Dear Mr Hall,
I am back to work on the application for the Ruskin edition. When I came back from Europe, I was swamped with work, but I've been working right along as best I can, and I've now cleared space altogether to get the application finished.

As you advise, I am working out a task schedule for the project with definable goals. Meanwhile, can you answer a few questions about the application, please, particularly the budget. 

Cover sheet:

I'm applying for Scholarly Editions, correct? (I see "Collaborative Research" is a separate category, which I thought included Editions--or did at some point.)

I'm applying as an individual, not institution, correct? I would be administering the grant, I'm sure, so far as my university is concerned. Though certifications are usually made by a college official (the president, generally).

Co-sponsor: I did write to Mellon some time back but never received an answer. Should I try to pursue this right now? Is there anybody you'd suggest?

Budget:

I don't know where I'd get cash donations that would generate matching funds. Contributions will all be in the form of cost sharing, but given that the project is a collaboration between two universities, the scale of the cost sharing seems impressive, I think. The question is how to work it out.

At Southeastern, it's clearly cost sharing if the university pays some portion of my salary over the next three years to be dedicated to the project.

There will be two other people at Southeastern for whom I'll seek modest course release time--one in our Computer Science dept and one in our Professional Writing program. The one will be responsible for day-to-day hardware troubleshooting and program application and more complex code writing, under the supervision of Roger Garside at Lancaster; the other will be responsible for day-to-day hypertext design problems, and more ordinary code writing and compliance with XML guidelines. 

As you advise, I'll avoid any suggestion that NEH is paying for coursework, which I don't think it would in fact be doing. Isn't it cost sharing by the University, if we dedicate a graduate student stipend specifically to being my assistant? And for the same reason, the graduate student at Lancaster, Alastair Doughty, who has a fellowhip and is writing a part of the edition as his thesis--doesn't that fellowship count as cost sharing by Lancaster?

If we involve other students, besides the two grad students specifically dedicated to the project, in elementary tasks that advance the edition, by using these tasks as course assignments, can that be cited as a form of cost sharing?

At Lancaster, there are three faculty involved: Keith Hanley, Director of the Ruskin Programme; and Ray Haslam and Roger Garside, who share responsibility for electronic projects in the Programme.

Keith's position is administrative, though as an experienced editor he will read and provide feedback on the edition. He is also the thesis director for Alastair, but you wanted to avoid mentioning that, did you not, since the NEH doesn't support coursework? Could his supervision of Alastair be considered cost sharing?

Roger is writing the programming, and will be involved in writing code throughout the project. Ray has responsibility for the drawings and other art research.

Keith, Roger, and Ray fall in the consultant category, I would think. They are committed to the project, whether they're paid or not. (Lancaster is on paper as committed to the project.) I guess what I do is ask them to estimate the number of days they reasonably expect to put into the project, and then we'll decide how many of those days they're contributing free (i.e., as cost sharing) and how many I'll ask NEH to pay them for. I do think I'm beholden to seek something for them.

Is there a standard consultant fee, or do we try to figure it as some percentage of their annual salaries?

For Ray and Roger, I also want to seek travel money for them--they have to come here, to work with us periodically, say once a semester, and it's possible that Southeastern can take on some of that. Certainly, we can pay to send our own people in Computer Science and Professional writing to Lancaster to consult with Roger.

Can I seek NEH funds for Alastair to be used for travel, so he can come look at the relevant mss at the Morgan Library and Yale, or would that be considered support for coursework? I have in mind that, in two years, we'd propose a joint presentation at the Society for Textual Scholarship in NYC, and he could go to the Morgan and Yale at that time. There's also a BSA fellowship that might be more suited for such an application.

I'll deal with supplies, materials, and services later. The big question mark is the cost of imaging, and I've written to all the collections involved (Yale, Princeton, Beinecke, Huntington, Morgan, Coniston Ruskin Museum and Ruskin Library, Lancaster) to ask for estimates.

Once I have this input from you, I'll get with my University officers and Keith next week to determine the levels of contribution.

thanks very much,
David