This project focuses on improving access to knowledge about collections in memory institutions (e.g. museums, galleries, libraries). Much of this knowledge is held in documentation about conservation: this includes records/data created when a) making observations about the production and condition of an object, and b) treating an object as part of conservation work. Conservation Documentation also includes records created as part of scientific analysis of the materials, planning for storage of objects and assessing related risks. Conservation records are rich in technical detail and observations of historical evidence. However, these records are not accessible to either researchers or visitors to memory institutions. Researchers require access to such records. For example, a researcher investigating the origin (provenance) of a book is likely to find information in conservation documentation helpful, as previous treatment documentation may contain binding descriptions, scientific analysis, or other material documentation which indicates provenance. In addition, memory institutions require new ways of engaging with audiences both online and on-site and unlocking conservation data can provide new ways in which to do this. This project establishes a Network of experts working on Conservation Documentation. The Network includes primarily conservators and computer/data scientists but also philosophers, scientists, archaeologists, librarians. They are recognised professionals working in leading memory institutions primarily from the UK and the US as well as from other countries. The Network will investigate current web technologies known as Linked Data to enable accessibility to conservation records. Linked Data (https://www.w3.org/standards/semanticweb/data) technologies allow the publication of records/data in such a way that they can be linked to other resources and enable re-use and discovery. By re-using conservation data, researchers can extract better conclusions because they have access to larger samples and material evidence from expert observations. We believe this will lead to transformative research projects in a) conservation, for assessing the impact of methods and materials, b) history/archaeology, for enabling provenance studies based on material evidence and c) curation/museology, for enabling new ways of engagement based on rich content. By re-using conservation data, memory institutions will be able to tell new stories about their collections to the wider public and engage with audiences through material evidence of objects. The Network will focus on two areas which are essential for implementing Linked Data solutions: a) Terminology, i.e. discussions on agreeing and naming the types of records created (e.g. lists of terms describing possible materials for paintings). An important standard for this work is the Simple Knowledge Organisation System (SKOS - https://www.w3.org/TR/2009/REC-skos-reference-20090818/). b) Modelling, i.e. discussions on how best to store/encode data so that they reflect real-life observations and therefore are reliable sources for research and engagement. The Network will examine existing work in these areas and identify gaps in research which can be addressed in future work. An important standard for this work is the Conceptual Reference Model (CRM - Information and documentation: a reference ontology for the interchange of cultural heritage information, ISO 21127) maintained by a special interest group (CRM-SIG) of the Committee of Documentation (CIDOC) of the International Council of Museums (ICOM). The Network will disseminate its findings through engagement with stakeholders which include conservation professional bodies and relevant departments in partner institutions.

The Achaemenid Persian Empire (550-330 BC) was the largest state-formation in Europe or Western Asia before the Roman Empire and at greatest extent stretched from Greece to western India and from Central Asia to the northern Sudan. Multi- and cross-disciplinary study of its history through written and material evidence from a great variety of cultural settings has developed remarkably since the late 1970s (characteristically through collaborative enterprises) and it is this that provides the network's over-arching academic context: its root purpose is to advance understanding of Persian imperial culture.\n\nThe network plan starts from 34 documents (33 in Aramaic, one in Egyptian demotic) either written by Arshama or his officials or addressed to him or alluding to his official activities. 26 form a single archive from an unknown Egyptian site, 7 come from a Jewish archive at Elephantine and one from Saqqara. The specific aim is to use the documents as the focus for (a) investigating how the Persian imperial state ruled and exploited its subjects and (b) drawing scholars from several UK HEIs into a conscious Achaemenid Studies network. The documents fit the purpose perfectly since \n- they provide primary evidence from the heart of the imperial bureaucracy and the entourage of one its most powerful figures\n- they have never received in their own right the systematic historical and linguistic study they deserve\n- as (predominantly) Semitic documents from the circle of an Iranian governor in Egypt (the empire's second-wealthiest province and a region with an exceptional cultural and historical identity) their study is of interest to and requires the expertise of a wide range of philological and historical specialisms\n\nWe shall pursue this aim by four means\n\nClose reading of texts. 24 sessions in Oxford will provide a basic introduction to Achaemenid Aramaic and the opportunity to read through the documents in detail. The actual parchments will be available for examination.\nObjectives\n- acquisition of language skills and an ability to engage with the linguistic aspect of problems in historical interpretation\n- new readings of parts of documents that survive in damaged or fragmentary form\n- informed contribution to workshops and conference \n\nWorkshops and conference. 5 workshops will address major issues in Achaemenid history for which the Arshama documents provide one (but characteristically only one) of the important bodies of evidence. A conference will draw together conclusions reached, and new problems identified, in the workshops and be an opportunity to present projects results to an academic audience beyond the network's core participants. Both workshops and conference will benefit from the participation of major non-UK scholars in the field. \nObjectives\n- fuller understanding of the correspondence as an archive associated with a particular office-holder\n- better location of the correspondence in the context of other types of bureaucratic document from other imperial regions\n- sharper sense of the relationship between imperial masters and their subjects\n- new perspectives on many issues of governmental procedure and ideology \n\nExhibition. An exhibition of original documents and associated material from the Bodleian dovetailing with an 'Arshama trail' in the Ashmolean. There will be an annotated catalogue and an accompanying public lecture.\nObjectives\n- to publicize the Arshama material and its implications\n- to provide (in the catalogue) a resource for outreach activities\n\nPublication. Research results will be disseminated in two forms: a large multi-author volume (containing texts, commentary and thematic papers) and an Oxford-hosted web-site (texts, photographs, basic annotation). \nObjectives\n- dissemination of new data and ideas to the relevant academic community\n- provision of a reference point for further research on Achaemenid Egypt and on other regions or aspects of the empire.

The Digital Edgeworth Network explores and analyses the manuscript archive of the celebrated author Maria Edgeworth (1768-1849) and the Edgeworth family. This collaborative digital network project responds to the scale and scope of the Edgeworth papers, taking an interdisciplinary approach that can in the future be scaled up via an open access digital resource for the use of scholars in history, literature and politics. The rich and varied collection of papers related to the Edgeworth family from the 17th to the 19th century is divided by the Irish Sea and also cut off from its original home in Edgeworthstown, County Longford. The manuscript archives split almost equally between the National Library of Ireland, Dublin and the Bodleian Libraries, Oxford, comprise many thousands of items including manuscript drafts, drawings, family correspondence, of which only a tiny percentage is available in print, and even less is subject to scholarly editing. The Edgeworth archive offers important evidence (manuscript drafts and correspondence) about the literary career of one of the most influential novelists of the early nineteenth century, Maria Edgeworth; the educational, agricultural and political theory and practice of Richard Lovell Edgeworth (1744-1817); the ways in which an extended family with connections in Ireland, England, Europe and India, communicated and collaborated in the production of art, literature, and scientific knowledge; the history of Anglo-Irish relations in a period of political contest and transformation. Inspired by a 12 volume print scholarly edition (1993,2003) under the general editorship of Edgeworth's biographer, Marilyn Butler, there has been a significant surge in critical interest in the work. Selections of Edgeworth's letters have appeared in print, most recently Valerie Pakenham's Maria Edgeworth's Letters from Ireland (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 2017). Print editions of letters and the fiction do not however communicate the breadth, variety and relevance of the extended correspondence and related network made apparent in the archive. Digital humanities' approaches and techniques make it possible not only to increase access to the manuscript archive, but also to analyse and understand it in new ways that offer potential to academic researchers and for cultural heritage. This timely proposal builds on an existing informal network and, in the context of the changing climate of British-Irish relations, solidifies and embeds previously informal connections to promote better understanding or our shared past for mutual benefit. Through collaboration between specialists in literary history, correspondence networks, digital technology, and heritage, the network will explore ways of re-uniting a divided archive and communicating its significance. The proposed activities cross disciplinary, geographical and sectoral boundaries and promote collaboration between academic researchers at the Universities of Cork and Oxford, libraries at Dublin and Oxford, and a cultural heritage organization (Edgeworthstown District Development Association). The network's public activities -- including the development of new resources at Edgeworthstown and the stimulation of creative responses from local school children to the manuscript materials in the Bodleian libraries and the National Library of Ireland -- have been designed to promote community and creative engagement with the resources, focusing on understanding better the global connectedness of Maria and her family in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This work will provide the basis for exploring the future use of digital technology to bring archival images and information to life, enabling rich heritage experiences, as well as the wider dissemination of new scholarly understanding.

Phase 2 of the Linked Conservation Data (LCD) project builds on an existing collaboration between University of the Arts London and Stanford Libraries and a number of other high profile US and UK partners as part of a Research Networking project funded under the AHRC's Highlight Notice for UK/US Collaborations in Digital Scholarship in Cultural Institutions. LCD explores methods for enabling access to knowledge about collections in memory organisations such as museums, galleries, libraries and archives. The work of conservators in these organisations focuses on investigating the structure and condition of objects and treating and protecting them. A core task in conservation is documenting observations made during this work. This creates a wealth of records about material observations, evidence and conclusions on the history of each object. Combining this knowledge with other historical resources such as texts is crucial for researching and interpreting history particularly for contested objects where the narrative from material evidence may be different from the popular understanding of an object. LCD aims to provide ways that conservation documentation can be produced, disseminated and re-used more effectively through Linked Data (https://www.w3.org/standards/semanticweb/data) in order to enable new research and new interpretations through offering researchers enhanced access to conservation data. We anticipate that this will contribute to educational programmes utilising conservation data, the development of improved methods for the protection of our cultural heritage and increased public engagement with collections in memory organisations. During phase 1, the LCD project: - addressed the issue of not being able to cross-search conservation records about the same things because of different vocabularies and established a pathway for harmonising and combining conservation vocabularies so that they can work together (https://www.ligatus.org.uk/lcd/output/142), - studied conservation records and identified some types which are difficult to describe and share and initiated discussions for new proposals to overcome these limitations (https://www.ligatus.org.uk/lcd/output/151), - raised awareness of the value of data in the profession through workshops and webinars (https://www.ligatus.org.uk/lcd/meetings). In phase 2 we aim to develop a Linked Data pilot implementation on book conservation which is of interest to partner organisations such as the Bodleian Library, the Library of Congress and the Stanford Libraries with different datasets harmonised into one system. The project builds on its existing partners and brings together national organisations and universities from the UK and US to form a critical mass of activity able to transform scholarship using conservation data. We are also partnering with major professional bodies in conservation who have agreed to co-author and co-sign a policy/strategy document to promote LCD's objectives. We are involving experts in education who will advise the consortium of how conservation data can be used to help educational programmes for schools in memory organisations. LCD phase 2 is the first step for setting up infrastructure for hosting shared vocabularies and datasets for conservation. We are preparing the consortium for a follow-up phase and we are establishing the foundations for Linked Data projects not only in conservation but potentially in other fields as well. LCD will inform current conservation documentation projects in memory organisations (e.g. three projects are in progress within consortium partners alone). The pilot is essential for testing methods and strengthening the consortium, as partners will work together through cross-disciplinary collaboration. A consortium of this scale with backing from major professional bodies is rare and this is a unique opportunity to make a real change to academic scholarship in memory organisations.

The exhibition 'I am a Camera: The Berlin Myth through the Eyes of English Writers' will take place in Berlin's Literaturhaus in summer 2021. It will feature a mixture of traditional exhibits (books, maps, manuscript letters, diaries, photographs) and film clips, broadcasts and an especially realised sound installation. At the heart of the exhibition is the myth of Berlin as a cosmopolitan and transgressive city made famous by Christopher Isherwood's novels Mr Norris Changes Trains (1935) and Good-bye to Berlin (1939), and subsequent theatre and film adaptations. The exhibition revisits this myth by viewing it as part of a longer history of cosmopolitan British writing in and about Berlin that originated in the turn of the century, and that includes works by H.G. Wells, Rupert Brooke, Virginia Woolf, Alix Strachey, Edward Sackville-West, W.H. Auden and Stephen Spender - all of whom will be featured. Exhibits will link key themes (e.g. nightlife, sexuality, pacifism, cinema) to specific spaces in the city. Special attention will be paid to the contributions of women and 'queer' travellers and writers. An innovative sound installation will create a British soundscape of literary Berlin, connecting the topography of the city to specific works by British authors. The installation will bring to life the idea of the city as a cosmopolitan space, and will encourage viewers to continue the experience of the exhibition out of the museum by visiting or revisiting relevant urban locations. The exhibition in the Literaturhaus will be supported by two 'frame' exhibits in Blackwell Hall, in the Weston Library (Oxford) and in the historic main building of the Humboldt-Universität (Berlin). The frame exhibits will be free of charge and will be focused on site-specific themes (in Oxford, for instance, it will draw heavily on the Stephen Spender papers held in the Bodleian Library). The exhibition catalogue will be an attractive, richly illustrated, fully bilingual book, written in an engaging way aimed at communicating state-of-the-art academic research to a non-specialist public. It will focus on specific themes such as the city as a cosmopolitan space, British women travellers, gay and lesbian Berlin, literature and Weimar cinema, and the relationship between the 1920s and the 2020s. The catalogue will be on sale in the Literaturhaus bookshop and other locations in the city. Outside the exhibition, its topic will be further investigated in a series of related events designed to benefit different audiences, including lovers of literature, school students and teachers. In Berlin, the Literaturhaus will run a busy programme of readings, talks, panel discussions and film showings designed to appeal to a diverse audience. In Oxford, the Bodleian Library will run an activity-focused workshop and a reading as part of a 'pop-up library'. Also in Oxford, the Stephen Spender Trust will build on the exhibition in order to run a workshop for 6th Form students and develop classroom resources based on the exhibits; it will also theme its termly Translation Exchange Book Club on the exhibition.