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| The Centre for Manuscript and Print Studies at the University of London | |
|---|---|
| Name | Centre for Manuscript and Print Studies |
| Parent | University of London |
| Established | 2013 |
| Location | Senate House, London |
The Centre for Manuscript and Print Studies at the University of London is an interdisciplinary research hub within the University of London dedicated to the study of handwritten and printed materials across historical periods. It situates manuscript and print culture alongside archival collections, library history, and material bibliography, drawing on expertise from constituent colleges and national institutions.
The Centre was founded amid initiatives linking Senate House, University of London and the School of Advanced Study, University of London with partners such as the British Library, the Bodleian Library, and the National Archives (United Kingdom), following dialogues between scholars from King's College London, University College London, Queen Mary University of London, St George's, University of London, and Goldsmiths, University of London. Early workshops invoked traditions from the Early English Text Society, projects inspired by the Cotton Library and the Harley Collection, and methodological debates resonant with the histories of the Cambridge University Library and the Bodleian Library, Oxford. Fundraising appeals referenced grants from bodies like the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the European Research Council, and the British Academy.
The Centre positions itself at the intersection of palaeography, codicology, and print history, aligning research priorities with the concerns of institutions such as the Victoria and Albert Museum, the British Museum, and the National Maritime Museum. It foregrounds source-based enquiry on items comparable to holdings of the Wellcome Collection, the John Rylands Library, and the Bodleian Libraries Special Collections, while engaging theoretical frameworks associated with scholars linked to the Early Modern Centre, University of Oxford, the Centre for Editing Lives and Letters, and the Institute of Historical Research. The Centre emphasizes provenance studies connected to collections like the Egerton Manuscripts, bibliographic description in the tradition of the Bibliographical Society, and digital scholarship practices paralleling projects at the J. Paul Getty Trust and the Warburg Institute.
Teaching and training programs are offered in collaboration with departments represented across King's College London, University College London, Queen Mary University of London, SOAS University of London, and the Royal Holloway, University of London. Postgraduate modules draw on pedagogies influenced by courses at the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge, and the University of St Andrews, while doctoral supervision networks mirror partnerships with the Institute of English Studies and the Warburg Institute. Short courses echo syllabi from the School of Library and Information Science models and professional development pathways similar to those of the National Archives (United Kingdom) and the British Library’s programmes.
Collections utilised by the Centre are drawn from the Senate House Library, federated college libraries such as the Institute of Historical Research Library, and national repositories including the British Library, the National Archives (United Kingdom), and the V&A Special Collections. Research access includes manuscript codices akin to the Beowulf manuscript holdings, printed ephemera comparable to items in the John Johnson Collection, and archives related to figures represented in the Modern Records Centre. Conservation and imaging facilities coordinate with teams at the Bodleian Libraries, the Conservation Unit, British Library, and digitisation initiatives comparable to the Digitisation Programme at the National Library of Scotland.
The Centre sponsors edited volumes, catalogues, and digital editions comparable to outputs from the Digital Humanities Institute, the Medieval Manuscripts in Oxford Libraries Project, and the Making and Knowing Project. Its publication partners include academic presses such as Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, Routledge, and societies like the Bibliographical Society and the Society for Textual Scholarship. Major projects have paralleled the scope of the Early English Books Online initiative, the Incipits of Medieval Manuscripts databases, and cataloguing efforts in the style of the National Register of Archives. The Centre also advocates for open scholarship resonant with policies from the Wellcome Trust and the European Open Science Cloud.
The Centre operates through formal links with the British Library, the Bodleian Library, the National Archives (United Kingdom), the Victoria and Albert Museum, and academic entities including King's College London, University College London, Queen Mary University of London, SOAS University of London, and the School of Advanced Study, University of London. International collaborations have involved counterparts at the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the National Library of Scotland, the Library of Congress, the New York Public Library, and the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science. Collaborative grants and networks include consortia reminiscent of the HERA projects, the ERC, and the AHRC.
Governance is administered through committees drawing membership from representatives of constituent colleges such as King's College London, University College London, Queen Mary University of London, Royal Holloway, University of London, and national institutions like the British Library. Funding historically combines institutional support from the University of London and competitive grants from agencies including the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the European Research Council, the British Academy, and charitable bodies similar to the Trustees of the British Museum and the Wolfson Foundation.