Research Associate, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton MA, Art History (Syracuse U., Florence), Grad Certificate, Book Studies & Technologies (U. Iowa Center for the Book), PhD, History (U. Iowa) Email: mmoreton at ias.edu   Hidden Stories - Project Areas of Activity Great Lakes & Eastern Woodlands of North America Ethiopia & Coastal East Africa Himalayas Global Judaica Mesoamerica & Mexico Research Interests Codicology History of the Book Indigenous languages and cultural revitalization

Biography

Moreton is a codicologist and scholar of the history of the book, particularly interested in material culture and the development and exchange of manuscript technologies across Eurasia, Africa, and the Americas. Her research revolves around the ways in which individuals and communities are connected through the production, use, and exchange of books and the materials used to make them. Moreton is a Research Associate at the Institute for Advanced Study, where she works on projects relating to global book history (1000–1700) and Indigenous language and cultural revitalization. More at https://www.ias.edu/scholars/melissa-moreton

Selected Publications

Books

Textiles in Manuscripts: A Local and Global History of the Book. Berlin: De Gruyter. Co-edited with Suzanne Conklin Akbari (Forthcoming, 2025).

Articles

2024

“Making the Book Visible: Visualization Tools, Descriptive Terminology, and the Development of a Methodology for the Study of Global Book History” in Approaches to Digital Codicology: Interdisciplinarity and Intersections. Co-authored with Rachel di Cresce. (Forthcoming).

“Huluniixsuwaakan: The Role of the Library in Munsee Delaware Language Revitalization and the Development of Community Relationships on Lunaape Land.” Library Trends Journal. Co-authored with Suzanne Conklin Akbari, Ian McCallum, and Anu Vendantham. (Forthcoming).

Moreton, Melissa. "Materials, Methods, and Motives: Female Scribal Agency in Late Medieval and Early Modern Italian Religious Houses." In Female Agency in Manuscript Cultures, edited by Eike Grossmann, 171-208. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111382715-006

2023

“Nun-Scribes and Their Colophons: Female Self-Identification and Remembrance in Early Modern Italy.” In Literary Snippets: Colophons Across Space and Time, edited by George A. Kiraz and Sabine Schmidtke, 201-226. Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press. https://doi.org/10.31826/9781463244019

2022

“What’s Hiding in the Spine? A Study of Adhesives in Medieval Books Using Mass Spectrometry” with Sharp, et al., in Manuscripta: A Journal for Manuscript Research 66, no. 2: 97-123. https://www.brepolsonline.net/doi/abs/10.1484/J.MSS.5.134726

2020

“Integrating Advanced Imaging of Ancient Manuscripts” in the Proceedings of the Imaging Science & Technology Archiving Conference 2020, with Toth, et al. (April) no. 1: 33-38. https://doi.org/10.2352/issn.2168-3204.2020.1.0.33