Hidden in Plain Sight

Hidden in Plain Sight @ #IMCLeeds2025!

You’re invited to join us for a 🥂 Reception on 8 July at 18:30 in University House (St George Room), right after the ⚗️ Scratching the Surface session at 16:30 in the Brotherton Gallery (Sheppard Room). Looking forward to seeing you there!

🕵️‍♀️ Hidden in Plain Sight @ #IMCLeeds2025!
Discover how cutting-edge tech reveals secrets of medieval manuscripts in 2 free events in Brotherton Gallery (Sheppard Room):

⚗️ 8 July, 16:30 – Scratching the Surface

🔬 9 July, 16:30 – Below the Surface

projects.history.qmul.ac.uk/inplainsight...

A write up of our wonderful 'Great Bible Exhibition' and the scientific analysis carried out on the two stunning presentation copies for Henry VIII and Cromwell @hips-project.bsky.social @theul.bsky.social @qmul.bsky.social and National Library of Wales

Such a joy to spend time with these books!

On May 21, 2025, we hosted a workshop on Erasures in Medieval Manuscripts, exploring the material and historical dimensions of manuscript alterations. Experts from conservation, history & heritage science discussed intentional vs. accidental erasures, and how new tools help uncover hidden traces.

Working in the National Museum at Paro, supporting the team in using heritage science for conservation.

Our team visited the Tango Monastery to explore the conservation of its stunning 18th-century murals.

Eyal Poleg @qmul.ac.uk is presenting on interdisciplinary project management.

David Mills @qmul.ac.uk advocates for using UV light in the analysis of historical artefacts. #HeritageScience #Conservation

Flavia Fiorillo @theul.bsky.social @Fitzwilliam Museum is leading a workshop on microscopy, here analysing woodblocks from the National Library of Bhutan. #DigitalMicroscopy

#exciting last couple of days of #CH #science and #photography workshops at Royal Heritage Museum in Trongsa with @hips-project.bsky.social @theul.bsky.social @qmul.ac.uk Hands on sessions with lots of positive attitude and curiosity.

3. Maciej Pawlikowski @CUL is leading a series of workshops on digitising books and objects.

A three-day workshop featuring presentations and hands-on demos brought together experts from the Antiquity and Culture Divisions, the National Library and Archives, students, monks, and conservators. #Workshop #Collaboration #Heritagescience #Buhtan

Oh wow, this hits me hard, as I have to be away from my kids half of very work week. Children are often silent in early sources.

Child's hand: "mon cher papa vené" (Dear papa, come [home].)

Adult hand: "cest de la petite main de notre enfans" (This is in the little hand of our child.)

Last few days were extremely humbling and challenging. We were delivering workshops on heritage photography and science to audiences of different professionals from Bhutan Museums and National Library. What unites us all is true passion for heritage. @theul.bsky.social @hips-project.bsky.social

The visit began with the traditional wine oblation ceremony (Marchange), and a reception with the Home Minister and the head of the Department of Culture and Dzongkha Development.

Team members from Hidden in Plain Sight do heritage science in Bhutan 🇧🇹, with support from @qmulhss.bsky.social & @theul.bsky.social. Hosted by Bhutan's Museum Division, we're assisting museums & departments in integrating new tech for conservation and analysis, leaving equipment with our partners.

After the last challenge was met with empathy, we turned to another inscription from a 14th c. devotional codex, B.10.15, Preces. Vita Christi Versifice, in the Wren Library. At the bottom of the final image in a sequence of 58 (some smudged), an inscription is added. Can you help transliterate it?

Preparing for our 2.5-week visit to Bhutan, Dr. Ayesha Fuentes hosted a workshop at the Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology Cambridge, with cultural heritage colleagues from Tibetan & Himalayan communities to explore new ways of writing material histories shaped by diverse identities and values

Research Project Coordinator at Queen Mary University of London Explore professional service vacancies, like the Research Project Coordinator role, on jobs.ac.uk. Apply today and learn more about the position.

🚨 We're Hiring! 🚨
We're looking for a Research Project Coordinator to join our team! 📊 Interested? Apply here: www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DLT885/r... Feel free to share and spread the word! #JobOpening #Hiring #ResearchJobs

Well done! Thank you so much, that was impressive.

Thanks for the try.

Thanks for the effort! Check out @drdavidrundle.bsky.social‬'s response.

This is brilliant, thank you so much! However I’m still struggling with the second half ...

This is the perfect example of why one should keep one's handwriting legible.

Who's up for a challenge? Some 16th-century Middle English handwriting is proving quite difficult to decipher, as part of our historical context study of CUL MS Dd.15.25, a 15th-century Horae. Any help or insights would be greatly appreciated! #Paleography #BookofHours #MiddleEnglish

This is wonderful news, as the Leiden MSS were pretty inaccessible. Among them are these beautiful copies of Gregory of Tours Historia Francorum (VLO 86) and of Pliny (VLF 61), both dating to the early ninth century.

This week, CHIL at CUL kicked off our series on optical techniques for studying erasures in premodern Western religious manuscripts! First up: MS CUL Dd.15.25, a 15th-c. Flemish Book of Hours, made for the English market features various erasures. #ManuscriptStudies #Erasures #HeritageScience

Commonly used for eye examinations and imaging teeth, Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) can also be used to examine heritage objects. David Mills from @qmul.ac.uk Dentistry Lab paid us a visit to analyse some of the sacred books in the @hips-project.bsky.social project (HiPS)

HiPS team took a day trip to the Science departments @nhm-london.bsky.social and V&A London! Highlights included 3D scanning a meteorite and Kinder Egg, and an extreme close-up of Marie Antoinette’s earrings from her Dauphine days. Huge thanks to Lucia Burgio and Paola Ricciardi for hosting us!"