Data entry instructions for "Networks of Anglophone LGBTQ+ Exile Writers" Project
The main aim of this project is to collect data on the connections between LGBTQ+ Anglophone writers who lived outside of their native countries due to the legal oppression of homosexuality in the United States and the United Kingdom between 1900 to 1969.
Data is first entered in four core categories: People, Locations, Documents, and Aliases. These categories provide information that can be used to enter data on the connections between writers (Aliases Textual Occurrences, Meetings, and Textual Exchanges), which bring together different aspects of the core data.
Searching sources for connections between writers
This project enters data from the published and unpublished memoirs, letters, essays, and diaries of LGBTQ+ exile writers.
In the case of published sources, if available you should find evidence for textual exchanges and meetings between LGBTQ+ exile writers by using the index at the end of the document (for definitions of Textual Exchanges or Meetings, see the relevant sections of this document). In general, if you are working on a specific writer's body of work, it is better to enter letter collections before memoirs as the dates they provide may be useful in dating related events within memoirs, which tend to be vaguer about dating.
If your particular source does not contain an index, search for the writer names in your pdf copy of the text (Strg/Command+F), then follow the same procedure as described above.
Note: You should only enter evidence from the main text of the sources, not additional information provided by the editor in any footnotes or introductions. As a general rule of thumb, only use dates and locations that can be established from the main text of the given source itself, although other sources already entered into the database may give you the information you need.
Entering data for the core data categories (People, Locations, Documents, Aliases)
Below you can find information on all the data fields that need further clarification. It's important to remember that you should enter as much information as you can when making a new data entry, but you can always add more information as you find it in the sources to the database at a later stage.
General spelling and formatting guidelines:
PEOPLE
People entries are only necessary for:
All the core details for data entry-first name and surname, date of birth and death, place of birth and place of death-can be taken from reliable online sources and supplemented with information from the sources for inputting.
The data points below can be updated and amended on the basis of information you find in the different sources.
Queer exile writer: Check this box if they are a LGBTQ+ exile writer. Otherwise leave blank.
Sexual orientation: Use "Queer" to indicate sexualities of authors who did not identify as heterosexual but who resisted categorizing or labelling their sexuality (e.g. James Baldwin).
Use "Indeterminate" when sexual orientation of a particular author cannot be established.
Use "Straight" if the person is married to someone of the opposite sex and there is no mention of same-sex affairs in their biography.
Nationality: Select as many as apply. In case of people who changed citizenship, include all that have applied to them throughout their life.
Religious Heritage: Select as many as apply if an author was both born into a religious family and converted to a specific religion.
Class Background: Use to indicate the class into which the author was born based on family professions and social status.
Occupation: Select as many as apply. We are primarily interested in their work in the creative fields but work in other academic or professional fields may also be recorded.
If you select the "Queer exile writer" box, you can also enter the writer's Place(s) of exile and the Start and end dates of their periods of exile. We are primarily interested in recording periods of exile in the core hubs of Capri, Berlin, Paris, and Tangier, but there are other significant destinations for some figures on the list that should be entered (e.g. E. M. Forster in Alexandria, Egypt or James Merrill in Athens).
If place of exile is not available in list, a new Location entry will be necessary.
LOCATIONS
Name: Be as detailed as possible. It is permissible to have separate entries for cities and regions within cities: London or Kensington [in London].
Note: If names of locations, such as theaters or airports, change over time, enter the name that appears in the given source in this field (i.e. the name of the location at the time a meeting took place), and reference the current name, as well as when it changed, in the location description.
Note: For locations, where queer exile writers lived, rented or owned property for some amount of time, always enter the name of the relevant queer exile writer in the location's title, and the location in brackets-for example, "Gertrude Stein's Apartment (Paris):" If the particular queer exile writer had several homes in the same city, specify further in the location title by adding the street name in brackets-for example, "Gertrude Stein's Apartment (rue de Fleurus, Paris)" and "Gertrude Stein's Apartment (rue Christine, Paris)." If they had several homes in the same street, add the house number to the location title too-for example, "Djuna Barnes' Apartment (111 Waverly Place, New York City)" and "Djuna Barnes' Apartment (122 Waverly Place, New York City)." To summarize the rules here: Only specify further in the location title with the street address in brackets when the queer exile writer had multiple residences in one city or town (or if the residence has a special name). Only specify the house number if they had two residences on the same street. So, if there's more than one address for a queer exile writer in one city or town: add the street name. If there's two or more addresses for a queer exile writer in one street: add the house number.
Note: If the address of the queer exile writer possesses a recognizable name, such as "Rivière House," add the name of the location in brackets to further ensure that it can be easily found when entering it into the database-for example, "Compton and Faith Compton Mackenzie's House (Rivière House, Hayle)."
Type of location: These can be large geographical spaces (island, city) but also institutions and buildings (university, café, restaurant).
Address: Enter if available in the case of institutions and buildings (even if location is no longer existing) from source itself or brief online research. Addresses should include postal/ZIP codes if possible.
Existing location: Click if the location is still in existence.
City, Borough, or State: If it is unclear from the location name alone where the location is within a given country, add more detail (such as the borough, city, or state) by using one of these fields: e.g. Wellington College is in Berkshire [borough]; Hirschfeld's Institute for Sexual Science is in Berlin [city] or Baltimore is in Maryland [state].
Country: Within which the location is found.
Historical country or state: In the case of nation and states that no longer exist (e.g. Prussia), enter the old name and make sure this box is ticked.
Latitude and longitude: To enter this information, find the location in Google Maps. Then right click on either the red location pin or the name of the location. In the pop-up box, click on the coordinates at the top (the first number is latitude and the second longitude). These will then be "copied to clipboard" and you can past them into the field.
Note: Numbers can only be entered into Airtable up to a maximum of 8 decimal places, so it will automatically be shortened the number in the field. Coordinates should be entered for all locations regardless of size.
Granularity in meters: This information will be entered at a later stage. Leave it blank for now.
Location description: Give more details on locations described in the texts that are not widely known or currently in existence, such as the history of particular buildings, when they were destroyed, what groups were associated with them etc. In general, these descriptions should only be used for individual buildings. Only include the information about the location you find in the source itself.
DOCUMENTS
Title: In case of a published work use published title. In case of an archival source use archival document name. For unpublished texts that are described in published documents, use the title the author includes and add as much information as you can find from the source in the subsequent fields.
Note: You do not have to make separate entries for works that appear in collected works (e.g. a poem that appears in a poetry collection). It is only necessary to enter the whole collection as a Document.
Note: If multiple works by one author carry the same name (in the case of, for example, play adaptations of novels or film adaptations of plays) specify the type of document in brackets within the title when entering the given adaptation. For example, enter The Member of the Wedding (the original 1946 novel by Carson McCullers) simply as The Member of the Wedding, but enter the 1951 play adaptation as The Member of the Wedding (play) to avoid identical titles, which can otherwise make it complicated to link new entries to the correct version of the document.
If a particular Document cannot be established from the text, choose the edition or work closest to the date of the exchange between writers.
Not published: Select for unpublished archival sources or unpublished texts described in published documents.
Note: In some cases, the work may only have been published after the date of a particular textual exchange (e.g. two authors discuss an early version of a work before publication). In these cases, do not select "not published," but enter information for the first published edition of the work in the relevant data fields.
Description: Use this field for significant additional details or points on publication history (for example, if this is an alternative version of a published text).
Note: Include names of source texts in Location descriptions when you use information from works by queer exile writers about the location. Source documents are not automatically linked to these entries, so users will not always know where the information is coming from: e.g. (John Glassco, Memoirs of Montparnasse 56).
Author(s) or editor(s): If not available in list, a new People entry will be necessary.
Note: In the case of anthologies, journals, or edited collections, use the People table to enter details about the editor. Then write all significant authors contained in the anthology in the Document description field. In the case of magazines (e.g. Harper's Bazaar or the New Yorker), enter the author of the article(s) as author rather than the editor of the magazine.
Editor(s) or translator(s) of document: Check this box if the person or people is/are the editor(s) or translator(s) of the document you are entering data about.
Note: For translated versions of works by a queer exile writer, enter the title of the translation, with the original English title in brackets, for example, Riflessi in un occhio d'or (Reflections in a Golden Eye). Enter the year, place of publication, and publisher of the translated edition, but always enter the queer exile writer as the author, not the translator.
Contributors: Add all the names of Anglophone queer exile writers who contributed work to the given book but did not edit or author the work. Multiple People can be added as Contributors. In the Description box, write details of the extent of the contribution by the given queer exile writer(s), e.g. short story, essay, introduction, blurb.
Place of publication: In the case of multiple publisher locations, choose the first one listed on the copyright page only. If city not available in list, a new Location entry will be necessary.
Note: Place of publication should be taken from the edition of the text you are entering data from. However, in the case of Documents that are alluded but we are not gathering data from, place of publication should be that of the first edition.
Publisher: In the case of magazines or journals, add name of individual publication title rather than the publishing conglomerate that owns the magazine or journal.
Year of publication (edition): The publication date of particular edition you are using. To indicate full year, use e.g. 1984-01-01. In the case of first editions, do not fill in this field. Note: If you are entering a Document that has been read or reviewed by an author but the exact edition cannot be established, enter the first edition in the next data field only: "Year of publication (original)." In general, you should try to link Textual Exchanges to the editions of Documents that are closest in date.
Year of publication (original): The publication date of the first edition (information will be available on copyright page of book). To indicate full year (1984), use e.g. 1984-01-01.
Note: For published novels, enter the first full edition of the text rather than excerpts that were serialized in magazines or journals.
First performance date: In the case of unpublished plays or musical works (e.g. operas), click this box to indicate that the year of publication chosen is the earliest performance date for the work. In the case of published plays, use the first published edition if there is one available rather than first performance date.
Archive name/archive location/collection name/archival holding code: Enter in the case of archival sources. Archive locations should be entered manually not added to the Locations table. The project is interested in mapping publication history not the history of archival holdings.
Type of document clarifications:
Magazine number and issue (if a literary or film magazine or a short work by an author that is published in a magazine): Enter the number and issue of the magazine that is referred to.
Date written (Start) and (End): Include if information is available in source of input or from secondary online sources. Leave blank if not available.
Date certainty: Select if the date the text was written can be established unambiguously from the source.
Start and end time described: If available within the source, this indicates the time period the particular document describes, which may be different from the time it was written or published. If exact day is not known, indicate a full month (March 1984) as follows: 1984-03-01/1984-31-03.
Location written: Enter if information is available from source.
Only enter connections established from the main text of Documents authored by queer exile writers, not from footnotes, forewords, or introductions by other authors or editors. Most of the source texts contain connections between writers from 1900 to 1969 (the main time period of interest for the project), however additional connections outside this timeframe that appear in the same source documents should also be entered.
ALIASES
Include Alias First Name and Surname and the person to whom it corresponds. If person is not available in dropdown list, a new People entry will be necessary.
Entering data for connections between writers (Aliases Textual Occurrences, Textual Exchanges, Meetings)
ALIASES TEXTUAL OCCURENCES
This table is used to enter data on instances where an alias (a fictional nickname for a queer exile writer) is used in a Document. Only the first use of the alias in the document is recorded. It can also be used to enter aliases for people who are not queer Anglophone exile writers but whose identities are nevertheless encoded in texts by queer exile writers.
Alias: If not available, a new Alias entry will be necessary.
Document used: If not available, a new Document entry will be necessary.
Used or decoded: "Used" indicates a use of the alias without disclosing the identity of the person to whom it corresponds. "Decoded" indicates an instance in which a source both uses an alias and reveals the identity of the person to whom it corresponds.
Summary/Description box: Here you can describe in what context the author uses or decodes the alias and how the character/person is more generally described at this moment in the text. These entries should be written in the present tense. If you quote from the source, always include a page number. In description boxes, use direct quotation sparingly, and instead rephrase and paraphrase descriptions of these exchanges in your own words. In the case of unpublished archival documents, direct quotation should be completely avoided.
TEXTUAL EXCHANGES
These are non-physical points of contact between the writers established through their texts and works. Think of them as connections that are established in their writing through creative influence or intellectual engagement. You should enter instances where two LGBTQ+ exile writers correspond with one another, read, review, or see each other's work, or simply allude to one another in their work without indicating a physical meeting. Only connections established through texts in their writings are relevant for the database, not through visual media such as photographs.
Note: Allusions to a person or people should not be confused with meetings. If an author describes a particular interaction between two exile writers, where certain information was exchanged in an implied face-to-face setting, this should be listed as a Meeting, even if the location and date can only be estimated based on the context.
In exceptional circumstances where a review, reading, or a viewing occurs in a face-to-face context, it should be entered both as a meeting and a textual exchange that is described in a particular document.
Document: Source of evidence of textual exchange. If not available, a new Document entry will be necessary.
Note: It is possible to enter more than one Document here if the Reading, Review, or Allusion is comparative, i.e. the comparison of multiple works by one or more queer exile writers or close comparison of a work or works by a queer exile writer and ones by non-queer exile writers. In these cases, all compared Documents should be added to the Textual Exchange. If a writer refers to a work as yet unpublished, use the edition that is published closest in the future to the date of the reference.
Page number: Where the evidence of the textual exchange is found in the document (include page range if applicable with full numbers, e.g. 122-148 or x-xiii if it uses roman numerals). You don't need to include "p." before the numbers.
Agent: The person who does the reading, writes the review or letter, views the play or film, or alludes to another writer. If person is not available in dropdown list, a new People entry will be necessary.
Note: It is possible to add multiple Agents if the Reading, Review, or Allusion etc. is done by more than one queer exile writer. If someone who was not an Anglophone queer exile writer also participates in the Textual Exchange as an Agent (such as by contributing to the Review or sharing in the Reading), they should also be added here.
Type:
Document (if reading, review, allusion, or viewing): This field will appear if you select "Reading," "Review," "Allusion," or "Viewing" under Type. Use it to indicate the particular work being read, reviewed, alluded to, or viewed by the Agent. If not available from dropdown list, a new Document entry will be necessary.
Note: If it cannot be established which edition is being read, reviewed, alluded to, or viewed, enter details in the Documents table for the first edition (in this case, you only need to enter information for Year of publication: original). If there is already an entry for the Document in the database, regardless of the edition, use this one to avoid multiple entries for the same text.
People (if allusion): This field will appear if you select "Allusion" under Type. Use it to indicate the queer exile writers that the agent alludes to within the same part of the document (sentence or short paragraph). If a person is not available in the dropdown list, a new People entry will be necessary.
Start/end date of activity: If available within the source, this indicates the time period of the textual exchange the particular document describes (e.g. time spent reading or reviewing work of another writer). If exact day is not known, indicate a full month (March 1984) as follows: 1984-03-01/1984-03-31. Note: in the case of diary entries or letters, unless they refer to a specific period in the past, add the date of the diary entry or the date the letter was written for BOTH start and end dates. In the case of "Allusions," both the start and end dates may often be the publication date of the document in which the allusion appears.
Note: If a text names a date range as "Spring" or "Summer," use the three full calendar months of that season as the dates for the connection (i.e. Spring = 1 March to 31 May, Summer = 1 June to 31 August etc.)
Summary: Give more details on the textual exchange that is described in the document. These entries should be written in the present tense. If you quote from the source, always include a page number. In description boxes, use direct quotation sparingly, and instead rephrase and paraphrase descriptions of these exchanges in your own words. In the case of unpublished archival documents, direct quotation should be completely avoided.
MEETINGS
Use this table to enter data on physical meetings between two or more queer exile writers. Every individual meeting in a given location should be entered: an individual meeting is defined as taking place over an unbroken length of time in one location. In the case of journeys that two or more writers undertake together, create separate Meeting entries for each stop on the journey that can be established from the text using the available start and end dates.
Note: If one text provides a different account of a meeting already described in another text and entered into the database, enter this one too as it may provide a different perspective on the same event. Third-party meetings should also be recorded, so if two or more queer exile writers are documented as having met in another writer's memoir/letters/diaries it should be entered even if the author of the document itself was not present at the meeting.
Document (evidence of meeting): Source of evidence of meeting. If not available from dropdown list, a new Document entry will be necessary.
Page number: Where the evidence of the meeting is found in the document (include page range if applicable with full numbers, e.g. 122-148 or x-xiii if it uses roman numerals). You don't need to include "p." before the numbers.
Participants: Use this field to enter participants for meetings between two queer exile writers or more. Participants who don't appear on the list should also be entered if they play a significant role in the meeting, such as by facilitating the meeting, being the lover or partner of a queer exile writer, or making noteworthy contributions to the encounter or discussions between the figures. Meetings between one queer exile writer and a person or people who aren't Anglophone queer exile writers should not be entered.
If a participant is not available in dropdown list, a new People entry will be necessary.
Location: Location of meeting. If not available from dropdown list, a new Location entry will be necessary.
Note: In terms of specificity, enter the level of geographical detail that can clearly be established from the source, whether country, county, city, village or address etc. The data on meetings should be as geographically specific as possible. If your document contains evidence that can locate a meeting within a specific building or street, link the meeting as closely as possible to a specific point on the map. Only link meetings to general locations like cities or regions if no other information is provided.
Location certainty: Select if the location of meeting can be established unambiguously from the source.
Start/end date: If available within the source, this indicates the time period of the meeting the particular document describes (e.g. time spent together over an unbroken length of time in one location). If exact day is not known, indicate a full month (March 1984) as follows: 1984-03-01/1984-03-31.
Note: If a queer exile writer refers to a future meeting with another QEW, these instances should nonetheless be added as meetings by adding the estimated or exact future start and end dates of the meeting. It should, however, be added to the Summary that the meeting is only a planned one.
Type of meeting: Select the nature of the meeting from the drop-down menu (holiday, collaboration, business etc.).
Definitions of select meeting types:
Note: You do not need to create a new entry for each new type of meeting if the location and start/end dates of the meeting do not change. In such cases, consolidate the different types of meeting into one overall meeting and select the meeting type that best summarizes most of the content of the meeting, e.g. Living together (long term).
Summary: Give details on the meeting that is described in the document. These entries should be written in the present tense If you quote from the source, always include a page number. In description boxes, use direct quotation sparingly, and instead rephrase and paraphrase descriptions of these exchanges in your own words. In the case of unpublished archival documents, direct quotation should be completely avoided.