Data Dictionary

idstring

Stable record identifier. Used in permalinks to a single documentary entry.

authorstring

Normalised author heading (surname-first), after alias consolidation. Periodicals and canonical anonymous works occupy the same field.

author_rawstring

The name exactly as it appears in the source or in the ingest spreadsheet, before normalisation.

lifespanstring

Author dates where known. Blank for periodicals and for anonymous or unidentified authorship.

titlestring

Normalised work title. “[work not named]” marks an engagement with an author where no specific title is identifiable.

title_rawstring

Title as written in the source, including Fuller's own abbreviations and misspellings.

excerptstring

The passage in Fuller's words (or, for posthumous testimony, the reporting witness's words) that constitutes the evidence.

citationstring

Chicago-style citation for the witness that carries the passage.

pagestring

Page or paragraph locator within that witness.

essaystring

Where Fuller's referencing piece first appeared in print, when the witness is a published essay, review, or column.

article_titlestring

Title of the specific essay or review inside a collected volume.

manuscriptstring

Manuscript identifier, where the witness is an unpublished document.

repositorystring

Holding institution for manuscript witnesses (Houghton, Boston Public Library, and others).

letter_idstring

Identifier of the letter carrying the passage, in the published correspondence.

letter_recipientstring

Recipient, when a dated letter is printed inside a memoir or collected edition.

letter_datestring

Date of that letter as printed in the source.

yearnumber | null

Year of the documented engagement, when the source dates it.

appeared_yearnumber | null

Year Fuller's referencing writing appeared in print. Used only when no engagement year is recoverable.

encounter_erastring

Biographical chapter in which the reading is placed on the Lifeline: Childhood, Adolescence, Self-Directed, Transcendentalist, New York, Europe, or Memoirs.

encounter_evidencestring

The passage that anchors the era assignment.

encounter_confidencestring

High, medium, or probable confidence in the era assignment.

encounter_basisstring

first_documented: the period is the date of the passage, not proven first reading. moved_to_passage: period corrected to the passage date (probable).

engagementflags

One or more engagement types (below). A record may carry several.

confidencestring

Editorial confidence in the identification of author and title. INFERRED and UNIDENTIFIED mark an identification supplied by the editor rather than named by Fuller; its rationale is shown with the record.

notesstring

Editorial note. For inferred identifications the rationale is displayed publicly with the record; interpretive prose is retained in the data but hidden from display.

urlsstring[]

Links to open-access holdings of the witness, where available.

reference_idstring

Internal ingest key linking a record back to the spreadsheet row it came from.

Engagement types describe what Fuller did with a text. A single record may carry more than one; where both a reading type and mentioned apply, the record is treated as reading.

Read

Fuller states or demonstrates that she had the text in hand.

Quoted

She reproduces the words of the text.

Translated

She renders the text into English.

Excerpted

She copies the text out, in a journal, letter, or notebook.

Analyzed

She discusses or judges the text at length.

Mentioned

Author or title appears without evidence of direct engagement.

Two independent axes describe a record, and they should not be confused.

Evidence tier grades how firmly the reading itself is established. Attested: Fuller explicitly names the work or author as read. Demonstrated: sustained first-person engagement implying the book was in hand — extended excerpting, translation, or detailed discussion. A brief unattributed quotation does not imply book-in-hand (it may be a commonplace entry or a secondhand borrowing) and does not qualify. Possible: reading suggested but not established — posthumous reports, brief unattributed quotations or allusions, and other thin traces. Possible evidence is displayed but never counted.

Inference is a separate flag, orthogonal to tier. It records that the editor supplied the author or title because Fuller alludes to a work without naming it. Every inferred identification is marked plainly Inferred and carries its rationale publicly, shown with the record. Any tier can carry an inferred title: an Attested statement of reading can still rest on an inferred identification.

One passage, one engagement

A passage reprinted in a later collection counts once, at its earliest witness. Later appearances are shown as a side note and are not counted.

One work per witness

Several passages on one work in one source are grouped under a single dated heading and plot as a single point on the timelines.

Manuscript unit

A discrete manuscript document counts as one engagement, however many separate notes it contains.

Non-Fuller voices are not counted

The 1852 Memoirs, family recollections, and later reminiscences are shown as supplemental evidence but never contribute to totals.

Library loans are not engagements

The Gore Hall charging ledger records household access on her brother's card, not Fuller's reading. It never creates an engagement.

Counts are approximate by design

Totals are shown rounded by magnitude. The catalogue is representative, not exhaustive.