CLOSED – Full-time Research Assistant posts available (2 x 6 months)
Theatronomics, a project investigating the finances of eighteenth-century theatre in London, is seeking 2 x Research Assistants to work full-time for 6 months. This project investigates the finances of eighteenth-century theatre in London, focusing on the two major theatres, Covent Garden and Drury Lane, 1732–1809. Account-books, ledgers, and ephemeral manuscript folios, held mainly at the British Library and the Folger Library, are the project’s main sources; they contain extensive data on ticket sales, audience composition, actor salaries, payments to other theatre workers, repayments to investors, costume, scenery and other costs.
The project is transcribing and digitizing these manuscripts and will use econometric methods to analyse the theatres’ underlying commercial operations. The project will apply these economic methodologies so that new perspectives on the careers of managers, playwrights, actors, and plays emerge.
The Research Assistants will primarily be tasked with inputting data from manuscript account books into the project database. Other tasks might include checking previous inputs, primary research related to eighteenth-century theatre, and fact-checking. Attention to detail and precision are essential.
Full training will be provided to the Research Assistants, but applicants with the following experience would have an advantage:
- Experience of using databases
- Experience of working with manuscripts
- Experience working as a RA/collaboratively
The positions are offered within the Research Assistant Salary Scale (€29,275 – €39,158 per annum) and will be available from 2 October.
Please send expressions of interest (cover letter and a short CV with the names of two referees) or queries to Professor David O’Shaughnessy, School of English and Creative Arts, University of Galway before 5pm, Friday 1 September 2023.