§ Ian LucasTo ask the hon. Member for Roxburgh and Berwickshire, representing the House of Commons Commission, if the House of Commons Commission is collaborating with the History of Parliament Trust and the Humanities Research Institute of the University of Sheffield in producing an electronic version of the House of Commons Journal. [68885]
§ Mr. KirkwoodI understand that in February 2001 the Trustees of the History of Parliament commissioned the Humanities Research Institute of the University of Sheffield to create a searchable electronic text of Volume 1 of the House of Commons Journal, covering the period 1547 to 1628. This was intended as a pilot study in digitising the contents of the early Journals of the two Houses, which are of great historical value but have hitherto suffered from lack of an adequate index. The electronic text of Volume which has now been submitted to the Trustees, will be of particular use in the preparation of the 1604–1629 section of the History.
I also understand that, as a follow-up to the pilot study, the Trust has collaborated with the Institute of Historical Research and the Victoria County History in a successful bid to the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for funding for a larger pilot project in digitisation of historical sources; this project will include the digitisation of a further volume of the Journal of this House.