The Special Collections and University Archives of the James B. Duke Library of Furman University holds a handwritten manuscript copy of Hugh Blair's Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres. Housed in an archival box alongside Richard Furman's correspondence and his bifocals, they are unique in being the only academic text traceable to the university's namesake, Richard Furman. Until recently, these lecture notes remained unread.

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Dr. Brandon Inabinet, Professor of Communication Studies, has worked with numerous undergraduates and staff at Furman University to help this text come alive through digital humanities. This includes:

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• Dr. Jeffrey Makala, who located the manuscript within the collection and has elevated it as an important component of Furman's bicentennial display and celebrations.

• Digital Collections staff Nancy Sloan and Rick Jones, who digitized the copy and made it accessible online.

• Communication Studies majors Neci Harris ('23) and Alex Bussom ('24), whose independent studies launched initial explorations into the history and transcriptions of the first lectures.

• Furman Advantage Summer Researcher Kaylee Atkocius ('28), who used Transkribus AI to create searchable text from the 240 page manuscript.

• Furman University's first capstone course in Communication Studies, "Hugh Blair & the Digital Humanities," which helped finalize the transcription, a research paper, TEI- XML code, and this web project showcasing the text. Special thanks to Prescott Hughes for transcription optimization, Evie Crumrine for web development, David Oliver for the StoryMap creation, Cooper Bowser for image curation, Carson Jones for research paper editing, Dani Recinos for curriculum development, and Alex Black for video editing. 

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For any questions or interest in collaborating, please email brandon.inabinet@furman.edu.

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