A project that might almost be finished!

It’s true: the wacko idea that seeped into my poor brain back in the hospital — of taking my 90-page honors thesis on historical dance from the University of Georgia 50 years ago and re-issuing it as a PDF — is about to be real.

First of all, let me say that looking over this document I am astounded at the work I had to put into it. Here’s a sample page:

Remember: I typed this on an electric typewriter. All the margins and indents were manually created. All the diagrams are hand-drawn in India ink. I considered for one nanosecond just recreating the thing in modern publishing software, but somehow I knew I’d never get that done. If I did, though, I would be able to do headers and footers and more regular publishing things that never would have occurred to me as a 20-something rushing to get this thing done before the quarter was over.

So after my little scanner couldn’t scan the original with any clarity, I took it to Office Depot and let them scan it. I spent yesterday scanning those pages into a PDF file.

But wait, there’s more! There were 22 illustrations that I had snagged from various sources. They were yellowed with age and coming loose from their 50-year-old glue, but I figured that they were all in public domain somewhere, and indeed I found all but one online in pristine condition.

So now I have to import the main text of 90 pages, finish off my new introduction/apologia, lay out the illustrations, annotate an updated bibliography, and I’m done. (It does occur to me that I need to design a nifty cover, right? TASK AVOIDANCE!!)

Easy, right?

Watch this space.