The Papers of William Short is a selective edition of William Short’s papers, treating many documents fully, with transcriptions, annotations, and other editorial notes, and calendaring others, adding brief summaries and source information for users seeking to locate and view the original item.

The principal initial criteria for the selection of documents to edit fully was whether or not they had previously been published in a reliable digital format. Those not selected for publication include documents that have already been transcribed and published in a digital edition or other digital format, and documents that were deemed of relatively little importance. The latter category includes third-party letters of introduction, notes requesting or confirming a meeting, or a letter which largely repeats earlier correspondence. Such documents have been calendared in the table of contents, and when users select these document titles there, they will be directed to a published source or repository.