Spectral Imaging: Overview

Processed spectral image of a page from Livingstone's 1870 Field Diary (Livingstone 1870e:XII IC1), detail. Copyright David Livingstone Centre and Dr. Neil Imray Livingstone Wilson. CC BY-NC 3.0

Cite page (MLA): "Spectral Imaging: Overview." Livingstone Online. Adrian S. Wisnicki and Megan Ward, dirs. University of Maryland Libraries, 2018. Web. http://livingstoneonline.org/uuid/node/f2928a2c-8998-407f-beab-43aaa7679c45.


The "Spectral Imaging" section of Livingstone Online reveals how advanced imaging technology has transformed the study of Livingstone's original manuscripts. The section contains a brief introduction to the Livingstone Spectral Imaging Project, three multispectral critical editions created by this project, and a spectral image collection that provides direct access to the raw data underlying the critical editions. The guide below describes each of the pages in this part of the site.

Section Guide

The Livingstone Spectral Imaging Project: An Introduction - introduces the project by citing both its historical contexts and the groundbreaking modern technology that has made the project possible.

Livingstone's 1871 Field Diary - multispectral critical edition of the iconic Livingstone diary that captures both his account of the Nyangwe slave trading massacre (1871) and the months leading up to the famous meeting with Henry Morton Stanley (1871). The edition draws on dramatic spectral image processing to reveal Livingstone's original words for the first time in 140 years.

Livingstone's Letter from Bambarre - pilot project; a multispectral critical edition of a harrowing letter that sets out Livingstone's first-hand experiences of the East African slave trade. This was the first nineteenth-century British manuscript to be studied with spectral imaging.

Livingstone's 1870 Field Diary and Select 1870-71 Manuscripts - multispectral critical edition of manuscripts that Livingstone composed over various scraps of paper while stranded in central Africa and used to capture first-hand impressions of the central African slave trade, local social dynamics, and geographical information gathered through travel and from informants. The edition uses spectral imaging to recover the hidden material history of these manuscripts and reveals the story of their passage through multiple hands and spaces over the last 145 years.

Notes on Processed Spectral Images - introduces, enumerates, and briefly defines the processed spectral image types, GIF animations, and PowerPoint presentations produced by the two phases of the Livingstone Spectral Imaging Project (2010-13, 2013-17).

Glossary of Key Terms in Livingstone's Manuscripts, 1870-71 - a glossary of the people, groups, places, and geographical features cited in the Livingstone manuscripts (1870-71) imaged by the Livingstone Spectral Imaging Project. It serves as an integrated reference that complements our project’s annotated transcriptions of these same manuscripts.

An Integrated Project Bibliography -  a comprehensive, integrated bibliography of the primary texts and literary, historical, cultural, and scientific sources that serve as the basis of the Livingstone Spectral Imaging Project.

Manuscript Citation and File Naming Practices - outlines the standardized system that we have adopted for, first, citing specific manuscript pages and spectral images produced by the the Livingstone Spectral Imaging Project and, second, naming corresponding spectral image files.

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