Perdita Manuscripts is a new digital collection of the complete facsimile images of over 230 manuscripts written or compiled by women living in the British Isles during the 16th and 17th centuries. “Perdita” means “lost woman” and the quest of the Perdita Project has been to find early modern women authors who were “lost” because their writing exists only in manuscript form.

Contents include account books, advice, culinary writing, meditation, travel writing, and verse. The Perdita manuscripts are indexed and searchable by name, place, genre, and first lines of both poetry and prose.

This collection is accessible both on and off campus. Start exploring it now!