In September 2003 the pilot of the Patrons and Performances Web Site was publicly launched. It contained data about appearances in Lancashire by travelling professional performers who were identified in the REED Lancashire volume as having patrons. The pilot also included patrons who were primarily resident in Lancashire or held offices and/or significant properties in the county, although no record existed in Lancashire of the performers they patronized.

Before uploading the data from each REED volume, any corrections to the performance data (Events and Troupes) were made, and further research on those patrons resident in the city, county or counties covered by each REED volume was undertaken. This research involved rechecking and correcting the exisiting data and supplementing it with new research. In some cases, this has enabled us to correct misidentifications and/or eliminate one or more people who have been identified (in the published REED collections) as possible patrons of a particular troupe.This web site also contains data resulting from new research into performance venues, patron residences/properties and genealogies, which extends the scope of data available in the REED volumes. 

The 'Search the Maps' section of this site includes the Interactive Map of England and Wales linked with the other data, as well as a sample section of Antiquarian Maps. The modern maps include major road networks before 1700 and locations associated with performance events and patrons for the print volumes published in the REED series.

Continuing work on data relating to REED collections in print was closed when the project transitioned to open access digital publication for forthcoming collections. Further details for patrons, troupes, and events found in editions published from 2017 onwards are available for searching on the REED Online website: https://ereed.library.utoronto.ca/.