News & Events

Crafting Documents Colloquium 'Heritage Science and Manuscripts from Antiquity and the Middle Ages' - 13-14 November 2025

Schulman Auditorium, The Queen's College, University of Oxford | in partnership with the Centre for Manuscript and Text Cultures, Oxford

This event brings together historians, conservators, and material scientists to examine the latest interdisciplinary approaches to writing culture and material science. Through a series of papers and discussions, we aim to shed new light on the production, transmission, and preservation of texts across diverse historical contexts. All sessions are free to attend, and no prior registration is required. The full programme will be announced shortly.

Project Launch recording is now available online!

6 February 2024

We are very pleased to announce that the recording of our project launch (that took place on 2 February 2024 at The Queen's College, Oxford) is now available online in the YouTube of the Faculty of History, University of Oxford. Do let us know what you think!

Crafting Documents project launch in February 2024

10 January 2023

Join us to celebrate our project launch on the 2nd of February, 3pm GMT+, in the Memorial room, the Queen’s College, Oxford. We will be discussing our research to date and present our new website with several resources available for users. The presentation will be followed by a drinks reception kindly hosted by the Centre for Manuscript and Text Cultures. The event will be broadcasted via Teams; if you wish to attend the launch remotely, please get in touch with ana.dias@history.ox.ac.uk.

Crafting Documents team visits the Archives nationales de France

25 November 2023

This December, the Crafting Documents team will visit the Archives nationales de France, in Paris, to examine the collection of early medieval relic labels from the abbey of Notre-Dame de Chelles. This will be the last ‘exploratory trip’, marking the end of the first stage of our field work. As with the previous archives, co-PIs Julia Smith and Ira Rabin, and PDRA Ana O Dias will be analysing the 139 pre-800 CE labels in the collection and assessing the materials for future scientific analysis.

A week in the Alpine abbey of Saint-Maurice d’Agaune, Switzerland

9 October 2023

After a productive week in Sens, we are travelling to Switzerland to visit the abbey of Saint-Maurice d’Agaune, in the beautiful Canton of Valais, where we will examine a smaller yet remarkable collection of relic labels. This is the most heterogenous set and one that poses several important questions as well as challenges. A visit to the superb treasure of Saint-Maurice is also on our agenda.

Crafting Documents visits Sens to explore its early medieval relic collection

2 September 2023

October will be a busy month for our team with two exploratory trips to France and Switzerland. In France, we will be visiting the ecclesiastical museum of Sens, which holds one of the biggest collections of early medieval relic labels in Europe. This is going to be our first research trip in which we will gather some preliminary data and assess the space for our future ‘measuring trips’, during which Ira Rabin and Oliver Hanh will be conducting the scientific analysis of parchment and inks.

Crafting Documents on social media

20 August 2023

We are now on X (Twitter)!

Please follow us, get in touch, and share our content widely!

Look for us @CraftDocsOX

'The Craft of Parchment' workshop in Klosterneuburg

3 August 2023

We have been invited to join the B2C and ABC teams in Klosterneuburg, Austria, for ‘The Craft of Parchment’ workshop which will take place between the 29-31 August 2023. This event will bring together scientists and manuscript scholars to discuss the most up-to-date scientific methods for parchment analysis. Participants will also be trained to prepare skins for writing according to late antique and medieval techniques.