‘The Dictionary People’: Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due

In Sarah Ogilvie’s ‘The Dictionary People,’ readers meet some of the fascinating contributors to the Oxford English Dictionary.

There are over 3,000 unsung heroes who helped to create the Oxford English Dictionary. A painting of a man writing by candlelight, between 1663 and 1706, by Godfried Schalcken. Public Domain

In the fall of 2014, Sarah Ogilvie spent a few days bidding farewell to Oxford University before setting off for a new job in the United States. Near the end of that nostalgic goodbye, she revisited  the basement of the Oxford University Press and, in particular, an obscure corner where the archives of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) are stored. Among her other professional positions, she had worked as an editor for the OED and had many fond memories of the days she’d spent in the building. 

A line engraving of the Oxford University printing house, 1833, by J. Le Keux after F. Mackenzie. Wellcome Images/CC BY 4.0 DEED