Benjamin F. Pauley

Benjamin F. Pauley is a Professor of English at Eastern Connecticut State University, specializing in eighteenth-century British literature. He is the founder of the Eighteenth-Century Book Tracker, a digital resource indexing freely available scans of historical texts, and served on the planning committee for the Mellon Foundation-funded redesign of the English Short Title Catalogue (ESTC). His work bridges traditional literary scholarship with digital humanities methodologies.

Research Interests

Pauley focuses on:

• Eighteenth-century British literature and print culture
• Digital bibliography and book history
• Open-access scholarly resources
• Collaborative digital humanities projects

Scientific Awards

• 2010 Google Digital Humanities Research Award

Leadership & Contributions

As Founding Secretary of the Defoe Society, he is developing a Defoe Attributions Database. He has also contributed to discussions about digitization landscapes through his work on the Eighteenth-Century Book Tracker, noting advancements in platforms like HathiTrust, Google Books, and the Internet Archive.