New Approaches to the Local and Global History of the Book

A project of the University of Toronto Mississauga, University of Toronto Libraries, and the Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton, NJ), generously funded by the Mellon Foundation.

What systems and things –– as well as people and cultures –– contribute to the story of the life of a book? What methods can we use to study a book’s material components, and to understand the environments that sustained it and its makers and users–both in the past and up until the present day?

Hidden Stories connects over 130 collaborators working across more than 60 institutions around the world. Our four-year project brings together interdisciplinary and scientific research, cultural heritage preservation, community relationship-building, and the development of knowledge-sharing tools, protocols, and best practices.

We work together to listen to, care for, and share the stories that books hold that ground our understanding of world history as at once locally situated and globally interconnected.

We acknowledge the Indigenous lands we work on. Read our Notes on a Land Acknowledgement here.

  • Old Book New Science
  • 2.ETHIOPIA & COASTAL E. AFRICA Quran Harar Ethiopia Fisher Library May 2022 covering and watermarks.jpg
  • 3.jess & science_square_digital hub_OBNS_March 2023_Edits_Volpe-25 (1).jpg
  • 4.dunhuang stitched book.jpg
  • 5.GLOBAL JUDAICA fisher_FriedbergMSS5001_03 (1).jpg
  • 6.KASHMIR INDUS VALLEY Fisher MSS 01106. fol.322v hands.jpg
  • 7.MESOAMERICA UIowa book sermons.jpg
  • 8.BOOK SCIENCE inscription.png
  • 9.euro codex_square_digital hub_A&S_Old Book New Science and Fisher Rare Books_Feb 2023_Volpe-31 (1).jpg
  • 10.0302SilkRoadsBookProject009.jpg

Research Areas

Dunhuang
Dunhuang Research Area
Ethiopia & Coastal East Africa Research Area
Ethiopia & Coastal East Africa
Global Judaica Research Area
Global Judaica
Great Lakes & Eastern Woodlands Research Area
Great Lakes & Eastern Woodlands
Himalayas Research Area
Himalayas
Kairouan Research Area
Kairouan
Kashmir & Gandhara Research Area
Kashmir & Gandhara
Mesoamerica & Mexico Research Area
Mesoamerica & Mexico
Northumbria Research Area
Northumbria
Book Science Research Area
Book Science

Additional Resources

Visit our YouTube channel
Read about our previous work
Explore the digital companion to our exhibition with the Aga Khan Museum
Learn about the exhibition at the Aga Khan Museum