Hello, my name is Annabelle, I study English and Classical Literature and Civilisation and this summer I worked as a Collaborative Research intern for Professor Max Saunders on the “Collected Letters of Ford Madox Ford” Project. I worked with three other interns to transcribe, organise, and research documents and texts by the Impressionist novelist Ford Madox Ford. Our work was guided by some of the editors who are publishing volumes of Ford’s letters, essays, and writing. We had regular Zoom calls and the people I worked with were all very kind, helpful and enthusiastic about the project which made it a welcoming job that was not nearly as daunting or stressful as I anticipated.
The hours were flexible so the work never felt strenuous, some days I decided to do a lot of work and get a few big tasks done, and others I would just take the day off. We were given plenty of time to complete the work, so there was never a big rush to finish a task. I was also given plenty of guidance on what to do and how to do it, and my internship leaders were very accommodating and prompt to respond if I ever had to email them with questions.
I found the work really interesting. I was excited whenever a new batch of work came in because much of it was getting to read and transcribe letters (many of which had never been published) which were over a hundred years old and talking about interesting topics or famous writers. For example, one of the letters I transcribed was a letter from Ford to H. G. Wells about his new book. It was such a fascinating experience and puzzling out Ford’s handwriting was interesting, if sometimes frustrating. Some of the other work I completed was admin related, such as organising files and folders and making sure everything was dated and labelled correctly.
The project taught me a lot about editing and the publishing industry. One thing I learnt was how important basic formatting, organising and labelling is, as well as following a style guide. It can seem insignificant, but it makes all the difference when working with hundreds and hundreds of files and trying to filter through them all, and I have no doubt honing this skill will benefit me in my university work and later career. I also loved getting to be part of such a multi-faceted and interesting project and being able to work on a published book. As someone who wants to go into this industry in the future it was very beneficial to have this experience and to confirm that it was something I enjoyed and would like to pursue.
Overall, I would highly recommend the Collaborative Research Internship, it was the perfect gateway into publishing, and I had a lot of fun while also getting to make some extra money over the summer.
Annabelle Ellis, BA English Literature and Classical Literature & Civilisation