This note is going out to all discussion groups of medieval
subjects, in the hopes that no one gets left out.
Therefore, if you read it on more than one net, please forgive
us; we're just trying to sweep as broadly as possible.
This past week, the membership of Ansaxnet developed the idea of
a t-shirt/sweat-shirt to honour (AND draw attention to) the electronic
discussion groups of medievalists. We are presently in the process of
finding volunteers for the activities of production, design (we have
two designers already), fund-raising, marketing, order-taking and sales.
It will also be quite a unique feat if we can do most of this organization
via e-mail itself (one will have to look at designs with one's own eyes)!
It has been suggested that all profits generated by the sale of such
shirts be given to the Dictionary of Old English project at the University
of Toronto, which has been badly hit by the recession and was the flagship
of the very big computer-related projects in the area of medieval
scholarship. This seems a very fitting proposal.
The preliminary design of this shirt (in either t or sweat recension)
sounds to be as follows: MEDIEVALISTS ON-LINE on the back, followed by
a list of the nets that discuss medievalia, and the year in which each
was begun. The front is up for discussion: suggestions have been made of
a single letter ('m' for 'medieval' or 'e' for 'electronic'), written in
as many scribal formats as we can fit in (including an electronically-
generated one); a single word (probably in Latin) instead of a letter;
or a collage of impressions, one for each net (could be complex, but let's
see what you think).
Is anyone interested in hearing more about this? Helping out? Commenting
on this idea? Adding to it? Acquiring one of these historical shirts
which are, after all, in a very good cause? We can disseminate some at
Kalamazoo, some at the 1993 ISAS meeting at Oxford, some at other
conferences where people will be. We will need to have our figures, both
required and available, by year's end. If interested, please write to
me privately (and I will post your reply to Ansaxnet).
Thanks.
Sarah Larratt Keefer
MEDIEVALISTS ON-LINE T-Shirt Editor-in-Chief
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