Dr Michelle Pfeffer (Fellow by Examination in History)
Michelle Pfeffer is an early modern historian and Fellow by Examination (Prize Fellow) at Magdalen College. She has research interests in the history of science, religion, and scholarship, and has recently written on the history of astrology, the ‘disenchantment’ of the world, and the early modern debate over the soul’s immortality. Her latest work, on the role played by astrologers in early modern ‘public health’, stimulated this exhibition, and was recently published in Past and Present. ‘Astrology, plague, and prognostication in early modern England: A forgotten chapter in the history of public health’ is open access and can be read here. She has also written on this topic for The Conversation. As well as Plague! at Magdalen, Michelle is curating (with the anthropologist David Zeitlyn) an exhibition on the history and current practice of divination globally, which will run in the Bodleian Library from Winter 2024.
Dr Richard Allen (College Archivist)
Richard manages the college’s rich archives collections, not only cataloguing them, but also answering enquiries about them, from both inside and outside Magdalen, and promoting them more widely. He also oversees the arrival of new accessions to the archives, be it transfers from offices within the college, or gifts from former members and others.
Anne Chesher (College Librarian)
As College Librarian Anne is responsible for the management of the libraries which are at the heart of the college’s academic life. Anne also oversees the curation of Magdalen’s exceptionally rich historic collections (its archives, manuscripts, and rare books), and facilitates and advocates for their use in research and public engagement.
Leanne Grainger (Senior Assistant Librarian)
Leanne joined Magdalen College in September 2021 and soon began supporting the library’s programme of exhibitions. Leanne had the duties of exhibition coordinator for this project, overseeing the practical aspects of installing the exhibition in the Old Library and arranging related events. Leanne also edited and designed the online site, adapting the text and digitising the exhibition content to make it suitable for online publication.
Acknowledgements:
The curators would like to thank many people for their generous contributions to this exhibition:
Magdalen College Academic Grants for funding this exhibition in 2023.
Members of the Magdalen College Library and Archives staff.
Conservators at the Oxford Conservation Consortium.
Holywell Press.
Mark Williams.
The choir of Magdalen College.
Martin Cornish.
Hugo Max.
Bodleian Libraries.
Image credits:
Copyright for all images belongs to Magdalen College, Oxford unless stated otherwise. These images should not be reproduced without our permission. Reasonable steps have been taken to identify copyright holders, although this is not always possible. If anyone has any issues, then please contact library@magd.ox.ac.uk
Permission to reproduce the following images for this exhibition was granted by the copyright holder, the Bodleian Libraries:
MS. Bodl. 13, part 1, f.8v
Wood 498 (11) or Antiq.e.E.1643.66, title page
Wood 276a (ii,313), f.1r
Video credits:
Thank you to Mr Mark Williams, Informator Choristarum and Tutorial Fellow, and the choir of Magdalen College for their performance of Stella cæli.
Thank you to Magdalen student, Hugo Max (2020), for his kind permission to use his video The Seven Stages of Night.
Design & Editorial:
Website layout by One Ltd.; edit and design by Leanne Grainger, Senior Assistant Librarian, Magdalen College.