Imprint. A Forensic and Historical Investigation of Fingerprints on Medieval Seals
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Lincoln
Department Name: School of History and Heritage
Abstract
Impressions of seal matrices in disks of wax, deliberately preserved with their parent documents as part of the legal and administrative process of authentication, survive in great numbers in British archives. Since, by the later thirteenth century, seals came to be used by almost all levels of society, the imagery and wording on seals, along with sealing practices and techniques, offer great potential for historical research. In the last few years, and in particular as a consequence of the AHRC-funded Seals in Medieval Wales (SiMeW) and British Academy Seals in a Local Context (SiLC) projects, this potential is increasingly being realised. Importantly, the back of the wax on which seal impressions are found often retains the image of unique hand prints (finger, thumb or palm) but although sometimes commented upon these have, until now, been neglected as a source of information. They do, however, provide direct evidence of those involved in the act of sealing. But whose prints are they?
Imprint, which offers a genuine and mutually beneficial collaboration between History and forensic science, will use a range of methods for hand mark identification, including cutting-edge practice in digital imaging and the analysis of marks using both manual and Automated Fingerprint Identification System techniques. Images of c.1,200-1,500 medieval seals which are still associated with their parent documents will be taken to specifications which satisfy both the needs of historical research and forensic analysis. From an historical perspective, the results will enable an innovative investigation of the practice of sealing in a documentary context, and will allow the project team to consider what the identification of these prints can tell us about how sealing practices may have evolved concurrently with administrative and legal practices. More generally, the project will shed new light on social networks, rituals associated with exchange, and the bureaucracies and protocols of authentication and security in medieval England and Wales.
On the forensics side, the study will provide data which is pertinent to on-going areas of research in Identity Science, providing a significant quantity of material from a period long before existing banks of fingerprint data, and contribute to discussions about the uniqueness of fingerprints and their evidential validity. This research is timely in promoting links between the Humanities and Forensic science, as urged in the UK government Silverman Report on Research and Development in Forensic Science (2011) which notes the value of interdisciplinary research using forensic science, to create project Impact as well as scholarly results. It is also a natural progression from the recent work of SiMeW and SiLC, upon whose expertise we are drawing.
A pilot for the project, using seals from Hereford Cathedral Archive, has demonstrated that the methodology is sound: we recovered usable prints from 37% of the material surveyed, and traditional print recognition techniques revealed that particular individuals do recur.
Imprint, which offers a genuine and mutually beneficial collaboration between History and forensic science, will use a range of methods for hand mark identification, including cutting-edge practice in digital imaging and the analysis of marks using both manual and Automated Fingerprint Identification System techniques. Images of c.1,200-1,500 medieval seals which are still associated with their parent documents will be taken to specifications which satisfy both the needs of historical research and forensic analysis. From an historical perspective, the results will enable an innovative investigation of the practice of sealing in a documentary context, and will allow the project team to consider what the identification of these prints can tell us about how sealing practices may have evolved concurrently with administrative and legal practices. More generally, the project will shed new light on social networks, rituals associated with exchange, and the bureaucracies and protocols of authentication and security in medieval England and Wales.
On the forensics side, the study will provide data which is pertinent to on-going areas of research in Identity Science, providing a significant quantity of material from a period long before existing banks of fingerprint data, and contribute to discussions about the uniqueness of fingerprints and their evidential validity. This research is timely in promoting links between the Humanities and Forensic science, as urged in the UK government Silverman Report on Research and Development in Forensic Science (2011) which notes the value of interdisciplinary research using forensic science, to create project Impact as well as scholarly results. It is also a natural progression from the recent work of SiMeW and SiLC, upon whose expertise we are drawing.
A pilot for the project, using seals from Hereford Cathedral Archive, has demonstrated that the methodology is sound: we recovered usable prints from 37% of the material surveyed, and traditional print recognition techniques revealed that particular individuals do recur.
Planned Impact
Imprint will benefit professionals with curatorial responsibility for medieval documents. The five archive repositories directly involved in the project will gain digital images of sealed instruments and associated detailed information about the seals that can be incorporated into the host repositories' catalogues. The RAs will also be able to provide useful information about the condition of the collections investigated, for example identifying any items in need of conservation or re-housing. The findings may also provide valuable and potentially high-profile insights into items in the collections, for example were matches to be found between prints on the supposed 'Anglo-Saxon' charters and genuine 12th century documents at Westminster Abbey (medieval forgery 'case solved'!)
Repositories with substantial medieval collections but not directly involved will also be able to benefit from dissemination of the methodology and information about how their material could be enhanced by such projects, for example in terms of making medieval documents seem less remote for general audiences by revealing insights into the circumstances in which these items were created. In addition, the co-investigators are currently writing an article based upon the pilot project for submission to the journal Archives, and as part of Imprint we would hold workshops specifically aimed at archival professionals, based in areas near the archives we will be using in our research. These workshops, and specialist classes for archive students, would provide cutting-edge skills and knowledge for current curators and the next generation of those caring for sealed documents.
More broadly, through its website, and by working alongside partner repositories to produce online exhibitions and workshops, the project will allow the general public a vivid insight into medieval life through the investigation of very tangible objects, and by demonstrating the synergies to be found in collaborations between the humanities and science. We envisage that the project would therefore have widespread media appeal, and in addition to a TV documentary, for which the project team is already in informal talks with BBC4 through the University of Lincoln's director for public engagement, the project team will also write an article for consideration by a 'popular' history publication (target publications: BBC History Magazine, History Today, Archaeology Today).
From a scientific perspective, Imprint will contribute important information to current debates in forensics and allow the testing of theories concerning the identification of finger and hand prints, as well as informing a number of international projects and current Home Office initiatives. For example, through data from the finger and palm prints on wax seals, statistical information can be gleaned concerning the uniqueness of finger and hand marks through comparison of medieval marks (different demographic at a different time) and thus those of the present day using existing AFIS systems within the UK and potentially in other countries, previously unknown statistical data can be derived to add evidence concerning the uniqueness of fingerprints; a matter of international concern in the forensic world, and will address a number of the recommendations made in Sir Anthony Campbell's 2011 Scottish Inquiry Report into the mis-identification of Shirley McKie. This information can be built into data regarding the likelihood ratios associated with finger and palm mark identification and advance finger mark identification as a science.
Imprint's forensic advisers will present the data gathered at conferences, Home Office Workshops & Training Courses and after the project's end will print seek to publish its final conclusions in academic journals in their field such as Forensic Science International.
Repositories with substantial medieval collections but not directly involved will also be able to benefit from dissemination of the methodology and information about how their material could be enhanced by such projects, for example in terms of making medieval documents seem less remote for general audiences by revealing insights into the circumstances in which these items were created. In addition, the co-investigators are currently writing an article based upon the pilot project for submission to the journal Archives, and as part of Imprint we would hold workshops specifically aimed at archival professionals, based in areas near the archives we will be using in our research. These workshops, and specialist classes for archive students, would provide cutting-edge skills and knowledge for current curators and the next generation of those caring for sealed documents.
More broadly, through its website, and by working alongside partner repositories to produce online exhibitions and workshops, the project will allow the general public a vivid insight into medieval life through the investigation of very tangible objects, and by demonstrating the synergies to be found in collaborations between the humanities and science. We envisage that the project would therefore have widespread media appeal, and in addition to a TV documentary, for which the project team is already in informal talks with BBC4 through the University of Lincoln's director for public engagement, the project team will also write an article for consideration by a 'popular' history publication (target publications: BBC History Magazine, History Today, Archaeology Today).
From a scientific perspective, Imprint will contribute important information to current debates in forensics and allow the testing of theories concerning the identification of finger and hand prints, as well as informing a number of international projects and current Home Office initiatives. For example, through data from the finger and palm prints on wax seals, statistical information can be gleaned concerning the uniqueness of finger and hand marks through comparison of medieval marks (different demographic at a different time) and thus those of the present day using existing AFIS systems within the UK and potentially in other countries, previously unknown statistical data can be derived to add evidence concerning the uniqueness of fingerprints; a matter of international concern in the forensic world, and will address a number of the recommendations made in Sir Anthony Campbell's 2011 Scottish Inquiry Report into the mis-identification of Shirley McKie. This information can be built into data regarding the likelihood ratios associated with finger and palm mark identification and advance finger mark identification as a science.
Imprint's forensic advisers will present the data gathered at conferences, Home Office Workshops & Training Courses and after the project's end will print seek to publish its final conclusions in academic journals in their field such as Forensic Science International.
Organisations
Publications
Hoskin P
(2019)
'BY THE IMPRESSION OF MY SEAL'. MEDIEVAL IDENTITY AND BUREAUCRACY: A CASE STUDY
in The Antiquaries Journal
Hoskin, P M
(2017)
Imprint: a forensic and historical investigation of fingerprints on medieval seals
in Journal of Medieval Prosopography
L. Mcgarr
(2016)
A Preliminary study of fingerprint ridge detail on medieval seals from Hereford Cathedral
in Fingerprint Whorld: the International Journal of the Fingerprint Society,
Whatley L
(2019)
A Companion to Seals in the Middle Ages
Description | At the end of the project we have a picture of complex sealing practices, administrative developments shared across large institutions and small landowners, and differing ideas of sealing and identity. Our analysis so far has broken new ground and has already enabled us to say with confidence that the analysis of prints on the reverse of wax seals can reveal unexpected details about the practice of sealing. Analysis of the hand prints on wax seals from Hereford, Exeter and Lincoln Cathedrals, from the Margam Abbey seals at National Library of Wales, and much of the analysis for Westminster Abbey, is now complete. This reveals that the relationship between the owner of the matrix and the sealed document is more complex than has been thought. In thirteenth-century Hereford it is clear that, although the wax was held in a palm whilst the matrix was impressed, the person holding the wax was not necessarily the owner of the matrix. Equally, it is clear that there was not a dedicated individual administrator for the recipient institution who was always responsible for holding both the matrix and the wax. At our other sites we have different findings. Here a lack of matching prints across different matrices suggests that individual men and women were engaging with their own sealing. Some of this is probably due to small landowners making use of different existing local writing offices, and it seems probable that their choice of writing office sometimes affected the way in which sealing was carried out. However, even in large, well organised chanceries, such as that at Westminster Abbey, it would appear that individual could be expected to undertake sealing themselves. The full results are leading to fascinating questions arising from the project. It is clear that individuals did not always have directly to be connected with their sealing, but they could be, and in some places this personal connection seems to have been more important than in others. However, the mix of ways in which sealing was carried out adds to our understanding of relationships between individuals and the law at a local level; addresses important issues about identity; and raises questions about what part of the performance of sealing was important to the individual sigillant. The relationships between individuals and their seals are more complex than has been thought. |
Exploitation Route | These findings will be of value to academics interested in medieval identity, in the performance involved in medieval legal practice and in the administration of sealing. It will also be of use to our partner heritage institutions, allowing them to exhibit seals in both physical and online exhibitions in a context which is interesting and attractive to non-speciallst audiences, and could be extended to be used in exhibitions and descriptions of seals in other institutions. For students studying medieval life, from KS3 on, these findings will enable them to engage in new ways with the relationships, particularly business relationships, between individuals in the thirteenth century. |
Sectors | Education,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
Description | The project's use of specialised forensic equipment designed to image fingerprints, the crime lite imager, has been of use to both the equipment's manufacturers and to forensic scientists. The equipment's manufacturers, Foster and Freeman have acknowledged the project's value in extensive testing of a new version of the equipment which has allowed them to solve some problems with software and hardware, notably with the connection between the imaging camera and the product's software. Forensic Focus, forensic scientists working with the project, have been able to explore further the way in which fingerprint images can be found upon wax. This has led to a journal article in the professional journal of the Fingerprints Society, Fingerprint Whorld, so informing the professional work of other forensic scientists. In addition, as a result of the project's workshop events in 2018, Dr New, co-investigator on the project, has established 'knowledge-exchange' workshops in Oxford, London, Cardiff / Liverpool and Shrewsbury, all of which are open to archivists, conservators and curators. These are directly informing and changing the work of these professionals in exhibiting identifying and recording seals in their institutions. She is in discussion with the Archives and Records Association about establishing the project's findings and guidelines as that association's central source of advice on medieval seals. |
First Year Of Impact | 2016 |
Sector | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Government, Democracy and Justice,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
Impact Types | Cultural,Policy & public services |
Title | Imprint seals and hand prints database |
Description | The Imprint database contains entries for over 900 seals where the project was able to identify prints on the reverse of the wax suitable for forensic analysis. It includes information about the document (contents, dates and parties), information about seals (motif, owner, legend, size, wax colour and any other uses of the same matrix within the database) and information about the prints found on the reverse of the seals including where matching prints have been found. Images of all these elements are included in the database. As well as simple full text searches complex searches combining the information of a number of different fields will be possible. It is also possible to generate network diagrams to depict particular searches visually. The database is currently in beta testing and will be made available this year at the web address given below.It will be a free academic tool |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2018 |
Provided To Others? | No |
Impact | The database has allowed the project already to combine different search information to find new material about the ways in which sealing and document production was being performed in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries in different geographical areas, The ability t look at both matching and differing prints has helped us to challenge accepted ideas about medieval identity as represented through seals. |
URL | https://imprintseals.org/ |
Description | "Hands Across Time" Exeter workshops |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | The project held two funded workshops at Exeter Cathedral in April 2018 to publicise its research and findings. The event was attended by both the general public and by heritage professionals. attendees reported having discovered new ways to think about medieval seals in both historical and professional contexts. Plans for future work with conservators were also made |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | "Hands Across Time" research day |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | The project held a funded workshop at the Society of Antiquaries in April 2018 to publicise its research and findings. The event was attended by both the general public and by heritage professionals. attendees reported having discovered new ways to think about medieval seals in both historical and professional contexts |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | "Making Stuff Happen" Workshop |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | The project held a workshop in London in December 2018 drawing together academics working on research projects considering materiality and heritage professionals in whose institutions these projects had worked. The day was intended to help both groups consider how they could use their expertise to help each other in events arising from the current projects and in planning furture projects (for example encouraging new cataloging processes, helping with exhibitions, encouraging presentation of material in a different way) |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | "Materialities of Digitisation" workshop |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | The PI and Co-I of the project presented at the National Archives 'Materiailties of Digitisation' day considering the value of digitization of archives and the chal;llenges of born-digital material, including research project digital outputs.The day allowed heritage professionals and academics to consider what the questions we need to answer for the future in this area are |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | A twitter account for the Imprint project, describing our work and engaging the public with our findings and research. Currently over 500 people from a variety of walks of life follow the account |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | The project runs a twitter account, witha 'seal of the day' feature when we are in archives, and which explains our work and progress and engages readers with involving themselves in the research, For example, we have encouraged followers to help identify difficult images and we have engaged with authors of historical fiction about the ways in which medieval seals may have been used in the twelfth to fourteenth centuries and how that might affect the characters in their work. We have aso entered into conversations with archivists and other heritage professionals about their holdings of seals. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016,2017 |
URL | https://twitter.com/Imprint_Project?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor |
Description | Article 'CSI Medieval: researchers uncovering forensic Secrets of Britain's Historic Wax Seals' Conservation Heritage Journal 11 (Spring 2016) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | The professional conservation journal, Conservation Heritage Journal, published an article on the project, particularly upon our use of forensic equipment, in Spring 2016. The journal has a circulation of over 18,000 and is aimed at heritage and conservation professionals. Following on from the article the project had conversations with conservators about the project and particularly about other possible uses of the equipment for surveying fragile and difficult materials. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | Article 'Medieval crimes uncovered' in Police Life magazine February 2016 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | An article in the Metropolitan Police's magazine, Police Life, covered the project leading to further enquiries about the project and the use of our technical equipment. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | Article in BBC History magazine on the project: CSI History: experts analyse fingerprints to crack medieval mysteries |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | BBC History magazine (with a large international circulation among the general public) carried an article on the project's work in January 2016, including interviews with both the PI and Co-I on the project, and images of work in one of our partner institutions, Hereford Cathedral, as well as describing the project's aims. The article led to a number of inquiries about the project's work and there was an increase in followers to the project's twitter account on publication. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | Article in New Scientist Magazine after talking to journalist |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Following a conversation with a freelance journalist an article about the project, and its early findings, an article was published in the Christmas edition of the international popular history magazine, New Scientist (with an international circulation averaging 130,000 a month: the Christmas edition attracts more readers). The article led to an increase in followers on the project blog and twitter feed, and to direct engagement with local historians who were incorporating seals in their work and wished to know more. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
URL | https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg23231040-900-medieval-wax-seals-are-giving-up-fresh-historica... |
Description | Bees in the Medieval World symposium, European Hansemuseum, Lubeck |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Other audiences |
Results and Impact | The project's research fellow Dr Morgan took part in an international symposium for academics and postgraduate students in September 2018. Participants reported that the project's involvement had led them to consider the importance and use of medieval wax in new ways. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Blog entry on international research blog Verkörperung kommunaler Identität |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Professor Hoskin and Dr New were invited to contribute a entry on the project's work to the international research blog Verkörperung kommunaler Identität, written by German Art historians and Historians investigating seals and prints on seals in different but complimentary ways to Imprint. Imprint's preliminary findgins are encouraging them to ask different questions about what they are seeing. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
URL | http://siegel.hypotheses.org/176 |
Description | Caistor Grammar School School workshop |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | The project team lead a workshop for year 7 students at Caistor Grammar School on medieval documents, sealing and the importance of prints on the reverse of medieval seals. After the event staff reported increased student enthusiasm and that students were asking new sorts of questions about medieval history adn documents. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Conference presentation at Aber@archives workshop: From Charters to Pipe Rolls: Getting to grips with Medieval Documents. By Dr Fergus Oakes |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | This talk, which focused around the work of Imprint, was part of a conference aimed at archive professionals and those training to enter the archive profession.It also offered advice on using archives for other postgraduate students. The talk lead to debate about the ways in which seals are presented in archival descriptions. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
URL | https://aberatarchives.hcommons.org/ |
Description | Engagement with undergraduate class |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
Results and Impact | As part of the Aberystwyth University skills course AU HY24420 'Seals and their context in medieval England and Wales'. Skills & Methods of History students were introduced by Dr Elizabeth New and Dr Fergus Oakes to Imprint's findings about the practical purpose of sealing in a workshop. This encouraged students to think about seals in new ways and sparked discussion |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Forensics conference (Leicester) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | 'Friction Ridge detail on Medieval Seals: How history is addressing modern day issues'. Conference paper, with Luke McGarr of Forensics Focus Ltd, to the UK Fingerprint Society annual conference |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | Impact paper at International Medieval Congress, University of Leeds |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Philippa Hoskin, principal investigator on the project, gave a paper 'Leaving an Imprint: Finding Common Ground with Forensic Scientists' in a session at the International Medieval Congress at Leeds on knowledge exchange and impact. The project led to debate among academics and professional practitioners present from across Europe around the nature and extent of the relationship between medieval studies, heritage and public services and industry. Members of the audience reported changes in their views of the way in which these relationships could and should work. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | Imprint project blog |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | The project's blog contains entries about the more unusual findings outside the project's main purpose. So we have included articles on sing our equipment to look at palimsest manuscripts, on unusual and interesting sealed documents, on helping archivists to reunite seals and medieval seal bags by looking at impressions on the fabric bags under different light spectra, and the results of our experiments with making coloured wax to medieval recipes to investigate how wax could be impressed, how easy to was to leave hand prints on wax and how wax may have deteriorated over time. Most exciting amongst the reactions to this have been those of colleagues in academia and archives, whose views of manuscripts and the way wax has been used has changed. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016,2017 |
URL | http://imprintproject.blogs.lincoln.ac.uk/ |
Description | Interview about the project for BBC Radio Wales |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Interview on BBC Radio Wales 'Good Morning Wales' show to discuss the project |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | Interview on Radio BBC Lincolnshire Drivetime programme 12 January 2016 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | The Principal Investigator was interviewed about the project and its aims on BBC Radio Lincolnshire during the mid-afternoon Drivetime radio programme (a popular regional programme). The interview led to requests for further information from undergraduates and the public, and to the creation of links with BBC radio which will be followed up later in the project. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | Interview with Radio Lincolnshire about the project and its work |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | An interview on live Drive time radio (the popular late afternoon show) explaining what Imprint is about and how it wworks |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | MA Medieval studies class University of Lincoln |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | As part of their MA modulel on the medieval church (HST9018M) students on the MA Medieval studies at the University of Lincoln had a two hour workshop on the project adn its findings. This encouraged them to question assumptions about medieval society adn seals and has also encouraged several of them to pursue independent research in this area. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Podcast for BBC History |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Podcast for BBC History Extra about medieval seals and sealing practices, and the AHRC Imprint project |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
URL | http://www.historyextra.com/podcast/Postwar-Germany-medieval-CSI |
Description | Presentation to Local History Society |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | The PI and Research Fellow presented the project's results to attendees at the Canterbury and York Society's annual general meeting, held in Lambeth Palace Library. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Public Workshop (Lincoln) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Three project staff (Professor Hoskin, Dr New and Dr Morgan) ran a workshop for the general public as part of one of the Marie Curie LiGHTS Nights, showcasing technology and science projects. We were able to bring information about how humanities were making use of science - in our case forensics - to members of the general public mainly from across the East Midlands region, from school age to retirement age. We were also able to explain experiments we had carried out that morning making wax to medieval recipes and how knowledge of those recipes might affect our project. All participants completed feedback forms and gave us the highest rating on all questions, covering interest, presentation, whether they would recommend the project to a friend and whether they would like to know more about the project in the future. Individual attendees also came to ask how they would find out more about the project, and perhaps most importantly to say that we had changed their perceptions of medieval administration but also of how modern science could help us find out about the past. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | Public lecture (Shrewsbury) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Talk at the 'Shropshire History Day' sponsored by Shropshire Archives. Over 50 people attended, including members of local history societies, Friends of Shropshire Archives, general public, archive and museum professionals. Discussion and questions afterwards, and this has led to an invitation to write an article for the Salopian Recorder, the local archives / history publication. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
URL | https://www.shropshire.gov.uk/media/2125170/2016-Shropshie-History-Day-programme.pdf |
Description | Public lecture at Hereford cathedral |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Dr Elizabeth New gave a public lecture on the medieval seals of Hereford and what they can tell us about medieval society, incorporating the findings of Imprint. This encouraged questions and debate among attendee with some commenting that it had changed their views of medieval society. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | https://www.herefordshire.gov.uk/events/event/170/magna_carta_lectures_-_impressing_people |
Description | Public lecture at Society of Antiquaries: Hands across time, medieval fingerprints on wax seals |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | The public lecture, presenting the work and findings to date of the project, was given to an audience of about 70 members of the general public, postgraduates and archive practitioners on 25 April 2017 at the Society of Antiquaries. A video of the lecture has since been available on Youtube and has received 182 views. Feedback after the event included contact form teachers, considering how to present medieval history to year 7 students and questions from postgraduate students about the direction their work should take. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybuNb4rZ3Y4 |
Description | Research Paper at International Medieval Congress, University of Leeds |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Dr Hollie Morgan, research fellow on the project, gave a research paper. 'Digitising the Digit: Imprint and the Lasting Impressions of Medieval Hands' in a session 'Digital Skin: sensory experiences of digital manuscripts'. The paper led to questions adn debate amongst academics adn postgraduates about performance adn ritual in sealing practice and about administrative change adn its relationship to identity |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | Short article in a magazine for French Canadian schoolchildren (Debrouillards) learning Science |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | The magazine Debrouillards is circulated through schools in Canada and aims at teaching science to French Canadian schoolchildren. In the April 2016 magazine a piece on Imprint's work was included in the 'true or false?' section which asks students to think whether a particular activity is actually in progress ad then tells them more about those which are. The circulation of the magazine is several thousand schoolchildren approximately 9-14 in age. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | Society of Antiquaries open day |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Over 40 postgraduate students took part in the event. Feedback indicated that the session had made students consider seals in new ways, and several indicated that they would now be looking at seals as part of their research |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Society of Antiquaries open day |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Dr Elizabeth new, co-investigator on Imprint, took part in the open day event at the Society of Antiquaries, explaining Imprint's findings about the process of sealing to attendees. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | https://www.sal.org.uk/postgraduate-open-day/ |
Description | Talk (Cambridge) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Supporters |
Results and Impact | Annual Friends of the Old Library talk, Trinity Hall, Cambridge. About 35 people attended the talk, which generated questions and discussions |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
URL | http://www.trinhall.cam.ac.uk/about/library/old-library/supporters/detail.asp?ItemID=1911 |
Description | Talk to open exhibition: Reading Palms: Personal Identity and Medieval Seals |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | This talk by Professor Hoskin, Principal Investigator, presented the work of the project to a mixed audience of the general public, undergraduates, postgraduates, academics and heritage professionals as part of the launch of the Magdalen College, Oxford exhibition 'A medieval Archive in a Modern World' June 2017. The talk led to further conversations with the archivist at Magdalen and to on going meetings about an additional project using seals held at Oxford. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
URL | http://www.magd.ox.ac.uk/news/new-library-exhibition-a-medieval-archive-in-a-modern-world/ |
Description | Video for Unlocking our collections series for Society of Antiquaries |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | The video by Dr Elizabeth New, co-investigator on the project, looks at the seal cast of the seal of an unknown individual, emphasising the project's point that the seals of small landowners provide valuable information even hen we know nothing about the individuals themselves. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
URL | https://www.sal.org.uk/museum-collection/unlocking-our-collections/seal-matrix/ |
Description | Workshop at Lincoln Castle Academy |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | Project team members held a workshop two classes of Year 7 students from Lincoln Castle Academy on the creation of documents, sealing documents and the importance of prints on the reverse of medieval seals. Afterwards the School reported increased student interest in medieval history and that staff observing the workshop had discovered new ways to teach about medieval sources which they would make use of in future years. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Workshop at Lincoln LiGHTS event (part of Marie Curie International Festival of Science) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | The project gave workshops as part of the one day LiGHTS Expo 2017 event at the University of Lincoln and provided a podcast on the project for the website. The event was visited by the general public, by students and academics from across the university, and by over 1000 school children from across Lincolnshire. The presentations led to questions from, and discussion with, the general public and heritage professionals who noted that their perceptions of medieval seals had changed. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
URL | http://lightsexpo.org/ |
Description | Workshop for Cambirdge postgraduate seminar: Medieval Palmprints |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | The workshop presentation by Philippa Hoskin, the Principal Investigator, engaged postgraduate students from across different disciplines (History, English, Sociology and Art History) with the findings and challenges of the project. Afterwards several students followed up with email contact, including some postdoctoral students now considering how seals and prints on seals could influence their own work. They have agreed to keep in touch and to explore future funding opportunities. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
URL | https://www.medievalstudies.group.cam.ac.uk/events/medieval-palmreading-an-experiment-in-forensics-a... |
Description | Workshops on medieval sealing and the work of the project at the University of Lincoln, Festival of C reatviity |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | The project gave presentations at the University of Lincoln Festival of Creativity, an event aimed at the general public, mainly from Lincolnshire. Visitors to the event included school parties (secondary and primary schools); heritage professionals; undergraduate and postgraduate students including those studying history, heritage, the performing arts and science. The presentations led to further contact with postgraduate students in conservation interested in medieval seal production and with heritage professionals in the area anxious to promote Lincolnshire's heritage. As a result of this the project was featured in a Lincoln City Council application to the Heritage Lottery Fund as an example of innovative use of heritage in the local area. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
URL | https://lincolnfestivalofcreativity.co.uk/ |