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“Our partnership with UEA can help to bring our collection to life, fostering a love of the past and of our cultural heritage.” Julian Harrison, British Library
By collaborating with research-intensive universities, cultural institutions can understand more about their collections and promote engagement with the public. We spoke to Julian Harrison, Curator of Pre-1600 Historical Manuscripts at the British Library, about a research project involving the University of East Anglia (UEA).
Tell us about your involvement in UEA’s postgraduate research?
“We are currently working on a very exciting project with the university, jointly supervising a PhD student: Raphaëlle Goyeau. She is researching the origins and development of the Cotton Library, one of our major collections of manuscripts. The collection was acquired by Sir Robert Cotton and donated to the British Museum in 1753, as the first ever book collection given to the nation.”
How did the PhD come about?
“In this case, we had the idea for the PhD ourselves internally at the British Library, so it went through our internal processes and we were successful in securing external funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council. We then put the call out to find the right academic partner and selected the University of East Anglia, who have significant expertise in this area. They recruited Raphaëlle, who started work on the PhD in October 2022. Of course, collaborative research projects like this can also be initiated by the academic partner.”
Can you tell us more about the research that Raphaëlle is carrying out?
“Her research is uncovering more about how Sir Robert Cotton acquired his vast library, and who owned the manuscripts before him. It is fascinating to explore who he was friends with (including continental scholars), where he acquired manuscripts, whether he paid for them and why he collected certain types of manuscripts. We have so many unanswered questions and hope to shed light on one of our most important manuscript collections through this project."
“It is a great collaboration, with everyone bringing different skills. Raphaëlle has worked in the past as a rare book cataloguer and sees things that the average scholar may miss when physically examining the manuscripts. We also benefit hugely from the expertise of Raphaëlle’s two UEA supervisors, Dr Tom Roebuck and Dr Katherine Hunt, and we’re always talking and sharing ideas.”
What are the benefits of this project?
“On a practical level, gaining a greater understanding of the physical manuscripts will help us to update our catalogue descriptions. But the benefits should go way beyond this, supporting all kinds of public engagement – not just with scholars and academics, but also with people in creative arts, members of the public. By providing more information on our collections we can help bring them to life, helping to foster a love of the past and of our cultural heritage. This project can enhance our understanding of the age and period when Sir Robert Cotton was putting his collection together."
“I’m sure that other libraries and organisations could benefit hugely from academic partnerships with organisations like UEA. And one of the things that’s great about a collaboration like this is that there are benefits for everyone. The PhD student gains new skills and an important qualification while the academic partner gets to support cutting-edge research and extend their expertise.”