Engagement and Team
- Group photo of the project team at the Many Lives of Medieval Manuscripts Symposium
- Project conservator Laura O’Farrell working on a manuscript
- Postdoctoral Research Fellow Claire McNulty at a manuscript show & tell with the Provost
- A project team photo featuring Claire McNulty, Estelle Gittins, Alison Ray, and Caroline Harding
- Manuscript Show & Tell in Research Collections
The project implementation team consists of Estelle Gittins (Curatorial Lead), Dr Claire McNulty (Post Doctoral Fellow), Dr Alison Ray (Archivist/Project Manager), Angelica Anchisi (Conservator), Laura Farrell (Conservator), and Caroline Harding (Photographer).
Engagement
The Manuscripts for Medieval Studies project partners with the M.Phil in Medieval Studies providing the core materials for student engagement with the physical manuscripts and the digital versions. It is also a featured project for Trinity Centre for the Book. Other events include:
July 2025 - Manuscripts for Medieval Studies participated in a department wide show and tell for students and faculty from New York University, showcasing manuscripts conserved, catalogued, and digitised as part of the project.
June 2025 - Arcadia Handwritten Text Recognition (HTR) Postdoctoral Researcher Dr Elisabetta Magnanti, commenced work on 18 March 2025 for a two-month period. Focusing on generating HTR transcriptions of four medieval manuscripts of differing scripts, she presented her findings at a showcase on 18 June 2025.
May 2025 - Curatorial lead, Estelle Gittins, was awarded second prize for a conference research poster on ‘Edible Engagement: Cooking up a Medieval Plague Recipe at Trinity College Dublin’ for the Consortium of National and University Libraries (CONUL) on 28-29 May 2025.
May 2025 - The project team facilitated a manuscripts session for a group of international colleagues and manuscript experts on an Advanced Training in the Digitisation of Older Texts (ANTIDOTE) programme (19 May 2025).
May 2025 - The team demonstrated a hands-on manuscripts session for colleagues from the National Library of Latvia as part of their Erasmus Exchange programme.
April 2025 - A documentary in Welsh featuring TCD MS 50 Ricemarch Psalter aired on Welsh television station, S4C. The manuscript generated further public interest through publication of an article on S4C Newyddion: ‘Trysor’: Prosiect i ddigideiddio llyfr o Gymru sydd bron yn 1,000 oed. English translation 'Treasure': A project to digitize a book from Wales which is almost 1,000 years old.
December 2024 - For the December Library Staff Forum, the team presented on a selection of manuscript favourites, including a medieval masterpiece the Book of St Albans (TCD MS 177) and an early modern plague recipe (TCD MS 93).
November 2024 - Engaging with wider audiences, the team hosted a visit for students from the Church of Ireland Theological Institute, leading the group in a hands-on manuscripts session as an introduction to monastic book production, including bibles, psalters, and books of hours.
September 2024 - One Heritage Council (Public History UG student) intern worked closely with the Manuscripts for Medieval Studies project in particular. Under the guidance of Wikimedian-in-residence, Sae Kitamura, the intern edited Wikipedia entries relating to the Library's medieval manuscripts. This involved editing existing material on Wikipedia and adding links to digitised medieval manuscripts, in an effort to drive traffic towards our Digital Collections platform. Working onsite, she was integrated into the Research Collections department, with visits to other areas of the Library including Conservation and Digital Collections Photography Studios.
September 2024 - The team continued their regular participation in European Researchers Night collaborating with the Centre for the Book to run a popular and engaging stall, this year introducing participants to the plague recipe ingredients as well as calligraphy materials and games.
September 2024 - The Team participated in the Trinity Arts and Humanities research festival recreating the plague recipe inscribed in TCD MS 93, and a talk on the Book of St Albans TCD MS 177.
Summer 2024 - The Manuscripts for Medieval Studies project featured in the Carnegie Reporter, with highlights from the project including the Many Lives of Medieval Manuscripts Symposium and choral performance by Schola Hyberniae.
July 2024 - Curatorial Lead, Estelle Gittins, and Archivist/Project Manager, Dr Alison Ray, participated in the International Medieval Conference at Leeds where they showcased highlights from the Manuscripts for Medieval Studies project as part of a Digital Libraries roundtable discussion.
March 2024 - Dr Claire McNulty visited Queen’s University Belfast to teach palaeography to MA & PhD students using manuscripts digitised as part of the Manuscripts for Medieval Studies project.
December 2023 - Estelle Gittins and Dr Claire McNulty led a demonstration of a recipe against the plague found in TCD MS 93 Psalter. Gathering ingredients and willing colleagues, the recipe was transcribed and recreated using figs, walnuts, and herbs.
December 2023 - The Many Lives of Medieval Manuscripts Symposium generated public interest, featuring in the Irish Times ‘The Ticket’ supplement, as well as BBC World Service coverage.
November - December 2023 - To celebrate the digitisation of 60 manuscripts in the Library’s collection, the Many Lives of Medieval Manuscripts Symposium welcomed academics, archivists and performers in a two-day event that included talks, a launch in the Long Room, and a choral performance.
September 2023 - The 'Manuscripts for Medieval Studies' project team participated in the Trinity Arts & Humanities Research Festival 2023, showcasing their favourite manuscripts digitised as part of the project, along with colleagues from the Library.
September 2023 - 'Manuscripts for Medieval Studies' teamed up with Trinity Centre for the Book for European Researchers Night 2023: The team brought medieval manuscripts to life through 'Guess the Medieval Animal' and 'Match the Script' games, 'Beat the Computer' transcriptions, and 'Ink and Quill' demonstrations.
June 2023 - The Manuscripts for Medieval Studies team delivered an online lecture for St Albans Cathedral 'Sharing the medieval Book Manuscripts from St Albans'.
October 2022 - ‘Science: Lighting Up our Universe’ St Albans Cathedral, contribution to a projection display in the cathedral featuring images from TCD MS 177 the Book of St Albans, focussing on medieval engineering.
October 2022 - Consortium of European Research Libraries on Digital Cultural Heritage hosted by the Library of Trinity College Dublin. Virtual Trinity Library Programme Manager Jenny Doyle presented on the Manuscripts for Medieval Studies project as a case study.
September 2022 - START EU European Researchers Night: The Manuscripts for Medieval Studies team partnered with the Manuscripts Book and Print Culture research theme to provide a range of in person activities including 'Matthew Paris' colouring sheets, a 'Match the Script Game', handling examples of pigments and a 'Beat the Computer' transcription challenge.
June 2022 - The Online Exhibition on the Matthew Paris Book of St Albans was released in tandem with the release of the digitised manuscript: It also included a promotional programme in partnership with other Libraries, researchers and community stakeholders. It included online articles by the British Library and the University of Exeter, and co-ordinated social media posts with the British Library, Cambridge UL, Corpus Christie College Cambridge, St Albans Cathedral, St Albans Museum, and the British Embassy Ireland. Media coverage included the Irish Times, Irish Independent and Irish Central.
Explore our Book of St Albans Exhibition
More researchers accessed the online version of the manuscript in the first week than had accessed the real-life manuscript in the Reading Room during the previous 10 years, and over 70% of those were brand new users to the Library's Digital Collections platform.
December 2021 - Joint Trinity College Dublin and University of Kent Palaeography Workshop: This built upon the success of the September event with a 'Transcribathon Challenge' for postgraduate students and colleagues.
September 2021 - START EU Researchers Night: A two-hour online event entitled 'Getting to Grips with Manuscripts Online'. This event was the first time Trinity had organised a live 'Transcribathon' including participants from across Europe and further afield.