Three main research objectives were pursued in response to this call. Firstly, an historical and sociological analysis has been carried out to identify and select various archival sources and data have been used to outline the activities of women, and their impact on Italian publishing in several stages. This has led to the identification of an existing, but submerged, map of women professionals and to a counter-history of Italian publishing during the 1930s-1980s. Secondly, a database has been conceived and designed to finally make visible the literary, cultural and social contexts in which women translators operated. The database contains information on the translators, their publishing environments and professional networks as well as on the translated works, either published or unpublished, which women promoted to the Italian system and/or for which they were primary responsible. Finally, the study of archival documents, with a special focus on private/professional letters, has brought, to the appreciation of women’s professional talents, strategical roles, and literary ambitions. This was the case with Ginzburg and Romano, writers in their own right, for whom translation served to catalyse literary interests and to orient publishing trends. But surprisingly, it was also true of Castellani-Agosti and Motti, whose careers were completely behind the scenes. WTIP undertook a systematic survey of the library catalogues, bibliographies, OPACs and main archival sources that needed to be interrogated in order to advance the project and answer the research questions. While some archives were known before the start of the project (the Archivio Giulio Einaudi Editore, which contains documents on all four translators, the Archivio Lalla Romano and the private collection of Nini Agosti Castellani), many others were tracked down and consulted during the course of the grant. The first months were devoted to the consultation of the private collection of Nini Agosti Castellani, leading me to identify case studies and to reconstruct her network. Similarly, I made a survey of the material on Adriana Motti available in the archives of the Giulio Einaudi Press, also searching among her frequent correspondents. The second action was to conduct archival research on Ginzburg and Romano’s activities as translators. Given Ginzburg’s prominent role as an editorial consultant at Einaudi Press, the research focused mainly on this archive, where a remarkable dossier documents her professional activities. I have made an overview of the types of material and have selected material relevant to her role as a mediator of foreign literature and as a translator. Comments have been made on her network of women translators, starting with her friend Lalla Romano, whom she supervised and promoted. Research on Lalla Romano was carried out both in the Einaudi Archives and in her personal archive at the Biblioteca Braidense. At the same time, a digital database was being designed with translators as the main focus. A final comprehensive analysis of all this data, with reference to the selected women, made it possible to highlight both quantitative and qualitative aspects of the project. On the one hand, it allowed me to quantify the number of books translated and the professional relationships; on the other hand, it called for a better evaluation of the sociological and literary dimension of the translation process.
