UCF Researchers Receive NEH Grant to Preserve Noah Webster’s Dictionaries Online

UCF Today

Long before spell check and online dictionaries made definitions a click away, Noah Webster set out to document American English, which was still taking shape. More than two centuries later, UCF researchers are helping preserve his work for a new generation.

Researchers in UCF’s Department of English and Center for Humanities and Digital Research (CHDR) are slated to receive nearly $350,000 from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to create searchable digital editions of Webster’s historic dictionaries, giving scholars, educators and the public unprecedented access to foundational texts that helped shape American English.

UCF Associate Professor of English Beth Young leads the project to preserve Noah Webster’s dictionaries online.
The two-year grant will support Noah Webster’s Dictionary Online: Preserving America’s Revolutionary Language Heritage. The project is led by Beth Young, associate professor of English, with co-principal investigators CHDR Associate Director Brook Miller and Professor of English Mark Kamrath, who is co-director of CHDR.

The project will also expand educational opportunities for UCF students.

Read more at UCF Today.