicals, colours float on the surface and it is possible to manipulate them, creating different patters.Sheets of paper are the immersed into the liquid mixture (bath) .The patterns are then transferred into the paper. It creates monotype prints, so all marbled papers are unique works.

Figure 3 More marbled endpaper

Paper marbling is widely used in bookbinding and has ancient origins. Scholars are in dispute on its birth place; Japan, China and Turkey have their own historical traditions of paper marbling. In Europe, marbling arrived in the Netherlands first, in the 17^th-century.

So far, at the Annexe we have encountered beautiful marbled endpapers from the 20th-century. Most of them created by Edinburgh-based bookbinders. Figure 1 and 5 look very similar; they were probably created by the same bookbinder. He/she used the overprinting technique Overprinted papers have been ‘marbled’ twice, the first marbling transferred through bathing ; the second marbling is instead printed over the first one using a lithographic process.
Image x instead shows an example of nonpareil papers.

“This pattern is created when the desired colors are dropped sequentially onto the bath using some sort of implement to regulate the drop sizes. A comb with one set of teeth set at intervals of 15-30mm is drawn through the bath horizontally, once in either direction with the second pass halving the first. Then another comb with teeth set at 2-3 mm is drawn once across the bath vertically (or horizontally)”

Figure 4 Even more marbled endpaper

Image 4 was most likely created using a piece of paper laid out on a flat surface coated with a color. Then marbling brushes would be used to sprinkle color directly onto the surface causing the characteristic spots of dispersed (bleeding) ink to be absorbed into the paper. This specific technique is called papier tourniquet.

These are only a few examples of end papers we have spotted in theses so far and I am sure there are more to come.When reading pdfs online we tend to leave bookbinding and all its artistry behind. As digitisers though, we have the opportunity to document what goes behind the scenes and bring to light what gets lost in the ‘translation’ from physical to digital.

More about paper marbling here:

Examples of a digitised collection of marble papers:
http://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/cdm/search/collection/dp

More on paper marbling technique can be found reading:

Figure 5
guess what: marbled endpaper again

First batch of digitised theses available on ERA!

Posted on July 29, 2016 by Gavin Willshaw

We are pleased to announce that the first batch of approximately 80 PhD theses is now available online through ERA, our online institutional repository! https://www.era.lib.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/15956

The theses have initially been uploaded in a bulk import and will be redistributed by cataloguing staff to appropriate collections before the next upload in August.They all date from 1900 to the present day and include handwritten and typewritten PhDs; all typed theses have been OCR-ed and are searchable by keyword.

The collection covers a broad range of academic subjects, ranging from explorations of disease through to microbiology, chemistry and histories of the Middle East. Some of the most popular, and slightly unexpected, topics include:

We will continue to add more theses to the collection throughout the project – access them all at: https://www.era.lib.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/15956

Cemeteries in the 60’s

Posted on July 22, 2016 by fmowat

Slide4crop

Iron Age burial excavated at Châlons-sur-Marne, France (Ritchie: 1968)

Highlights from the PhD digitisation project

Exploring the theme of cemeteries and memorials showcases some of the most visually rich and striking theses that we have seen thus far in our digitisation project. This selection of works date from the 1960’s a period throughout which we see an increase in topics drawn from the Humanities and Social Sciences. The images collated here come from theses discussing subjects raging from martyred saints to housing development and time periods from the Iron Age to 1967.

byzantine1

Discovery of the relics of St. Luke the evangelist in the church of the Holy Apostles (Vat. Grec. 1613, p.121; Powell: 1963)

One such fascinating subject is the depiction of the treatment and burial of martyred saints in the Byzantine era. These images are drawn from the thesis by Ann Powell (1963) entitled “Byzantine landscape painting, with special reference to the Illustrations of the Monologian of Basil II, Vat. Grec. 1613”.

byzantine 2

Funeral of St Matthew (Symeon), (Vat Grec. 1613 p186; Powell: 1963)

The history and culture of Scotland also features prominently. Another gem discusses the period of the 14^th to 17^th centuries including images of the cemeteries and tombs found in Ayrshire (Largs, Skelmorlie Aisle) and Perthshire (Grantully). As part of this work (MR Apted’s, 1964, “painting in Scotland from the 14^th to the 17^th centuries with particular reference to painted domestic decoration 1550-1650) the interior design of this period is recorded with painstaking detail.

house 2

St Mary’s, Grandtully (Apted: 1963)

Skelmorlie Aisle, Largs (Apted: 1964)

The Montgomerie tomb, Skelmorlie Aisle (Apted: 1964)

house1

chapel tomb

A thesis on Celtic weaponry delivers stunning images of burials and funerary stele, from Iron Age France (depicted above) to Roman Britain (below): G Ritchie, 1968, “Celtic defensive weaponry in Britain and its continental background”.

tombstone 1

tombstone 2

Wroxeter (Shropshire) Roman grave stele (Ritchie: 1968)

Colchester Essex, Roman grave stele (Ritchie 1968)

Finally moving all the way from the 1st century AD we reach Edinburgh’s rural fringe development between 1850-1967, in: AJ Strachan, 1969, “The rural-urban fringe of Edinburgh 1850-1967”. In this case we see cemeteries rather oddly paired with recreational areas such as parks, golf course and sports grounds. The darker areas reflect housing developments over time.

rural cemeteries

The development of cemeteries and recreational spaces between 1850 and 1967.(Strachan: 1969)

The theses selected here have been scanned and are currently being processed to be made available online soon. They take us on a journey through the development of research in the Humanities and Social Sciences from 1963 to 1969, but what will the 70’s bring us?

Make sure to follow our next adventure…

PhD digitisation project

Making unique historical Edinburgh research available online

Tag Archives: theses

10,385 theses down, 2,115 to go!

Images of early Islamic architecture: a record of destroyed antiquities in Iraq and Syria

The Invisible Cities Of Edinburgh

Destructive scanning of duplicate theses

Lost in translation: marble’s marvels

First batch of digitised theses available on ERA!

Cemeteries in the 60’s