A selection of projects run by or involving members of CEMS.
Petworth House
Sussex Centre for Early Modern Studies is currently in partnership with the National Trust at Petworth House, West Sussex, and the West Sussex Record Office at Chichester in an investigation into the libraries and intellectual culture of the British country house during the early modern period. See our Petworth House page for more information.
Arden Critical Companions
The Arden Critical Companions explore a variety of different critical approaches to Shakespeare and his plays and provide fresh insight to the student, scholar and theatre-goer. Engaging, lucid and readable, the Arden Critical Companions make leading contemporary scholarship accessible and provide fresh insight to the student, scholar and theatre-goer. By putting Shakespeare's work into context, highlighting the culture in which he lived and worked, and examining the different ways in which his plays have been interpreted, each volume helps the reader develop a richer understanding of both individual plays and his work as a whole. General Editors: Andrew Hadfield (University of Sussex) and Paul Hammond (University of Leeds). Visit the series website for more information.
Early Modern Literature in History Series
Within the period 1520-1740, this series discusses many different kinds of writing, both within and outside the established canon. The volumes may employ different theoretical perspectives, but they share an historical awareness and an interest in seeing their texts in lively negotiation with their own and successive cultures. Series Editors: Andrew Hadfield (University of Sussex) and Cedric Brown (University of Reading). Visit the series website for more information.
The Newton Project
The Newton Project is a non-profit organization dedicated to making Newton's unpublished and published works freely available online. Over 4.2 million words are currently available and more are on the way. As well as electronic texts of Newton's works, the Newton Project provides information about his life, his library and the history of the Newton papers.
Katharine's perspective
'Working as Research Assistant on the Royal Devotion: Monarchy and the Book of Common Prayer exhibition at Lambeth Palace Library in 2012 was an invaluable experience. I helped with selecting materials, developing the narrative arc, and researching and writing the exhibition text. I sat in on organisational meetings and had the chance to learn how public exhibitions come together.
'The most enjoyable aspect for me was the sheer variety of the research work involved: in the morning I could be translating a paraphrase of Seneca used in a civil war propaganda text, and in the afternoon, chasing up the manufacturing details of a Victorian commemorative medal; one day transcribing letters written by King Charles I and Bishop Juxon, the next googling for details of the marriage of Prince William and Catherine Middleton.
'It was also incredibly exciting both to work with such important historical objects and to contribute to making these objects and their histories accessible to a large public audience.'
Katharine Fletcher
PhD student