Workshop day at the British Library, March 2025
In late March, the project team visited the British Library for a day of discussion about Elgar, themes, sources, works, and cataloguing.
Sandra Tuppen and Chris Scobie from Music Collections at the Library - both of whom are consultants for the project - summarised the Library's extensive holdings of Elgar manuscripts and correspondence, including recent and future acquisitions. Chris gave a summary of how the Library's collecting policies have changed over time, and how these intersect with library- and archive-oriented approaches to cataloguing and managing collections (which can be quite different). Sandra filled us in on the Library's Elgar-related digitisation projects and plans.
Two sessions were spent surveying an array of manuscript and printed sources for two 'case study' works - The Apostles and Introduction and Allegro. This gave us a hands-on opportunity to consider ways in which our catalogue might be able to represent the complexities of Elgar's manuscripts, especially as many sketch sources contain material relating to multiple (sometimes linked) works. We were especially pleased to be shown the Library's newly-acquired sketches for the Introduction and Allegro (read more about these here).
The day also allowed for discussions around metadata requirements and technological models for the digital catalogue, visions for what our planned digital companions may look like, and how ideas of 'theme' are starting to take shape. At the end of the day, John Norris gave updates from Elgar Works, which prompted consideration of how ongoing projects from different partners and institutions may intersect in the digital space. We look forward to our next workshop!