Although the retrieval software and format of the data are protected by copyrights held by NISC, Rutgers, and RLG, the data itself may be copied freely and manipulated according to research needs. The usual scholarly citation is all we ask.

• All currency exchange quotations compiled by Dr. Peter Spufford of the University of Cambridge and published in his Handbook of Medieval Exchange (1986).
• Prices drawn directly from primary sources and published in Volume I of N.W. Posthumus's, Inquiry into the History of Prices in Holland (1946).
• Grain prices supplied by Rainer Metz and compiled for the print edition of Dietrich Ebeling and Franz Irsigler's, Getreideumsatz, Getreide-und Brotpreise in Köln 1368-1797, 2 vols. (1976-77).
• Monetary data from Rainer Metz, Geld, Währung und Preisentwicklung: Der Niederrheinraum im europäischen Vergleich: 1350-1800 (1990).

Who is involved in MEMDB?
MEMDB is co-directed by Professor Rudolph M. Bell of Rutgers University and Professor Martha C. Howell of Columbia University. It has 3 centers in Europe: at the University of Leiden in The Netherlands with Professor Willem P. Blockmans, at the University of Leuven in Belgium with Professor Eddy Van Cauwenberghe, and at the University of Cologne with Dr. Rainer Metz. Its advisory board includes these individuals along with Harry A. Miskimin (Yale University), J. H. A. Munro (University of Toronto), Edward Peters (University of Pennsylvania) and Peter Spufford (University of Cambridge).

Who supplies MEMDB's data?
MEMDB's holdings principally come from databases donated by scholars. The Bank functions as an efficient means of publication for valuable work that is clumsy to publish in microform and expensive to publish in print. MEMDB also incorporates data via the optical scanning of published works (copyright permission is obtained as necessary). When databases are incorporated, all of the original documentation is preserved, if appropriate. Background texts and source references are displayed on-screen with the data.

Currently, MEMDB's holdings emphasize numerical data pertaining to economic history. This material will always be prominent because of the advantages in re-analysis offered by electronic storage and retrieval. MEMDB is capable of handling any form of textual material as well, however. Projects underway include bibliographic references in medieval musicology, political office-holding patterns in early modern Ghent, a 1527 census of Rome with data on occupation and ethnic origin, and marriage contracts from Douai.

Researchers who are starting a project which ultimately may be suitable for MEMDB should consult with MEMDB in advance. Although MEMDB can accommodate sets produced using various software and programming packages, compatibility issues should be considered.