To apply for nonprofit incorporation, first in the Commonwealth of Virginia and, second, in the United States, an organization must submit for approval a mission statement specific to the applicant organization.  REED-USA, Inc.'s primary mission is to raise U.S. funds to support the publication of future REED volumes, but its "content purpose," down the road a bit, will be to foster interdisciplinary "original practices" programs with its academic partners in Staunton, Virginia.  The REED-USA, Inc. Mission Statement defines that

The Records of Early English Drama (REED) is an international research project which since 1978 has been locating, transcribing, and publishing, county by county, all early English entertainment records.  Approximately half of the project has been completed: REED-USA, Inc. proposes to complete the other half by creating a fundraising entity in the United States.  Although the project's editorial offices, staff, and publisher will remain at the University of Toronto, REED-USA, Inc. has formed an affiliation with Mary Baldwin College's Master of Letters and Fine Arts Program and with the American Shakespeare Center, both in Staunton, Virginia.  With these other two nonprofit partners, REED-USA, Inc. will complement the educational mission of "original practices" (O.P.) early modern drama study by supporting the documentation which underlies pedagogy and performance.  REED-USA, Inc.'s primary functions will be to solicit funds for the research project; cooperate with Mary Baldwin College's M.Litt./MFA program by providing additional academic expertise; and enhance American Shakespeare Center's already high visibility with REED's distinguished academic reputation.

 

The collegial group of scholars who comprise the REED project has accomplished a remarkable amount of work in a relatively short period of scholarly time.  Over eighty-five percent of the in situ archival research has been completed, but just over fifty percent of that research has been published. The task of bringing all of the newly-discovered material to print is formidable.  Put simply, no one who birthed this project in 1975-6 had the most remote notion of just how much undiscovered, unpublished material on early English entertainment had survived to be mined by REED editors. Giles Dawson’s 1965 pioneering Malone Society Collections of Kent drama records ran to 211 pages; James Gibson’s 2002 three-volume REED Kent: Diocese of Canterbury, by contrast, ran to 943 pages of records and a total of 1887 pages including editorial apparatus—and the rest of the Kent records remain to be published.  With unpublished materials collected and transcribed, the job of publishing them looms large and immediate, while their editors are still close to the material.  Death and adversity have taken their toll, factors which seemed insignificant during the heady adolescence of the project. 

Field research and preliminary editorial work for many prospective volumes are far advanced.  As noted above, more than eighty-five percent of the research has been completed and is either in house at the Toronto REED office or awaiting final work on the apparatus by the field editors. The need to process these numerous collections is pressing and it is costly.  A division of labor in this internationally collaborative project has evolved over the years: United States scholars (twenty of thirty-seven current editors) bear a major responsibility in collecting and annotating the records, while the Canadian REED editorial office has become the unique workhorse of editorial and publication procedures, navigating individual REED record collections from raw transcriptions to published volumes.  With continued support from government agencies and private donors, the project will proceed steadily toward its goal of comprehensive geographical coverage of pre-1642 entertainment in the British Isles.

 

REED York.  Eds. Alexandra F. Johnston and Margaret Rogerson.  2 vols.  1979.
REED Chester.  Ed. Lawrence M. Clopper.  1979.
REED Coventry.  Ed. R.W. Ingram.  1981.
REED Newcastle upon Tyne.  Ed. J.J. Anderson.  1982.
REED Norwich 1540-1642.  Ed. David Galloway.  1984.
REED Cumberland/Westmorland/Gloucestershire.  Eds. Audrey Douglas and Peter Greenfield.  1986.
REED Devon. Ed. John M. Wasson.  1986.
REED Cambridge.  Ed. Alan H. Nelson.  2 vols.  1989.
REED Herefordshire/Worcestershire.  Ed. David N. Klausner.  1990.
REED Lancashire.  Ed. David George.  1991.
REED Shropshire.  Ed. J. Alan B. Somerset.  2 vols.  1994.
REED Somerset, including Bath.  Eds. James Stokes with Robert J. Alexander. 2 vols. 1996.
REED Bristol.  Ed. Mark C. Pilkinton.  1997.
REED Dorset/Cornwall.  Eds. Rosalind Conklin Hays and C.E. McGee/Sally L. Joyce and Evelyn S. Newlyn.
           1999.
REED Sussex.  Ed. Cameron Louis.  2000.
REED Kent: Diocese of Canterbury.  Ed. James M. Gibson.  3 vols.  2002.
REED Oxford.  Eds. John R. Elliott, Jr. and Alan H. Nelson (University); Alexandra F. Johnston and
           Diana Wyatt (City). 2 vols. 2004.
REED Wales.  Ed. David N. Klausner.  2005.
REED Cheshire, including Chester.  Eds. Elizabeth Baldwin, Lawrence M. Clopper, David Mills.  2 vols.        
            2007.
REED Ecclesiastical London.  Ed. Mary C. Erler. 2008.

 

 

Lincolnshire, ed. James Stokes

Inns of Court, eds. John R. Elliott, Jr. and Alan H. Nelson

Civic London to 1558, ed. Anne Lancashire

 

Bedfordshire, ed. Peter Greenfield

Berkshire, ed. Alexandra F. Johnston

Beverley, ed. Diana Wyatt

Buckinghamshire, ed. Alexandra F. Johnston

Cambridgeshire/Huntingdonshire, ed. Anne Brannen

Derbyshire, eds. Barbara D. Palmer and John M. Wasson

Dudley Family, ed. Sally-Beth MacLean

Durham, ed. John McKinnell

Essex, ed. Alan H. Nelson

Hampshire, eds. Jane Cowling and Peter Greenfield

Hertfordshire, ed. Peter Greenfield

Kent: Diocese of Rochester, ed. James M. Gibson

Middlesex, including Westminster, eds. Mary Erler, Jessica Freeman, and Sheila Lindenbaum

Norwich pre-1540, ed. JoAnna Dutka

Nottinghamshire, eds. John Coldewey and Dave Postles

Oxfordshire, ed. Alexandra F. Johnston

Percy Family, ed. Robert J. Alexander

Salisbury, ed. Audrey Douglas

Scotland, eds. John J. McGavin and Eila Williamson

Staffordshire, ed. J. Alan B. Somerset

Suffolk, ed. James Stokes

Surrey, ed. Sally-Beth MacLean

Warwickshire, ed. J. Alan B. Somerset

Wiltshire, ed. Rosalind C. Hays and C.E. McGee

Yorkshire West Riding, eds. Barbara D. Palmer and John M. Wasson