The Regency Encyclopedia
During our poster session at the JASNA AGM, we were delighted to meet up with Sue Forgue, who has put together a really amazing site: The Regency Encyclopedia. (Use username AustenBlog and password LumpofSnark to enter–both are case-sensitive.) It’s a one-stop shop for references and information about the period in which Jane Austen’s novels are set. We wish we had a site like this when we started out writing fan fiction back when dinosaurs Jane Austen adaptations! Careful, make sure you have lots of time to spend or you’ll wake up a few hours later wondering where the time went.
October 30th, 2008 at 9:42 am
This is indeed an amazing site and well worth some time exploring. I would, however, echo the caveat that the owner posts at the site entrance, which is that the information contained needs to be examined carefully.
For example, when I read over the entries for music and dance–2 topics that I know a lot about–the citations given are largely from what I’d call tertiary sources: that is from editors of various JA editions or books on Regency life who are citing, by and large, other secondary sources. So, while there may not necessarily be egregious falsehoods, there are some sloppy generalizations and some inconsistencies.
This forms a great starting point resource, but students in particular should be warned not to stop with these references!
PS The maps are way cool.
October 30th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
Okay, brain fade must be kicking in early today, but when I clicked on the name to enter the site, I was given User Name/password fields, but no way to register as a new user.
What did I do wrong.
BTW, thanks for posting. Looks like a great site to check out.
October 30th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
Jane–the username and password are in the post.
Username - AustenBlog
Password - LumpofSnark
All case sensitive. I’m told they wanted to keep random bots out so that’s why the mild attempt at some security.
October 30th, 2008 at 7:05 pm
I’m assuming we should use the comment/suggestion form to ask if we can also be users. A great resource like this should be shared.
October 30th, 2008 at 9:03 pm
The Regency Encyclopedia is Sue Forgue’s labor of love and her gift to those of us who love the period. Many thanks to Sue for putting it together, and to Maggie for spreading the word.
October 30th, 2008 at 9:31 pm
Thanks all for the kind comments! Just a brief note to follow up with Allison’s insightful comments. The Regency Encyclopedia was begun as a resource for fan fiction writers who wanted to get the historical details in their stories correct.
In the beginning, I as the editor, specifically excluded fact statements that were overly esoteric. For example, an author might say a home had Sheraton chairs in it but the author might find describing the chair legs & backings too much detail that would stop the pace of their stories. Likewise, there have been certain subjects that initially were not covered in great detail, like the abolition of slavery, since I couldn’t imagine any Austen fan fiction delving into that subject.
However, as more & more academics have been using this as a resource, I’ve started hunting down more contemporaneous source materials & going back into my library to enter more detailed facts from the books already catalogued. I welcome all suggestions for improvements so keep those ideas coming my way.
Sue
PS: Allison, I was a Classical Voice major & sang semi-professionally for 20 years - LOL - if I ever get through all these history books, the music library was definitely my next target. Thanks for letting me know, I maybe should make that a higher priority!
October 31st, 2008 at 8:33 am
Hi Sue
Great site–and, no! Pray set your own priorities.
What I am commenting on has nothing to do with your site; it reflects a certain vagueness in the source material. For example, the following random statement about the country dance (comes from the Annotated P&P)
“At this time, the most popular dances were the longways country dances in which two rows of dancers, one men, other women, would face each other and each couple would proceed down the rows while the others watched.”
Well, yeah, sort of. It’s not exactly wrong: country dances of that period were performed in lines of 3 or more couples, though the couples could be comprised of 2 men or 2 women. And it is true that the top couple danced its way down the set, interacting with each of the other couples, who in turn supported the 1s by ‘figuring’ their way up, until they, too, turned into stars. But there was a whole lot more going on than this.
But I suppose that this is where the bibliographies will come in handy for those obsessed with a certain topic to explore further.
November 1st, 2008 at 2:55 pm
New glasses- What does snark or snarky mean?
I think the closest we have to some english country dances is the Virginia Reel.
Dancing is lots of fun.Sad how few men know how to dance.
James
November 1st, 2008 at 3:04 pm
The site is very nice.I could spend wat too much time there!
Thank You Mags for sharing this site with us.
james
November 2nd, 2008 at 9:34 pm
What a website! I could spend hours perusing it
Good job, Sue! Oh and thanks to Mags for spreading the word 
:)
November 3rd, 2008 at 5:47 pm
Magnificent job, Sue! What a wonderful collection of information. I LOVE the maps, and I am especially looking forward to the anachronisms! Thanks Mags for pointing it out!
November 6th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
A lovely and very informative site, but I think they could illustrate it more. There’s not a single picture, drawing, painting on its contents.