WEB is completed and ready to be shared. For additional notes on its creation, I have transcribed a recorded explanation given at a conference. While certainly imperfect, I'm happy to share if it helps.

1. I began with the SPSS dataset from ICPSR and searched on women in the Espy file to sort out men and to make adjustments as recommended by previous publications noting women had either been misidentified as men or as "unknowns." Fifteen variables were selected to begin with, all those that Baker (2016) had also identified in his table, and an excel spreadsheet was started. Data were entered in by hand. Missing cells are ones that are either not verified, have not been located, or are not relevant given that a woman identified by Baker and not Espy, for example, would not have data available for input for Variable 5. At this point, these variables are presented as the original authors did. Later, I intend to add more detail to women's occupations, for example, "widow" or "spinster."

Unfortunately, due to the many dates that conflicted with those of Baker's, filling in the blanks, so to speak, was not as straightforward as one would think. However, it is easy to identify Espy file data by font color (black), and, later, the corresponding ICPSR identifiers will be added.

2. I began by entering names (Variable 1) as listed by (in order of priority given): Baker (2016), the Espy file, the Streib papers, and the Death Penalty Information Center. Misspellings or typos for Variable 1 are in italics and refer to conflicts between Baker and the Espy file. These names will continue to be checked as other sources are consulted. However, the Baker data is relied upon unless otherwise noted in Variable 31. For example, the Espy file has Ann Glover, row 42, listed as Goody Glover. Therefore, Ann Glover is italicized. Some mistakes were minor but others, like treating a slave owner's name as a last name, can yield dramatically different results and were also italicized. All of Baker's (2016) additions are indicated in red.

3. Of the Espy variables, only his crime variable was entered in this initial round (Variable 5). It is hoped that, in conjunction with Baker's coding (Variable 6), that it will be helpful in tracking down difficult cases.

4. Compare the Espy file to that of Baker, Streib, and the Death Penalty Information Center (Variables 1-2, 4, 6, 9-11, 14-15, 17, 22-30) making corrections as needed. Add more sources as needed and list in Variable 31. The following variables received additional verification through Streib and the DPIC. If either data source was used, the font color used is blue (all except for Variables 1,2, 4, 6, and 30. It seems as if, for years after 2002 (the Espy file), the DPIC relies mainly on Streib's data and their own efforts. One of the goals at this stage is to understand how the 576 number was derived.  Streib very clearly credited Espy for much of his work. See The Victor L. Streib Collection from the M.E. Grenander Archives

5. Enter additional variable data pertaining to the above (Variables 3, 7-8, 12-13, 16) and release the completed components upon publication (Variables 0-2, 5-6, 14, 19-22)

1. Addition of variables that are pertinent to women's executions

2. Release of the zenodo site

3. cosmetic changes and additional formats for data downloads

4. additional references to assist researchers

5. completion of the ICPSR codebook

6. completion of the zenodo site

1. To create a column for links to the Espy Notecards. These are the notecards that M. Watt Espy used to catalog executions. The M.E. Grenander Library has digitized most of them (including those for men). If using for research purposes, please first visit their site at https://archives.albany.edu/description/catalog/apap301aspace_9cede46816f600a9ea55232e2bcac9fb in order to better understand how these cards were organized and any information required for publication purposes. 

This component pertains to my research of M. Watt Espy's extraordinary contributions. To reiterate the primary purpose  and construction of the website: and dataset:

Some of the disjointed nature of this project has been uncovering the depth of Espy's contributions and understanding how, and why, his life's work has been mistranslated but to also understand what the most pressing needs are in terms of best representing his work. Many of those most knowledgeable of his contributions have retired, passed, or are working in other fields. This "part" entails first and foremost a conversation with the librarians of the archive and anyone else who has the time, or willingness, to speak with me. Ideally, I would like to speak with the people who knew him best.

The dataset only contains "lawful executions" so this step is more of a component of the book manuscript.

Why study Lynching as different from state-sanctioned executions? Many reasons but perhaps it is a question of magnitude of hatred, racism, revenge, and a need to exercise control. But the line, for research purposes, requires definition. From Mary Church Terrell: 

"If there were one particularly heinous crime for which infuriated people took vengeance upon the negro, or if there were a genuine fear that a guilty negro might escape the penalty of the law in the South, then it might be possible to explain the cause of lynching on some other hypothesis than that of race hatred. It has already been shown that the first supposition has no foundation in fact. It is easy to prove that the second is false. Even those who condone lynching do not pretend to fear the delay or the uncertainty of the law, when a guilty negro is concerned. With the courts of law entirely in the hands of the white man, with judge and jury belonging to the superior race, a guilty negro could no more extricate himself from the meshes of the law in the South than he could slide from the devil-fish’s embrace or slip from the anaconda’s coils. Miscarriage of justice in the South is possible only when white men transgress the law." Source: Mary Church Terrell, "Lynching from a Negro's Point of View," North American Review, 178, (1904): 853-68. Retrieved from https://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtid=3&psid=3615

Address the overlap (or more likely the lack of overlap) in lynching and capital punishment research. Among the texts and resources to consult including: 

Baker, D. V., & Garcia, G. (2019). An Analytical History of Black Female Lynchings In The United States, 1838-1969. Journal of Qualitative Criminal Justice & Criminology. https://doi.org/10.21428/88de04a1.105517eb

Feimster, C. (2011). Southern Horrors: Women and the Politics of Rape and Lynching. Harvard University Press.

McLure, H. (2013). Who dares to style this female a woman?’ Lynching, gender, and culture in the nineteenth-century U.S. West. In M. Pfeifer (Ed.) Lynching beyond Dixie: American mob violence outside the South, 21-53. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.

NAACP. (n.d.). History Lynching in America. Retrieved from https://naacp.org/find-resources/history-explained/history-lynching-america and also Equal Justice Initiative. (n.d.). Lynching in America: A community remembrance project. Retrieved from http://eji.org/sites/default/files/lynching-in-america-community-remembrance-project-2.pdf

Nunley, T. Y. (2015). The Demands of Justice: Enslaved Women, Capital Crime & Clemency in Early Virginia. The University of North Carolina Press.

Taylor, N. (2023). Brooding Over Bloody Revenge: Enslaved Women’s Lethal Resistance (Cambridge University Press.