Professor Joanna Story appointed as Senior Research Fellow at the Bodleian Libraries

The Bodleian Libraries announce the appointment of Professor Joanna Story as a Senior Research Fellow. Professor Story, formerly a professor in Early Medieval History at the University of Leicester for over 30 years, will bring a wealth of experience in the study of early manuscripts. Professor Story will also relocate the INSULAR project, selected by the European Research Council and funded by UKRI, to the Bodleian, together with the research team working on this initiative. The Bodleian is already a partner on this project, and will now play a more significant role.

Professor Story has significant experience in the use of scientific approaches to the study of early medieval manuscripts, and this research grant is already pioneering the use of these methods to analyse Insular manuscripts from between 600-900 CE in the Bodleian Libraries’ collections, and in those of other major research libraries in the UK, Europe and North America. This research supports the identification of key differences between manuscripts written in Ireland and England and those made on the Continent, and investigates new ways in the exchange of knowledge, objects and people between England, Ireland and Francia, especially in the Age of Charlemagne. The project makes extensive the use of photometric stereo imaging developed by the Bodleian Libraries’ ARCHiOx project (in collaboration with Factum Foundation in Madrid), which is able to produce extremely high-resolution three-dimensional scans of objects and has led to numerous discoveries within the Bodleian’s archives.

In her new role Professor Story will play a pivotal role in developing the libraries’ research strategy. This appointment reaffirms the Bodleian Libraries’ commitment to facilitating research excellence, a core mission that drives the innovative projects led by their academics and librarians. In particular, Professor Story’s role will help the libraries in their work around heritage science, applying innovative techniques to the study of objects in the libraries’ archives. In addition, Story’s appointment is linked to the University of Oxford’s History Faculty within the Humanities Division, where her role will include augmenting faculty support for graduate students with manuscript-related research and providing mentorship opportunities for early-career researchers.

Professor Story will be joined at the libraries by the INSULAR project research team, including two postdoctoral students and a project administrator, based at the Weston Library. Included in this team is Jessica Hodgkinson PhD, a postdoctoral researcher who made the 2022 discovery of previously unseen annotations and doodles by a woman named Eadburg in an 8th-century manuscript using ARCHiOx technology.

Jo Story, Senior Research Fellow at the Bodleian Libraries, said:

This is a very exciting opportunity, for me and for the whole of the international INSULAR team. Our project aligns perfectly both with the Bodleian’s ambitious research agenda for heritage science across the GLAM sector, especially in manuscript studies, and with its international collaborations.

Richard Ovenden, Bodley’s Librarian and Helen Hamlyn Director of the University Libraries, said:

The Bodleian is delighted to welcome Prof Story as Senior Research Fellow, and PI on the INSULAR Project. Prof Story is one of the leading scholars on the medieval period, and has developed an outstanding track-record for research on manuscripts. We feel her research interests, focusing on applying heritage science approaches to research questions related to manuscripts, are an exceptionally strong fit for the Bodleian, and we look forward to working with her and her research team.

For further information please contact Flint Culture via bodleian.libraries@flint-culture.com.

Notes to editors

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About the Bodleian Libraries

The Bodleian Libraries at the University of Oxford is the largest university library system in the United Kingdom. It includes the principal University library – the Bodleian Library – which has been a legal deposit library for 400 years; as well as 21 libraries across Oxford including major research libraries and faculty, department, and institute libraries. Together, the Libraries hold more than 14 million printed items, over 80,000 e-journals and outstanding special collections including rare books and manuscripts, classical papyri, maps, music, art, and printed ephemera. Members of the public can explore the collections via the Bodleian’s online image portal at digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk or by visiting the exhibition galleries in the Bodleian’s Weston Library. For more information, visit www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk.

About Professor Joanna Story

Joanna Story is a Fellow of the British Academy, the Society of Antiquaries of London, and the Royal Historical Society. Her specialist period of expertise is the early middle ages, especially the intersections between history, archaeology and manuscript studies. She has written and edited 11 books and was the lead academic advisor to the British Library’s exhibition, Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms: Art, Word, War, in 2018/19, curated by Dr Claire Breay (Head of Ancient, Medieval and Early Modern Manuscripts at the British Library). Joanna Story is Principal Investigator of INSULAR: Insular manuscripts in the Age of Charlemagne, a prestigious Advanced Grant, selected by ERC and funded by UKRI (EP/Z53402X/1), based at the Bodleian Libraries in partnership with Georg-August-Universität, Göttingen, the Kongelige Bibliotek, Copenhagen, the Bibliothèque nationale de France and Centre de Recherche sur la Conservation, Paris, the View Laboratory at KU Leuven, the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, Cambridge, and the Smurfit Institute of Genetics at Trinity College Dublin.

She can be contacted at the Bodleian Libraries by email: jo.story@bodleian.ox.ac.uk