Anne Lister Research Summit

An inclusive online conference for Anne Lister research enthusiasts

The Summit's goal is to bring together people interested in researching Anne Lister to share knowledge and develop collaborations.

WHAT TO EXPECT

The Summit, previously an annual three-day event, will now consist of smaller programs hosted three times a year. This new format allows us to provide more frequent opportunities for engagement and collaboration throughout the year, while also making it easier to fit attendance into your schedule. Over the course of these events you'll get to:

Connect and have fun with people who share your enthusiasm and excitement about Anne Lister, her people, and her time—not just making new acquaintances, but creating collaborations that last.
Be part of hands-on sessions exploring how to pursue your topics of interest using accessible historical documents and available technology—in these sessions you actively participate and learn.
Bring who you are into a conference that thinks about the program, the schedule, the collaboration dynamics—as well as ways to celebrate everything you have to share.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE

Our Summit events include a variety of session formats, encouraging participation.

Sessions can include a mix of facilitated discussions, workshops, and showcases centered around sharing and exploring existing information about Anne Lister, how individuals are conducting research to date, and discussions about what the Summit participants want to explore in the future.

To develop a program that covers a variety of interests and topics within the realm of Anne Lister research that is reflective of what our community is looking for, we'll open a call for participation to solicit session ideas so you can tell us what you want to bring to each Summit.

The events will happen online on live video, to allow for the broadest number of participants across the globe, and to reduce barriers of entry presented by the need to travel.

VALUES TO BUILD ON

We hope to build a strong community on the following values:

We elevate Anne Lister, the person

By focusing on the historical information available in primary sources and interpreting Anne’s own words through her journals and letters, we honor her legacy and elevate her story.

We are inquisitive and respectful

By being open to different perspectives and interpretations of Anne Lister, we engage in meaningful debate that helps expand our collective understanding of her life and times, enriching the discourse about who she was and her life experience.

We explore in the open

By sharing our work and processes, we bring visibility and greater access to Anne Lister's history and encourage more people to become interested and knowledgeable about her life and times.

We support one another

By offering each other our expertise and empathy, we find new collaborators, help each other learn, and expand access and strengthen the quality of Anne Lister research available to all.

We will strive for excellence following our code of conduct for guidance and support.

THE SUMMIT HISTORY

Interest in Anne Lister exploded over 2019-2020 thanks to Gentleman Jack’s popularity.
The WYAS Diary Transcription Project engaged over 150 people worldwide with the goal of fully transcribing Anne Lister’s diaries for the first time.
A large number of new Anne Lister fans started to conduct independent research to learn more about her life and times.

In 2020, the Summit established a forum for fostering a growing global community of people who share an interest in uncovering and understanding the lives of Anne Lister and those in her circle with historical context through open, collaborative, and accessible research.

Our mission is to promote a greater understanding of Anne Lister and her contemporaries and elevate their legacies. We share knowledge openly as we discover more about the people and events in Anne Lister’s life, to explore with and learn from each other.

We hope the Summit facilitates people researching Anne Lister finding each other, exchanging knowledge, and developing common practices in AL research with a low barrier of entry. We are all excited about Anne, Ann, Mariana, and everyone and everything in-between—including you.

The Summit Squad

We have spent the last five years researching, transcribing, visiting archives and libraries, hunting for graves, trolling databases, writing, proofreading, fact-checking, spreadsheeting, making web pages, sharing information, promoting resources, and facilitating conversations and partnerships with a variety of people out in the world who share our desire to understand and promote Anne Lister.

With the lessons learned from our experience hosting the first Anne Lister Research Summit and running PackedWithPotential.org, we’ve assembled an experience packed with discussions, workshops, panels, and tutorials. We hope this summit will promote a better understanding of Anne Lister and help advance the many avenues of research into her life.

Squad Emeritus

Volunteers whose contributions to previous Summits are too invaluable to go unmentioned, whether they are actively scheming with the rest of the squad or taking a break.

Janneke van der Weijden

🎩 LOOKING FOR GENTLEMAN JACK?

We love fictional Anne too! This event is about researching Anne Lister, the real person, who enjoyed a very eventful life between 1791 and 1840.

If you are looking for a place to geek out about Suranne Jones’ wonderful portrayal of Anne Lister in Gentleman Jack, check out GJ HBO/BBC, Shibden After Dark, and #GentlemanJack.

Cover photo: "Dawn, Ben Nevis, Scotland" by Ben Kreunen (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

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