The Quotation Collectors: A Conspectus of Readers for the Oxford English Dictionary

Throughout the history of the Oxford English Dictionary its compilers have invited contributions from the public. Anyone, throughout the English-speaking world, could help by reading, and sending in quotations from, texts. This article draws on published and archival sources to describe the work of a selection of the several thousand individuals who have contributed to the OED in this way during the century and a half of the project’s existence, presenting some biographical details about them and also examining the ways in which the content of the Dictionary can be seen to reflect their individual contributions; these case studies can be used as a lens through which to view the changing nature of the Dictionary and its methodology over time.