The Ancient Books team is expanding! Several positions are available for interested UofT undergraduates through the Jackman Humanities Institute Scholars-in-Residence program. This is a 4-week program in May that brings together undergraduate students to work with UofT faculty on research projects. In addition to free accommodation on campus, a dining plan, and a $1000 award, Scholars-in-Residence get the opportunity to contribute meaningfully to original research projects.

London, British Library, Add MS 5111, f 12r. Eastern Mediterranean, 12th century.

The Ancient Books project seeks students interested on working on the topic ‘How Scrolls Became Books’. Between the first and the fourth centuries CE, the standard format for books changed from scroll to codex (the book as we know it today). This project seeks to understand what this change meant for the people who read and wrote books in this period. Student researchers will analyze how book formats differed across time, place, and genre. Scholars will work primarily from digital images, but there will be opportunities for field trips to nearby special collections libraries. Training in research methods, data gathering and analysis, and technical skills will be provided. Scholars will work closely with the project principal investigator, Prof. Cillian O’Hogan, and a graduate student Research Assistant. Knowledge of Latin or Ancient Greek, though helpful, is not required.

London, British Library Papyrus 745 (recto). C. 100 CE. Found at Oxyrhynchus, Egypt.

For further information about the Scholars-in-Residence program, please see the application page. Interested students are also welcome to contact Prof. O’Hogan directly with any queries they may have. The application deadline is February 22, 2019.