Six years after Naomi, Scott, and I began working on this project in earnest -- and ten years after I found the manuscript buried in the Skinner Family Papers at Houghton Library (Harvard University) -- our critical edition of Harry Watkins's diary, A Player and a Gentleman: The Diary of Harry Watkins, Nineteenth-Century US American Actor, has been released by University of Michigan Press!

In addition, our transciption of eight (out of thirteen) volumes of Watkins's chronicle is available at U-M Library Digital Collections! By the end of 2018, The Harry Watkins Diary: Digital Edition will feature the entire diary, freely accessible (and searchable) for anyone interested in learning more about Watkins, the pre-Civil War theater, and everyday life during the antebellum era. 

You can read more about these two related but distinctive publications at the University of Michigan Press's blog.

We are so grateful to the people who helped us bring this project to fruition. It has been a joy collaborating with the scores of students, colleagues, editors, technologists, librarians, and funders who saw the value in our work and contributed time and/or energy to support it. A lot of them are listed on the "About" page here on our web site; many others are mentioned in the acknowledgements that appear in A Player and a Gentleman. For a sneak peek of the book, you can visit our book's web page at the press's web site (click on "Google Preview" underneath the image of the book cover).

Thank you for being a Friend of Harry!