“Your LRC and TAI … [are] impressive! I love the clickable labels/filters for just about everything in the TAI, from published sources to content and motifs to medium to colors. This is just amazing work!”

— Jason Fisher, ed. Tolkien and the Study of His Sources: Critical Essays

TolkienMoot is a “crowdsourced clearinghouse for research resources!”

— Janet Brennan Croft, Librarian for Copyright and Disability Services, Rutgers University
& editor of Mythlore

The long and the short of it is that I’m working full time on Tolkienists, TolkienMoot, the Tolkien Art Index, and LR Citations, and other tools and resources for scholars, readers, and fans of J.R.R. Tolkien. Much of what I’m creating is free and should be free; other projects promise to bring in some nice income, but are distinctly long-term ventures. At the moment, however, there is no actual income as such.

“The usefulness and descriptiveness of the [Tolkien Art Index] makes it practical and influential. It should become the standard reference for Tolkien’s images.”

— Luke Shelton, Doctoral candidate, Cardiff Metropolitan University

My expenses are low, but they include annual fees for hosting Tolkienists, TolkienMoot, the Tolkien Art Index, and LR Citations; books, journals, conferences, database and cartography software, the occasional new piece of computer hardware, and research trips (to the Tolkien archives held at the Bodleian Library in Oxford, England, and the Raynor Library at the Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin).

“The brilliant Erik Mueller-Harder has struck again! He created a portal to cross-reference different editions of LotR!”

— Luke Shelton, Doctoral candidate, Cardiff Metropolitan University

If you find the tools I’m providing useful, or if you would like to see my longer-term projects come to fruition (the biggest one is Very Exciting Indeed!), please consider helping me out with a supporting subscription. I am humbly grateful for your help and companionship on this journey!

“Tolkien Studies has a rich history of independent scholars. Unfortunately they don’t have institutional support the way many faculty and grad students do. Here’s a chance, if you can, to help create a travel grant and show support for some valuable projects.”

— Dr. Anna Smol, Mount Saint Vincent University