AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Partnership (CDP) PhD Studentship: Re-Evaluating the Status of Prints at the British Library

Start date: 1 October 2024

Application Deadline: 17.00 on Monday 29 April 2024

Interviews are expected to take place on Tuesday 14 May 2024.

Birkbeck, University of London, and the British Library are pleased to announce the availability of a fully funded Collaborative Doctoral Studentship from 1 October 2024 under the AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Partnership Scheme.

The focus of this project is on identifying, researching and analysing the provenance, changing status and visibility of about 500 books of prints in the British Library’s collection, using an 1812 unpublished finding list as a starting point.

This project will be jointly supervised by Kate Retford at Birkbeck (Professor of History of Art, School of Historical Studies) and Felicity Myrone at the British Library (Lead Curator, Western Prints and Drawings). The student will spend time with both Birkbeck and the British Library and will become part of the wider cohort of AHRC CDP funded PhD students across the UK.  

Birkbeck and the British Library are keen to encourage a wide range of potential students to apply for this studentship and are committed to welcoming students from different backgrounds. We particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian, Minority, Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds, as currently underrepresented at this level in this area. Applicants should normally have a Masters Degree, but evidence of equivalent relevant professional experience can also be taken into consideration.

The Research Project

The focus of this project is on identifying and researching the provenance, changing status and visibility of about 500 books of prints. These were listed in an 1812 finding list written by then British Museum Keeper of Prints, William Alexander. The list was later marked up by his successor, J. T. Smith, when about 90% of the books were returned to the Library, where they remain. The recent discovery and sharing of this document has led to a rethinking of the history of the collection, overturning the previous broad assumption that all the prints considered of 'artistic' merit were transferred permanently to the new British Museum Print Room in 1808.

The student will investigate the implications of these works' categorisation, cataloguing and placing at the Museum, the Library and beyond. While based around a quantitative methodology which will involve a deep dive into the collection, the project will explore larger questions around the role of visual materials in collecting history and scholarship, the emergence of expertise, disciplinary norms and museological frameworks in the nineteenth century, and the relative status of visual and textual knowledge.

The student will be encouraged to develop the project according to their interests, experience, and following the course of the research, but the core focus will be on an almost entirely neglected but key aspect of the history of prints. The single sheet print has gained an unassailable value and significance, often mounted and presented as a work of art. Dealers and collectors have broken up print books, as well as albums and extra-illustrated volumes, to separate out images, both engaging with and reinforcing this hierarchy of taste and worth. However, this has led to widespread misunderstanding about the ways in which prints were produced, marketed and consumed in the early modern period. Many prints were in fact conceived in sets or series, sometimes only subsequently put together as books, but often offered in 'numbers' (England) or 'livraisons' (France), with the express expectation that the purchaser would then have them bound, with letterpress. Books and individual prints would typically be sold by the same firms, and inventories and catalogues from the period routinely show the complexities of and overlaps between library and art collections. But this is a history obfuscated by subsequent practices.

Research questions could include:

• what does this corpus of 500 volumes tell us about the taste, values and expectations of print collectors and librarians at the beginning of the nineteenth century?
• how do we experience prints differently as single sheets and within these bound volumes? How have the meanings and value of prints been shaped by their physical and organisational placement and classification?
• what can this tell us about the relationship of the literary and the visual within the broader category of print culture?
• how does our experience today compare both with that of the original purchasers, and those who subsequently organised and catalogued collections?
• how can we categorise different kinds of print book, and which were the most significant publications?
• how were these volumes conceived in relation to book, manuscript, print and art collections more broadly?
• how has art historical knowledge been shaped in the longer term by the distribution of prints across different museum and library contexts?
• how does the classification and treatment of these prints at the British Museum and Library compare to other national library collections?
• how might we develop methodologies to allow a more satisfactory, holistic understanding of these objects as both works of art and books, engaging both with the artistic significance of the prints and with their place in the bound codex?
• how can we strike a more productive balance in cataloguing and digitisation work?

Benefits and Opportunities

The successful candidate will be registered with the School of Historical Studies at Birkbeck, University of London, including History of Art, Museums and Heritage, History, Classics, Archaeology and Philosophy. The School has the largest cohort of MPhil/PhD students at Birkbeck, playing a key role in an active and ambitious research community. Skills sessions are complemented by numerous opportunities to present and discuss work in writing and reading groups, alongside wider events organised within various Research Centres and Institutes.

The British Library has a vibrant cohort of collaborative doctoral researchers. The successful applicant will be given staff-level access to the Library’s collections, resources and in-house training and development opportunities. CDP students also benefit from a dedicated programme of CDP Cohort Development events delivered in tandem with the other museums, galleries and heritage organisations affiliated with the AHRC CDP scheme.

This collaborative PhD studentship offers the opportunity to combine academic training with practice-based experience and research behind the scenes of a major cultural institution. Offering a combination of sustained and systematic analysis of an important documentary source with visual analysis, it will develop a broad knowledge of print history and artists, as well as an understanding of the inner working of print rooms and library collections.

Given staff-level access to relevant holdings, the student will receive training in and gain hands on experience of handling, identifying, researching and cataloguing prints. They will catalogue the prints under scrutiny using a specially designed spreadsheet to create records which will then be ingested to the British Library's main catalogue. We will also encourage the student to engage in supervised social media activity reflecting their discoveries. In contributing to blog posts, they will receive support and feedback regarding the use of social media tools and the development of writing skills, in accordance with Library guidelines and practice. They will also be encouraged to work with and potentially shadow colleagues in Conservation, Metadata, Digitisation, Western Heritage and Culture and Learning at the Library, gaining broad understanding of the history of the collections, and how they are being made more accessible through research, cataloguing, digitisation and display projects.

Details of Award

The PhD studentship can be undertaken on a full-time or part-time basis.

AHRC CDP doctoral training grants fund studentships for 4 years full-time or part-time equivalent.

AHRC CDP doctoral trainings grants also make provision of funding for student development activities to help the student extend their wider skills portfolio and improve their career prospects.

The award pays tuition fees up to the value of the full-time home UKRI rate for PhD degrees. The indicative fee level for Research Council studentships for 2024/25 is £4,786. Birkbeck will make up the difference in fees for an international student.

The award also pays full maintenance for all students, both home and international students. The National Minimum Doctoral Stipend for the academic year 2024/25 is £19,237. This is a tax-free training grant which increases slightly each year. An additional London Weighting allowance of £2000/year will be applied for this studentship.

In addition, the successful candidate will receive a CDP maintenance payment of £550/year.

Further details on UKRI funding for doctoral training can be found on the UKRI website: https://www.ukri.org/apply-for-funding/studentships-and-doctoral-training/

The successful student will also be eligible for an additional research allowance courtesy of the British Library, up to £1,000 per financial year or part-time equivalent, for the duration of the project.

Eligibility

This studentship is open to both Home and International applicants.

To be classed as a Home student, candidates must meet the following criteria:

• Be a UK National (meeting residency requirements), or
• Have settled status, or
• Have pre-settled status (meeting residency requirements), or
• Have indefinite leave to remain in or enter.

Further guidance on international eligibility can be found here:

https://www.ukri.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/UKRI-030221-Guidance-International-Eligibility-Implementation-training-grant-holders-V2.pdf

Applicant Information

Applicants should have or expect to receive a Masters-level qualification in a relevant discipline or equivalent experience in a professional setting. Relevant disciplines for Masters qualifications include, but are not limited to: History, History of Art, English Literature and Museum Studies. Equivalent experience might include, but is not restricted to: a strong track record of employment in a library, museum, or heritage institution, that includes responsibility for relevant archival research, collections curation, and/or public engagement activity. Shortlisted applicants will be required to provide a sample of their academic writing ahead of interview.

Applicants must be able to demonstrate an interest in art (ideally specifically in print culture) between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries, the museums, galleries, archives and library sectors, and the potential and enthusiasm for developing skills more widely in related areas.  

Collaborative doctoral students are expected to spend time at both Birkbeck and the British Library.

Applicants must satisfy the standard UKRI eligibility criteria. For further information please see:

https://www.ukri.org/funding/information-for-award-holders/grant-terms-and-conditions/

Applicant Information

Birkbeck and the British Library are keen to encourage a wide range of applicants from different backgrounds, and particularly welcome applications from students currently underrepresented in doctoral student cohorts.

To apply for this studentship, you must submit an online application no later than 17.00 on Monday 29 April 2024 here: https://www.bbk.ac.uk/courses/phd/history-of-art

Applications received after this date cannot be considered.

When completing the online application form, you will be asked whether you would like to be considered for a funding scheme. Please ensure that you answer ‘yes’ to this question, and specify ‘AHRC CDP Re-Evaluating the Status of Prints at the British Library’. Applications which do not include this detail may not be received.

Please also upload a CV, and provide a brief statement in support of your application (max 1,000 words), commenting on your interest in and qualifications for the studentship.

Interviews are expected to be held at Birkbeck, University of London, on Tuesday 14 May 2024.

Informal Enquiries

If you are interested in applying, you are welcome to contact either of the following for an informal discussion about this opportunity: 

Felicity Myrone: Felicity.Myrone@bl.uk

Kate Retford: k.retford@bbk.ac.uk