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John Rylands Research Institute and Library

Research projects

Research work at the John Rylands Research Institute and Library is continually improving our understanding of people, cultures and societies around the world.

By stimulating interdisciplinary research, as well as activities such as cataloguing and projects, we are unlocking knowledge that makes a difference to people's lives.  You can also view our past projects:

Galen, On the Usefulness of the Parts of the Body, translation, Ḥunayn ibn Isḥāq, John Rylands Library MS 809, Manchester, folio 2a, lines 1–6

Arabic translation of Galen’s On the Usefulness of the Parts of the Body

Kamran Karimullah is Lecturer in Islamic Thought at The University of Manchester and is the Principal Investigator, JRRI Pilot grant 2023-24.
Herbarum Imagines Vivae : der kreuter lebliche Contrafaytung. (1196)

Sleeping Well in the Early Modern World

Sasha Handley is Professor of Early Modern History at The University of Manchester and is the Principal Investigator.
Henry and Emily Simon

Celebrating the Simons of Manchester

John Ayshford (PhD History Researcher), Martin Dodge (Senior Lecturer in Geography), Stuart Jones (Professor of Intellectual History). All University of Manchester.
Photo courtesy of MSF Cambodia Archive

Developing Humanitarian Medicine

From Alma Ata to Bio-Tech, a history of norms, knowledge production and care (1978-2020)
Envisioning Dante

Envisioning Dante

PI Professor, Guyda Armstrong (The University of Manchester)
Joseph van Aken, 'Saying Grace' (c. 1720), Image © Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Faith in the Town

Hannah Barker (Professor of British History, The University of Manchester), Jeremy Gregory (Professor of the History of Christianity, University of Nottingham), Kate Gibson (The University of Manchester).
© The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge/ The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester.

Feathers, Cognition and Global Consumerism in Colonial Amazonia

Stefan Hanß (Senior Lecturer in Early Modern History)
Garialis gangeticus, cast of hinder portion of cranium

Fossil Histories: South Asian Natural Heritage in Manchester Museum and beyond

Amelia Bonea, Lecturer in Global History of Science, Technology and Medicine (CHSTM, University of Manchester), is Principal Investigator. JRRI Pilot grant 2023-24.
Albrecht Dürer, The vain woman (Ritter vom Turn), 1493, woodcut, 10 x 12.5 cm. (Zeno).

Hair, Social Order and Cultural Encounters in the Habsburg World, 1450-1750

Stefan Hanß (Senior Lecturer in Early Modern History)
The John Rylands Research Institute and Library Manchester, Medical (pre-1701) Printed Collection 2535. © Copyright of the University of Manchester.

Scientific Analysis of Early Modern Haircare Recipes

Stefan Hanß (Senior Lecturer in Early Modern History)
Illuminated Sephardi Haggadah. Square Sephardi script. Mid-14th century.

Exploring the John Rylands Library’s Hebrew Collections

Philip Alexander (Professor Emeritus of Post-Biblical Jewish Studies, The University of Manchester), Alexander Sameley (Professor of Jewish Thought, The University of Manchester), Zsofia Buda (Research Associate, The University of Manchester)
n/a

The Legacies of the British Slave Trade

Dr Edmond Smith, Senior Lecturer in Economic Cultures,Co-I for AHRC funded project
n/a

Looked After Children: Fostering and Adopting in Britain, 1700-1839

Kate Gibson (Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellow, The University of Manchester) 
LYC Museum and art gallery

A relational museum and its network: mapping the connections of the LYC Museum and its art gallery

Dr Mark Liebenrood, Early Career Fellowship 2022-23.
Image of Miss Mary Hamilton

Unlocking the Mary Hamilton Papers

Hannah Barker (Professor of British History), David Denison (Professor Emeritus of English Linguistics), Nuria Yáñez-Bouza, Sophie Coulombeau (University of York), Tino Oudesluijs, Cassandra Ulph, Christine Wallis (Research Associates, The University of Manchester)
Manchester Histories - celebrating 50 years of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Act

Our Heritage, Our Stories

Linking and searching community-generated digital content to develop the people's national collection.
Lavishly illuminated opening page and heading of a Kullīyāt-i ‘Urfī Shīrāzī

Persian Manuscripts at The John Rylands Library

Alan Williams (Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Religion, The University of Manchester), Jake Benson (Research Associate, The University of Manchester)
Antonio de San Román - Historia general de la Yndia oriental, página 596

The Philippines in the Making: Spanish Transpacific Chronicles (1590-1621)

Luis Castellvi Laukamp (PI)
Richard Newton, A Clerical Alphabet, 1795. The British Museum London, 1948,0214.374.

The Professional, Religious and Masculine Identities of Anglican Clergymen, c1660-1800

Benjamin Jackson, British Academy post-doctoral research fellowship 2024 - 2027.
n/a

Risky Business: Investing in Innovation and Britain’s Economic Development, 1600-1750

Dr Edmond Smith, Senior Lecturer in Economic Cultures, PI for ESRC funded project
Detail of the earliest extant Apocalypse blockbook Conuersi ab ydolis p[er] predicatione[m] b[ea]ti joha[n]nis drusiana [et] ceteri

Werck der bücher: Transitions, Experimentation, and Collaboration in Reprographic Technologies

1440 - 1470. Stephen Mossman (The University of Manchester), Nikolaus Weichselbaumer (Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz), Vincent Christlein (University of Erlangen) and Edward Potten (University of York)

Past projects

Details about past research projects going back to 2017.

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