Research projects
Copper plates
The Bodleian Libraries hold some 2000 engraved and etched copper plates dating from the 17th to the 19th centuries. The creation, ownership, and future curatorial treatment of the plates is the subject of a project, ‘Early Modern Copper Plates at the Bodleian Libraries’.
Textiles in libraries: context and conservation
A Bodleian conservation programme of professional development, research, and public engagement around the subject of textiles in books and library collections.
Shaping scholarship: early donors to the Bodleian Library
This AHRC-funded project led by Robyn Adams (CELL, UCL) examines the network of individuals whose donations helped to build the collections of the library. Focusing on the first two decades following the seventeenth-century refurbishment by Sir Thomas Bodley (c.1600-1620) of Oxford’s university library, the study examines the shape of the collection of the books donated and purchased with funds, the social backgrounds of around 220 donors, and how these men and women were connected across the social compass of the time.
Teaching collections
View an active survey of book and non-book material used for teaching the history of books and manuscripts from Bodleian Library special collections.
