Collaborative Doctoral Award Case study - Alice Maltby-Kemp

Alice Maltby-Kemp has been awarded a LAHP AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Award (CDA) at University College London to research ‘Shakespeare and the Stratford-Upon-Avon Antiquarians’ in collaboration with the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust (SBT).

Alice started her CDA in October 2018. Her research addresses the following questions:

  1. What does a systematic archival reappraisal of the records of antiquarians associated with Stratford-Upon-Avon during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries tell us about their approaches to research into the life and works of Shakespeare and local history?
  2. What characterises the Antiquarians of Stratford-Upon-Avon?
  3. What networks existed between the Stratford-Upon-Avon antiquarians and how did they influence one another?

Working with the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust allows Alice to receive privileged access to their archives, along with the work space of a full-time member of staff. She also benefits from access to UCL’s digital resources and special collections, as well as the capital’s great research libraries and collections (The Warburg Institute, The British Library, The National Archives). UCL and SBT also intend to organise two one-day conferences held at the Shakespeare Centre, Stratford-upon-Avon, and at UCL on the topic of ‘Shakespeare and the Stratford-upon-Avon Antiquarians’ in 2021.

The most beneficial part of her CDA is being able to draw on the expertise of both her home institution and the cultural partner who provide different perspectives and expertise to enrich her project.

Alice hopes that her PhD will give insight into the research of the Shakespeare antiquarians by systematically searching and accounting for the documents associated with them. By taking a holistic approach to the individuals, their records and their interconnections, she hopes to highlight under-researched documents and provide new interpretations. This will allow the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust and researchers to find different perspectives on the work of these early scholars, developments in Shakespearean research during those centuries and the local history of Stratford-Upon-Avon.

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