Union First Line Index of Manuscript Poetry
13th-19th Century (bulk 1500-1800)
The purpose of the Union First Line Index, hosted by the Folger Shakespeare Library (Washington, D.C.), is to enable cross-institutional literary research by providing a database of the first lines of manuscript verse held by the contributing institutions. Researchers can enter keywords as search terms; search by First Line, Last Line, Author, Title, Shelfmark, Women only; limit searches to specific institutions; and sort search results in various ways.
Originally compiled by Carolyn W. Nelson as a series of Excel spreadsheets, the Union First Line Index is based on freely-available first line indexes from various institutions and individuals including, as of December 2009: Bodleian, Beinecke (Osborn Collection), British Library, Folger Shakespeare Library, Harvard, Huntington, Leeds (Brotherton Collection — 17th and 18th century only), Harold Love and Meredith Sherlock (Clandestine Satire), and Steve May’s Elizabethan Poetry. First lines from Hilton Kelliher’s British Library index of 1894-2009 acquisitions were incorporated in February, 2010. Additional contributing institutions or individual participants may be added at a future date. The Excel spreadsheets were turned into a web-enabled database by the Folger.
The online availability of the Index through the Folger does not imply the transfer of intellectual property rights.