Lead the Curran Index as Our New Editor

Applications Wanted by October 15

With many thanks to our retiring Editors, the Research Society for Victorian Periodicals (RSVP) seeks a qualified periodicals scholar or pair of scholars to serve as Editor(s) of the Curran Index. This collaboratively sourced, ongoing, open access project is devoted to identifying the authors of unsigned and pseudonymous articles, reviews, poetry, and fiction in the periodical press of Britain and its empire over the long nineteenth century.

The larger purpose of the project is to enrich and expand our understanding of the press and its influence in nineteenth-century culture by “piercing the veil of anonymity” that continues to obscure the identities of the contributors who made up the contents of that press.

The successful candidate will have at their disposal an annual stipend of US $5,000 (split equally if two editors are appointed) as well as an annual overall budget of up to US $10,000 to be used for research assistance, travel, reference materials, and other costs directly related to the task of uncovering the identities, lives, and careers of anonymous contributors to nineteenth-century magazines and newspapers, and for the timely incorporation of those research results into the Curran Index database. The successful applicant will serve for a five-year term starting on 1 January 2026.

RSVP welcomes applications from suitably qualified and experienced scholars of all ages and backgrounds. Short-listed candidates will be interviewed. Applications will be accepted through October 15, 2025. To apply, please send your CV and cover letter to Vice President Alison Chapman at vp@rs4vp.org (vp [at] rs4vp [dot] org). Any questions about the position may be addressed to her as well.

Desired Qualifications

Essential qualifications for this position include:

• Extensive experience with the field of Victorian periodical research
• A successful track record of primary-source research into nineteenth-century authorship, including attribution and the use of manuscript archives
• Successful participation in collaborative research projects

A strong candidate will also possess digital humanities experience that includes building and managing relational databases.

Primary Responsibilities

Applicants should view the attached job description for full details, but the following summarizes the primarily responsibilities of the Curran Index Editor(s):

1. 1. 1. Deepening and expanding the Curran Index in innovative and challenging ways. The Editor’s role involves undertaking their own attribution research, supervising the contributions of others, and managing this collaborative online resource. In addition, the Editor(s) will also place a high priority on expanding the biographical information in the Curran Index, as it uncovers the lives and careers of often obscure writers.

   RSVP particularly welcomes continued expansion of the Index about contributors to organs of the Victorian press that are often overlooked in authorship research, such as the daily press, provincial and colonial newspapers, trade and reformist periodicals, and others.

   2. Recruiting and coordinating a team of volunteer associate editors and contributors who will share their own research on the identification of contributors to the periodical press, a team that would ideally include scholars working in archives located outside of Britain. This may include the hiring and supervision of short-term, paid Research Assistants who have access to local repositories around the world.
   3. Publicizing the Curran Index and its value as a scholarly resource for nineteenth-century attribution research. In pursuit of this goal the Editor will oversee the development of resources on the Curran Index site such as regular posts, works-in-progress, maps of authorial networks, capsule biographies, reports of surprising or significant discoveries, etc. that will exemplify the many uses of this research.
   4. Actively participating in RSVP’s annual conference, such as planning a conference presentation or workshop that explores the goals, methods, and scholarly uses of authorial attribution research and the Curran Index.
   5. Maintaining the Curran Index database and website, which includes overseeing data entry, checking entries for errors and omissions, monitoring the experience of users of the Index interface, responding to queries and attribution submissions from users, etc.
   6. Reporting throughout the year to the Curran Index Advisory Committee and submitting an
      annual budget for approval by the RSVP Board