Eleanor Selfridge-Field during keynote at MEC Florence keynote in 2015

We share with great sadness that Eleanor Selfridge-Field passed away on February 2, 2026, at the age of 85. Eleanor served as the Director of the Center for Computer Assisted Research in the Humanities (CCARH) at Stanford University, which she cofounded in 1984. Her book, Beyond Midi, published in 1997, one of the first books to document musical codes and data representation, has made a significant impact on the work of the MEI community.

Eleanor was an early supporter of MEI and a founding board member (2015-2019). Her guidance, based on many years of practical application, greatly influenced its development. Her tireless advocacy helped lead to funding opportunities and to acceptance by a wide audience of musicologists, librarians, and other encoding practitioners. Her wisdom will be sorely missed.