DHCommons

We are interested in the creation of an online "Alcott Archive," a site for scholarly editions of the works of Louisa May Alcott, for personal papers related to Alcott and her circle (including her father Bronson), for scholarship and reference related to the study of Alcott, her writings, career and cultural context. The site would be a one-stop location to access all of Alcott's texts from the well-known (such as Little Women) to the recently re-discovered or uncollected or out-of-print. It would include her anonymous and pseudonymous work, her works for adults and for children, her novels and stories, her published and unpublished writings.

It might also be an opportunity to publish works that are unlikely to ever be published or become widely available for scholars and students. For example, Bronson Alcott's voluminous journals have a great deal of value to scholars working on Transcendentalism, Louisa Alcott, educational theory in the nineteenth-century, and much more. It's unlikely that the whole could ever be edited and published in book form; the economics of it seem cost prohibitive. An online site with scholarly editors and peer-review might, however, be a feasible project.

The project idea currently has support from the Louisa May Alcott society, Hathi Trust, and Kansas State University. We are currently in the process of deciding what we want, what we need, and with whom we would need to work. We are in the very first stages of development, but we are interested in working with others to make this project a reality.