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{{short description|Digital humanities project}}
{{Italic title}}
[[File:Roberto_busa_e_index_thomisticus.jpg|right|thumb|Roberto Busa (2006); in the background, the ''Index Thomisticus'']]
The '''''Index Thomisticus''''' was a [[digital humanities]] project that cataloged 179 texts centering around [[Thomas Aquinas]]. Led by [[Roberto Busa]], the project indexed 10,631,980 words over the course of 34 years.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Sprokel|first=Nico|date=1978|title=THE "INDEX THOMISTICUS"|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23576117|journal=Gregorianum|volume=59|issue=4|pages=739–750|issn=0017-4114}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Guietti|first=Paolo|date=1993|title=Hermeneutic of Aquinas’s Texts: Notes on the Index Thomisticus|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/637590|journal=The Thomist: A Speculative Quarterly Review|language=en|volume=57|issue=4|pages=667–686|doi=10.1353/tho.1993.0006|issn=2473-3725}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Busa|first=R.|date=1980|title=The Annals of Humanities Computing: The Index Thomisticus|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/30207304|journal=Computers and the Humanities|volume=14|issue=2|pages=83–90|issn=0010-4817}}</ref>
The '''''Index Thomisticus''''' was a [[digital humanities]] project begun in the 1940s that created a [[Concordance (publishing)|concordance]] to 179 texts centering around [[Thomas Aquinas]]. Led by [[Roberto Busa]], the project indexed 10,631,980 words over the course of 34 years, initially onto [[punched card]]s. It is considered a pioneering project in the field of digital humanities.
 
== Project ==
Busa began the project in 19411946.<ref name=":0">{{Cite newsjournal|last=Busa|first=R.|date=2020-12-191980|title=HowThe dataAnnals analysisof canHumanities enrichComputing: theThe liberalIndex arts|work=The EconomistThomisticus|url=https://www.economistjstor.comorg/christmas-specialsstable/2020/12/19/how-data-analysis-can-enrich-30207304|journal=Computers and the-liberal-arts Humanities|access-datevolume=2020-12-2714|issue=2|pages=83–90|doi=10.1007/BF02403798|jstor=30207304|s2cid=38602853|issn=00130010-06134817}}</ref> [[IBM]] agreed in 1949 to sponsor the project until its completion.{{Sfn|Burton|1984|pp=109&ndash;110}} They assigned Paul Tasman, an executive at the company, to work with Busa.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news|date=1988-03-07|title=Paul Tasman, Executive, 74|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/03/07/obituaries/paul-tasman-executive-74.html|access-date=2020-12-27|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Busa selected 179 texts centering around [[Thomas Aquinas]], includingthat 118would of Aquinas's own works, tobe put into a form that was [[Machine-readable passport|machine-readable]]. The118 61of itemsthe works were notwritten by Aquinas, wereand allthe eitherremaining mis-attributed61 toitems himwere either at one point ormis-attributed representedto him or an attempt to complete an unfinished work begun by Aquinas.{{Sfn|Burton|1984|pp=109&ndash;110}} The project grew over several decades, peaking in 1962 with 70 workers.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Rockwell|first=Geoffrey|last2=Passarotti|first2=Marco|date=2019-05-27|title=The Index Thomisticus as a Big Data Project|url=https://umanisticadigitale.unibo.it/article/view/8575|journal=Umanistica Digitale|language=en|issue=5|doi=10.6092/issn.2532-8816/8575|issn=2532-8816}}</ref>
 
A significant part of the project was the [[Data entry clerk|data entry]], which was meticulously carried out by a team of female keypunch operators. Their dedication and precision were instrumental in the success of the project<ref>{{Cite book |last=Nyhan |first=Julianne |url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781003138235 |title=Hidden and Devalued Feminized Labour in the Digital Humanities: On the Index Thomisticus Project 1954-67 |date=2022-12-02 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-003-13823-5 |edition=1 |location=London |language=en |doi=10.4324/9781003138235}}</ref>. This work of [[Keypunch|punching]] the text was made between 1950 and 1966. They worked in [[Gallarate]], Italy,<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|last1=Gouws|first1=Rufus|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5PfbBgAAQBAJ|title=Dictionaries. An International Encyclopedia of Lexicography: Supplementary Volume: Recent Developments with Focus on Electronic and Computational Lexicography|last2=Heid|first2=Ulrich|last3=Schweickard|first3=Wolfgang|last4=Wiegand|first4=Herbert Ernst|date=2013-12-18|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|isbn=978-3-11-023813-6|pages=972|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Sprokel|first=Nico|title=The "Index Thomisticus"|date=1978|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23576117|journal=Gregorianum|volume=59|issue=4|pages=739–750|jstor=23576117|issn=0017-4114}}</ref> and the project peaked in size in 1962 with 70 workers.{{Sfn|Rockwell|Passarotti|2019|p=13}} After the punching was complete, the data was [[Lemmatisation|lemmatised]] in a semi-automatic process.<ref name=":2" />
The completed project indexed a total of 10,631,980 words in fifty-six volumes when it was published in 1980{{Em dash}}divided into ten volumes of indexes, followed by thirty-one [[Concordance (publishing)|concordances]] of Aquinas's works, eight of related authors, and seven volumes that reprinted the source texts. The project used a total of {{Convert|1,500|km|mi|abbr=}} of wire. The seven completely reprinting the source texts were sold separately.<ref name=":0" />{{Sfn|Burton|1984|pp=109&ndash;110}}
 
The completed project indexed a total of 10,631,980 words in fifty-six volumes over 70,000 pages{{Em dash}}divided into ten volumes of indexes, followed by thirty-one volumes of [[Concordance (publishing)|concordances]] of Aquinas's works, eight volumes of concordances of related authors, and seven volumes that reprinted the source texts.{{Sfn|Burton|1984|pp=109&ndash;110}}<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal|last=Guietti|first=Paolo|date=1993|title=Hermeneutic of Aquinas's Texts: Notes on the Index Thomisticus|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/637590|journal=The Thomist: A Speculative Quarterly Review|language=en|volume=57|issue=4|pages=667–686|doi=10.1353/tho.1993.0006|s2cid=171327330|issn=2473-3725}}</ref> The seven completely reprinting the source texts were sold separately.{{Sfn|Burton|1984|pp=109&ndash;110}} The first volume was published in 1974,<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hockey|first=Susan|date=2006-01-01|editor-last=Dawson|editor-first=Andy|editor2-last=Brown|editor2-first=David|title=The rendering of humanities information in a digital context: Current trends and future developments|url=https://doi.org/10.1108/00012530610648699|journal=ASLIB Proceedings|volume=58|issue=1/2|pages=89–101|doi=10.1108/00012530610648699|issn=0001-253X}}</ref> and publication was completed in 1980. The project used a total of {{Convert|1,500|km|mi|abbr=}} of tape <ref name=":0">{{Cite news|date=2020-12-19|title=How data analysis can enrich the liberal arts|newspaper=The Economist|url=https://www.economist.com/christmas-specials/2020/12/19/how-data-analysis-can-enrich-the-liberal-arts|access-date=2020-12-27|issn=0013-0613}}</ref> and it took an estimated 10,000 hours of computer work and 1 million hours of human work to complete.<ref name=":1" /> The ''Index'' was released on [[CD-ROM]] in 1992 and a website was launched in 2005.<ref name=":0" />
 
== Reception, impact, and legacy ==
A review published of the project in ''[[Computers and the Humanities]]'' described it as "as innovative and fascinating a reference work as the technology that made it possible."{{Sfn|Burton|1984|p=109}} In 1993, the project was described as the "second largest printed work of this century". The same review called it "excessive" and asked what its purpose was, going on to describe it as "the most [[pedantic]] work ever written".<ref name=":3" /> In 2020, ''[[The Economist]]'' described it as "the creation story of the digital humanities."<ref name=":0" /> An article in ''Umanistica Digitale'' wrote that "the project developed for the first time, methods for dealing with unstructured language".{{Sfn|Rockwell|Passarotti|2019|p=15}} It influenced projects such as [[Key Word in Context]].{{Sfn|Rockwell|Passarotti|2019|p=15}} The project is also sometimes listed as one of the earliest instances of an e-book.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Anderson|first1=Craig|last2=Pham|first2=Jeanie|date=March 2013|title=Practical overlap: The possibility of replacing print books with e-books|url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00048623.2013.773866|journal=Australian Academic & Research Libraries|language=en|volume=44|issue=1|pages=40–49|doi=10.1080/00048623.2013.773866|issn=0004-8623}}</ref>
 
==References==
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== Bibliography ==
* {{Cite journal|last=Burton|first=Dolores|date=1984|title=Review of Index Thomisticus: Sancti Thomae Aquinatis operum omnium indices et concordantiae, ; Sancti Thomae Aquinatis opera omnia|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/30200002|journal=Computers and the Humanities|volume=18|issue=2|pages=109–120|doi=10.1007/BF02274166|jstor=30200002|s2cid=29640298|issn=0010-4817}}
* {{Cite journal|last=IBM Data Processing Division|date=1973|title=Jesuit Father Uses Computer to Analyze Works of St. Thomas Aquinas|url=http://www.bitsavers.org/magazines/Modern_Data/Modern_Data_1973_07.pdf|journal=Modern Data|language=en|volume=6|issue=9|pages=39–40|issn=0026-7678}}
* {{Cite journal|last1=Rockwell|first1=Geoffrey|last2=Passarotti|first2=Marco|date=2019-05-27|title=The Index Thomisticus as a Big Data Project|url=https://umanisticadigitale.unibo.it/article/view/8575|journal=Umanistica Digitale|language=en|issue=5|doi=10.6092/issn.2532-8816/8575|issn=2532-8816}}
 
[[Category:Digital humanities projects]]
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