In May 2021, the Thinking Paper project team was awarded a collaborative research grant under the Cambridge Humanities Research Grants Scheme entitled, ‘Hidden Knowledge: the extraction of the fingerprint of medieval paper from digital images’.
This project aims to establish a proof of concept for the analysis of medieval paper manuscripts by using new methods of extraction from digital images. These images constitute a substantial corpus of data for analysis of manuscripts still overlooked in current research investigations.
The project is a cross-disciplinary collaboration between the Faculty of English (Dr Orietta Da Rold), Cambridge University Library (Dr Suzanne Paul), Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics (Dr Simone Parisotto and Prof Carola-Bibiane Schönlieb) and, in a consultative capacity, the Fitzwilliam Museum (Dr Suzanne Reynolds).
It developed out of the ‘Thinking Paper’ Project workshop (8-9/02/21), funded by the Research and Collections Programme (convened by Dr Kristi Bain), and conversations with the Mathematics for Application in Cultural Heritage Project (MACH) funded by the Leverhulme Trust.