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.
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Pañcarakṣa sutra from Nepal, 1746 (Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, Tibetan MSS 00015)
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Qur’an from Harar, mid-18th century (Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, MSS 05330
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Researchers using atomic force microscopy at the University of Toronto
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Devotional print from Dunhuang, 947. (Royal Ontario Museum, 927.24)
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Torah from Toledo, 1307 (Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, Friedberg MSS 5-001)
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Bhagavad Gita from Kashmir, 17th-19th century (Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, MSS 01106)
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Sermon Book Cover from Mexico, 18th century (University of Iowa Libraries Special Collections, BX1756.V65 S47 1570)
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Arba’ah Turim from Constantinople, 1493 (Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, Friedberg 00131)
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Choir Book from Italy, ca. 1400 (Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, MSS 09700)
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Palm leaf manuscript from Bali, date unknown (Don Taylor Collection)
Research Areas
