Uncovering forgotten history of Virginia Woolf’s press

Over the past six years, several Stanford researchers and English students have been helping develop a digital archive of early 20th-century publishers. Facebook Twitter Email - Using the latest tools in digitization and data analysis, a group of Stanford English students is helping scholars uncover new insights about British writer Virginia Woolf and the history of literary movements in the early 20th century. English lecturer Alice Staveley, left, meets with Stanford junior Emily Elott, center, and second-year English doctoral candidate Anna Mukamal to discuss their latest work on the Modernist Archives Publishing Project. (Image credit: Alex Shashkevich) Until now, no one has studied in detail Woolf's impact on the publishing industry of that era and the business networks of Hogarth Press, the printing press founded in 1917 by Woolf and her husband, Leonard Woolf, at their home in southwest London. Scholars had previously thought the press was a niche business created to publish just Woolf's work. But as scholars involved in The Modernist Archives Publishing Project (MAPP) have unearthed, the press promoted lesser-known voices as well, said second-year English doctoral candidate and project manager Anna Mukamal. Over a 30-year period, the press published over 500 books by over 300 authors.