Staff profile

I started at Palace Green Library in October 2017 on a temporary, externally funded contract to work on the Bamburgh Library collection. In October 2018, I was made a permanent member of staff to help look after and provide access to all rare book collections held at PGL.

From 2009 until 2019, I worked freelance as a historic libraries consultant and rare books cataloguer, and advised private clients on historic library management and cataloguing projects. Over the years, I have also been involved in historic building and garden restoration and interpretation projects as a historical consultant. 

I received MAs in English Literature and Medieval Studies from the University of Groningen before embarking on a PhD at the Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York. After a period of working as a part-time tutor in the Department of History at Leicester University, I retrained as a librarian, gaining a MSc(Econ) from Aberystwyth University.

I am particularly interested in the use of books and book collections as material expressions of identity and cultural values; early modern herbals and gardening, especially in relation to health; and early forms of library management. 

• History of libraries in the early modern period
• Materiality of the book and the use of books in the early modern period
• Medieval and early modern herbals and health