Impact case study database

Designing English, an exhibition at the Bodleian’s Weston Library in Oxford, 1 December 2017-22 April 2018, gave 51,268 visitors, including tourists from around the world, new appreciation for the craft of medieval manuscript design and inscription (5.1). Selected and presented by Wakelin, the displays showed an unprecedented variety of English-language manuscript objects from Bodleian, Ashmolean, and British Museum collections. ‘Ugly’ manuscripts, ‘rough, chaotic, unfinished’, were given equal status with ‘treasures’, demonstrating to viewers the ingenuity of scribes who had to make the best out of bad materials (Wakelin, exhibition reflections in booktrade journal, 5.2). The (literally) marginal survival of some of the earliest English literary texts was on show, explored in video material by Wakelin and others from Oxford Medieval Studies. Visitors and school parties were instructed in the practical purposes of many manuscripts: e.g. swan-handling, or diagnostic analysis of urine samples. Technical innovations were explained, with workshop opportunities to imitate concertinaed almanacs and fold-out girdle books.

The novelty of the exhibition concept and object selections (only 4 of the 72 Bodleian manuscripts had been exhibited before) provoked strong media and social media interest. A Facebook post announcing the exhibition attracted 516 responses, 75 shares; a tweet launching the competition for a signed catalogue attracted 703 retweets, 824 likes – outstripping earlier competitions (5.3). National reach, across a broad demographic, was established through newspaper coverage, including the Daily Telegraph, Financial Times, Oxford Mail, and local radio interviews for BBC Oxford, Worcester, and Devon (5.3). Visitor feedback and social media show that the exhibition stimulated intense imaginative responses to the ‘artistry, creativity, and hardwork [sic]’ of designers labouring before ‘keyboard[s] or … typewriter[s]’ (twitter response by graphic designer, 5.3, p. 7). Many were emotional: one reported that their visit was the ‘Closest thing I’ve had to a religious experience’; another was ‘moved to tears!’ (5.4.i). Children relished hands-on experience with medieval craft: an opening weekend Family Activities day (c. 70 attendees) involved riddle worksheets, brass rubbing, and Old English story-telling (‘amazeing [sic] books … a lot has been added to my knolige!’; ‘Amazed to compare 2 copies of the same illustrated pages & to register how they really did try & “copy”’; ‘fantastic, thorough, informative, entertaining’, 5.4.ii). A Library Lates event educated 260 visitors in medieval and contemporary book arts and conservation science, with interactive activities including palaeography, calligraphy, risograph printing, digital animation, and questions to a living library of medievalists (5.1). Visitors’ books recorded c. 680 responses overall, 99.4% positive, by people aged 6 to 80 from around the world. Comments in Hungarian, Italian, Spanish, Arabic, French, Chinese, Japanese, Malay, Korean, etc. show intellectual curiosity provoked in those with little prior manuscript familiarity and those with much: ‘I liked the way it showed you how parchmet [sic] was made’ (young visitor); (in Polish) ‘very impressed … I will come back to study’ (5.4.iii); it ‘ shed light on English and Englishness as tricky concepts’ (visiting Scottish art historian on Twitter, 5.3, p. 8).

590 school students and teachers engaged imaginatively with literature and art beyond set curricula. Wakelin and the Oxford English Faculty’s Masters students led 10 study days, participants including St Andrew’s Primary and the Cherwell School, Oxford; Ysgol Y Dderi Primary and the Cantonian School, Wales. Two sixth form visits focused on Chaucer, exploring Canterbury Tales alongside other manuscripts (5.1). Teachers took photographic records for classroom purposes (‘a gazillion pictures to use in … teaching (English medieval and Renaissance texts)’, 5.4.iv). Inspiration to younger students’ imagination is evident in feedback: ‘mindblowing, fantastic exhibition’, ‘Disgusting way of making paper! … I loved It … five star’; and (around a buoyant sketch of a jewelled reading-pointer) ‘ALFRED MADE ME INNIT’ (5.4.v).

New artistic perspectives were enabled and techniques developed through workshops where Wakelin explained the underpinning insights into medieval design imperatives. 39 workshop places were allocated to professional and amateur artists (132 applicants; 93 participants online) (5.5.ii). Before-and-after Mind Map analysis showed a change in perception, from thinking of medieval books as ornately decorated, produced in monastic settings, available only to the rich (with occasional subversive marginalia) to recognizing a diverse range of manuscript forms and thinking in terms of production, collaboration, and communal consumption (5.5.i). 55 artists, including 21 workshop attendees, from around the UK and beyond entered the linked competition 6 months later. 23 new works applying medieval methods to modern media were selected for an exhibition in the Bodleian. Highlighted works included a ‘whale bestiary’, a ‘sympathetic Anglo-Saxon style script’, and a miniature girdle book to be worn like a medical ID bracelet (5.5.ii). Explanatory materials and artists’ blogs evidenced newly critical curiosity about medieval craft: is it wrong to relish things made from animal skins? (Mavina Baker, Tanya Bentham); can the experiences of women, often obscured in medieval books, be brought into focus? (Lisa Davies) (5.6.ii, pp. 14, 15, 19). Many reflected independent inquiry into medieval methods, following Wakelin’s example: Kathy Sedar looked into the archaeology of medieval bookbinding, Jules Allen into 'cordwaining’ (shoemaking) and historical maps (5.6.ii, pp. 8, 12). Even artists already familiar with medieval techniques found that ‘ new variations of folded papers, the sewing up of holes in the vellum, the “veiling device”’ ‘ sprang out from the books shown to us’ (Carolyn Trant, 5.6.ii, p. 41). Traditional skills were acquired including parchment handling, gold leaf, handmaking of board games; also modern adaptions of old skills, e.g. digital embroidery. Artists strove to emulate medieval ingenuity amid today’s concern for durability and avoidance of waste. Roy Willingham recycled junkmail, thinly whitewashed with pictures of snakes writhing through holes; Tanya Bentham embroidered an alphabet scroll incorporating salvaged fabric; competition winner Sue Doggett recycled her own work into a modern feminist almanac (5.6.ii, pp. 9, 15, 6). A retrospective article by Wakelin for The New Bookbinder (5.2) drew out the exhibition’s backdating of ‘graphic design’ – also highlighted in art magazine coverage (5.7).

The exhibition of new artworks transferred to the Bower Ashton Library, University of the West of England, April-June 2018, seen by an estimated 1,000 further visitors (5.8) . Professional and financial benefits accrued to the artists. Willingham testifies that ‘the competition has had a lasting impact on my bookworks’: ‘adopting a policy of improvisation and no rules seems to have become habitual’; Bernstein was made artist in residence at the Royal Astronomical Society Library on the strength of work inspired; Davies’ entry won the Agassi Book Prize and was selected for exhibition in the Orbit UK Art Graduates Show 2018; Hufton has used her triptych as a teaching tool in the UK and Belgium (5.9.i, ii, iii, iv). Three works were purchased for public collections (5.9.ii, v, viii; in addition to the Bodleian’s acquisition of 5.9.vii): e.g. James’s Gallimaufry was purchased for the Craft Council’s new gallery (5.9.v), and Sowden sold copies of his book to Winchester School of Art’s special collection and to a private collector (5.9.viii); an animation made for the competition and based on a Designing English manuscript became the centrepiece of an exhibition in the Peltz Gallery, London (5.5.ii); Welch produced a digitally printed edition of her ‘medieval book’, sold at artists’ book fairs and online, and has been inspired to work on natural dyes (5.9.vi); Johnson has sold further unique carousel pop-up books (5.9.vii).

Profound cultural benefits came to 59 school students from an economically deprived and marginalised area of Oxford participating in workshops testing prismatic translation. Held at Oxford Spires Academy (OSA) (2016-19) and EMBS Community College 6th form, Cowley (2019-20), the workshops were a collaboration with an existing creative writing enterprise, ‘the Poetry Hub’, at OSA. 20% of the school student intake were White British; 80% Nepalese, Brazilian, Tanzanian, Lithuanian, Korean, Swedish, Indian, Eastern Europe, or refugees from Algeria, Somalia, Kosovo, Albania, Afghanistan, Syria. More than 30 languages were spoken, and approximately 50 dialects. Established poets of Polish, Arabic, Portuguese and Swahili background (2 already collaborating with Spires, 3 introduced by Reynolds) led early sessions, focusing on translation, dying languages and imaginary dictionaries, with Reynolds and six Oxford undergraduates, assisting translations. Oxford Spires writer-in-residence, Kate Clanchy, oversaw revisions, using Google Translate and an online dictionary, emailing the Prismatic Translation research team for advisory input as needed. The result was ‘an outflow of poems’—[5.1.i]. 100% of participating students reported increased confidence (on an 87.5% response rate – [5.3]. Student feedback evidenced fundamental educational and personal benefits: ‘Poetry … makes my study better. I can tell people my experience and express myself’; ‘the best thing that happen [sic] to me this year. … I feel that the African voice is heard in England'; ‘makes me more creative and helps me in my fashion course’ ‘I am proud to be in a book’ [5.3]. The poems themselves are more eloquent on the benefits felt than any quantitative report: ‘Nations […] made me / a number among millions. / But my rights have no numbers’ (poem by Mohamed Assaf, 12 years old), [in 5.5, reprinted in 5.6.i]. One explicitly grasps ‘prismatic translation’: ‘Let your poetry/ texture the blank paper/ like a prism splitting the light …’ (‘I Want a Poem’, Shukria Rezaei, 18 years old), [in 5.5].

Finished works were printed in pamphlets [5.4] and performed at school poetry festivals. Poems tweeted by Clanchy gained extensive readerships: ‘The Word Ummī’ attracted 4,599 retweets, 7,760 likes [5.2.i]. Their powerful articulation of cultural displacement deepened public understanding, sympathy and respect for immigrant children’s experience; as one Twitter user commented: ‘So often the poems your students write illuminate and humanise the situation like nothing else’ [5.2.i]. High profile retweets were by children’s authors Michael Rosen and J.K. Rowling. The level of response assured children that their plight was better understood: ‘Now people understand my feelings. My feelings for Syria’ (Abdullah —, quoted on Waterstones blog), [5.2.ii].

A Picador anthology including 16 workshopped poems, England: Poems from a School [5.5], sold more than 9,000 copies by Oct 2019 (profit undisclosed; cover-price value GBP89,910). The artistic quality was recognised as ‘great by any standard’ (Philip Pullman), [5.2.ii], with plaudits from writers including Jorie Graham and J.K. Rowling [5.2.iii]. England was Telegraph Poetry Book of the Month [5.2.iv], and Times Children’s Book of the week (June 2018) [5.2.v]. Between 2016 and 2019, OSA students ‘ **won more prizes in national poetry competitions’ than any other UK school [**5.2.iv], including the Foyle Young Poets’ Competition (2017) and Betjeman Prize (2017). For father of winner Amineh Abou Kerech, the Betjeman Prize was ‘like a dream’—validation of a struggle for life beyond ‘surviv[al]’ [5.2.vi].

Kerech’s ‘Lament’ inspired a musical composition by composer Sir Karl Jenkins. ‘Lamentation’ premièred at the Swansea International festival, 2018; ‘The poem immediately resonated with me’, Jenkins reflected—a ‘haunting, memorable’ portrayal of ‘normal everyday life’ in Syria ‘before the horrors’ [5.2.vii]. Students continued to write, several going on to university. One had poems published in the Migration and Society journal [5.6.i]; another featured on the Poetry Society website [5.6.ii]. Timileyan Amusan became National Poetry Day’s Local Poet (Oxford), recording with BBC Local Radio in 2019. Poetry, he told the BBC, ‘is a way of expressing his feelings about having to move around from place to place: it also allows him to laugh and to make others laugh too’ [5.2.viii].

In 2019, the workshops transferred to a more challenging context, EMBS: an ‘alternative provision’ centre for vulnerable EAL learners. Clanchy worked with Level 2 English as a Second Language students from Afghanistan, Brazil, Peru, East Timor, Sudan, the Philippines, and Vietnam. Here, too, children learned to recognise multilingualism as an asset. Addressing war, a father left behind, the pressure of gender expectations, their poems make linguistic displacement a spur to thought and feeling: ‘We carry the pain that happened in our lives. We carry the last word we said: pamlam, goodbye’ (‘Baggage’, April 2020), [in 5.1.i]. Teaching materials were created employing prismatic translation principles, enabling continuing activity after the project’s end [5.7].

Prismatic Translation assisted schools’ missions to endorse students’ diverse backgrounds, ‘celebrat[ing] their … heritage’ while being ‘proud British citizens’ (Oxford Spires online mission statement) and developing vital linguistic skills. The poetry classes featured in school promotional material, ‘an incredible opportunity for our students to have a window into each other’s lives’ [5.8.i]. Project-generated video resources, aimed at teachers in multicultural schools where many languages are spoken by pupils, have been viewed 4,400 times [5.8.ii]. Teachers reported that workshops ‘developed … pedagogical practice … put[ting] poetry … at the heart’ (Oxford Spires teacher) [5.8.iii] and alerted them to the ‘disconnect’ between student boredom with school language lessons, yet keen interest in ‘languages spoken by family and friends’ (language school teacher), [5.8.iii]. Participation ‘transformed’ Clanchy’s practice: it is now her ‘regular practice to challenge students to translate their poems into another language and back again, …’ She has presented to the National Association for the Teaching of English and UNESCO [5.8.i] and published a widely-praised memoir of her experience.

Reynolds’s perspective on translationality informed Babel: Adventures in Translation, a Weston Library exhibition in Oxford attracting 35,528 visitors,** February - June 2019. He wrote chapters 1 and 3 of the catalogue [5.9.i] with over 288 copies sold [5.9.ii] and contributed to the free booklet (6,500 copies taken up) [5.9.ii]. Designated workshops for 21 schools ( 16 outside Oxfordshire), led by Oxford colleague Kohl, built on techniques developed at OSA, as did a creative writing competition targeted at ages 5-13. A Teacher’s Guide on the exhibition webpage, incorporating material from Reynolds, was viewed 485 times from February through September 2019, when it was decommissioned; Babel Teaching Resources (with additional material) on the Creative Multilingualism website were viewed 596 times [5.9iii-iv].

Use of the two datasets generated by ConSciCom cit-sci projects raised awareness of the range and depth of Victorian citizen science, increased recognition for the value of Victorian science data and enabled new advancements in science:

‘Orchid Observers’ (April 2015-July 2016), designed by Shuttleworth and Lintott with the Natural History Museum’s citizen science lead, involved 1,956 interested beginners and amateur-experts from the orchid community and Botanical Society of Britain & Ireland (f. 1836). The 53,580 classifications (5.1.i) enhanced professional respect for citizen contributions to climate change science – supervising botanical specialists observing that, for 19 of 29 species studied, identification accuracy was ‘close to 100%’, for ‘trickier species’ 70-90%. Comparison of 2015 data with Victorian flowering times showed that the median 2015 flowering date was at least 10 days earlier than for 1830-1970 (5.1.ii). A free ConSciCom funded orchid identification guide on the Natural History Museum website enabled ongoing identifications (5.1.iii).

‘Science Gossip’ (SG) (launched March 2015) engaged new enthusiasts with Victorian natural history periodicals. A collaboration with Missouri Botanical Garden (MOBOT), this project gave global access to the creative inspiration in scientific illustrations hitherto ‘locked away in … periodicals such as Science Gossip, Recreative Science and The Intellectual Observer’. Title selections were made by Shuttleworth and Belknap – the Biodiversity Heritage Library (US-based consortium) digitizing material not already in its collections. As of September 2018, 10,000+ site users had classified 160,000 images and added 575,000 annotations, ‘ask[ing] questions’ to ConSciCom researchers and conferring with ‘fellow citizen scientists’ (MOBOT letter, 5.2.i, pp. 5, 1). ‘We the Curious’ science centre, Bristol, created a Citizen Science programme using SG (6,477 visitors, 110 on-site classifications) (5.2.ii). Promoted by the ‘Taxonomic Data Working Group’ (not-for-profit biodiversity group) and attracting wide media coverage (e.g. Scientific American and Nature Conservancy), SG engaged 10,204 registered contributors from 75 countries; achieving 94,942 classify page views by 31 December 2020, with US and UK participants most represented (5.2.iii). Sample feedback: ‘I liked that connection between me being a citizen scientist today and them being citizen scientists back then … being able to rescue some of these images and get them [to] the public’ (5.2.iv). The SG ‘Talk’ function ( 13,774 posts, 680 participants) generated amateur research findings (e.g. identifying female illustrators, 5.2.v) and wide creative industry take-up including wallpaper and fashion photography (5.2.vi). A glass sculptor was inspired by oceanographic images: ‘Finding detailed illustrations of certain ocean life forms can be very difficult. … these 19^th century illustrations are a wellspring of inspiration’ (5.2.i). Sydney Padua, ConSciCom artist in virtual residence, created popular online animations of Victorian periodical illustrations (5.3.i) (2,823 visits to her website, 5.3.ii). Her workshops ‘sparked the imagination’ of children (visitor feedback, 5.3.ii) at (e.g.) Bradford’s National Science and Media Museum, 2019 (citizen science programme led by Belknap: 2,161 visitors, 5.3.iii). An online interview (240 views) explored lines of descent from Victorian periodical illustrations. Work with SG alerted Padua to how animation goes ‘beyond your critical faculties, directly to the animal part of your brain’. She benefitted from access to a wealth of art in an embryonic mass medium – the ‘cute and slightly distanced’ 19^th century forms of illustration making animals ‘more approachable’ (5.3.iv).

A new tool, Panoptes, was created within Zooniverse – conceived by ConSciCom to act like the small magazines of the 19^th century, allowing widespread participation in making and sharing science. Between July 2015 and March 2019, this online do-it-yourself citizen science platform generated 419 new projects, with 100 million classifications by 534,000 registered users. Projects include transcription of Humphry Davy’s Notebooks (5.4).

Insights into historic citizen science disseminated via Shuttleworth and Frampton’s publications for science enthusiasts (e.g. Science Museum Group Journal) prompted Natural History Museum (NHM) staff to pioneer ‘visiteering’ days – non-professionals dedicating time to assist museum collections. Trialled with Orchid Observers (2015), the model rolled out across the museum from 2016, attracting extensive media interest. The NHM’s lead credits visiteering with improving citizen science participation, imparting new knowledge and ‘practical skills’ (from ‘transcribing herbarium sheets, to deciphering handwriting and investigation skills’) (5.5.i). Non-academics reported ‘learning about the way scientific data is collected and collated’; ‘feeling we were part of the whole scientific process’ (5.5.ii). Subsequent visiteering projects, building on the Orchids model, assisted a steady rise in volunteering charted in annual reports, 2015-19 (5.5.iii). ‘Pop Science’, an NHM evening co-designed by Shuttleworth and her team (2017), drew 4,500+ attendees of all ages (the largest attendance for two years, with visitors staying ‘significantly longer’ than usual) (5.1.iii) to explore online citizen science projects, observe a magic lantern show, take part in a Padua animation workshop and hear project poet Don Paterson read ‘The Garden’, inspired by ConSciCom (5.6). The event attracted 1,800 reactions, 106 comments, 110 shares on the NHM Facebook page (5.7). The Museum changed the format of subsequent ‘lates’ events to build on the participatory element at the heart of the event’s success (5.1.iii).

An exhibition at the Hunterian Museum, Royal College of Surgeons, ‘Vaccination: Medicine and the Masses’, April-September 2016 (ConSciCom funded, led by Frampton), ‘charted the turbulent history of vaccination from the late 18th century to the present’ (5.8.i). 38,571 visitors scrutinized display material ranging from Jenner’s first experiments to the MMR controversy, with educational days for adults and children (e.g. ‘Snot, Sick and Scabs’). Medics and health workers valued the pro-vaccination public health messaging and insights into why vaccination incurs resistance (‘It is the CARRIER AND PRESERVATIVES which are giving vaccinations a bad name’); non-expert visitors, young and old, appreciated the visceral charge of displays ‘NOT FOR THE FAINT HEARTED’ (5.8.ii). Reviews show that the exhibition corrected triumphalism (‘a timely reminder of what used to be normal … and how dangerous the anti-vax movement can be’ – blog-guide to London, 5.8.iii) and put today’s anti-vaxxers in context by revealing a long history of ‘furious – and often violent – struggle between public and state’ ( Pharmaceutical Journal, 5.8.iv): ‘I had no idea that Leicester in the 19th century had been such a hot-bed of anti-vax sentiment’ (prominent medical historian, The Lancet) (5.8.v). The Hunterian Keeper of Science and Technology reports that ConSciCom collaboration benefitted the museum by ‘introducing mechanisms for effective knowledge-transfer’ – e.g. ‘embedded’ postdoctoral researcher placement within ‘heritage practice’; enabling more ‘active, co-productive’ engagement with patients; and ‘introducing new audiences and users’ (5.8.vi)

With AHRC follow-on funding, Frampton (PI) and Shuttleworth (Co-I) developed ‘Mind-Boggling Medical History’ (MBMH), an educational card game (5.9). Based on primary historical sources, it asks players to distinguish current from past practice. Engaging players with the history of disputed medical interventions, MBMH was trialled with small groups at the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), 2014-15 (‘fantastic … making me realize … you need to constantly keep up-to-date with knowledge!’ – student nurse feedback, 5.10.i), then released in physical and online form targeting nursing practitioners and students. Evaluation by the Heritage Support Group museum consultancy assisted redesign to reflect educational priorities. Take-up over 2018 was aided by RCN website promotion, an RCN Bulletin (430,000 recipients) competition for free copies, and demonstration stalls (e.g. RCN Education Congress, 100 student nurses). Use of the game in (e.g.) the Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust induction programme for student nurses and midwives (48 students) and RCN Library regional support sessions around England increased nurses’ understanding that best health-care practice requires up-to-date evidence; facilitated access to historical information (including past practices back in favour, e.g. certain uses of leeching); and assisted safe patient care by building nurses’ critical confidence (amalgamated feedback, 5.9.i). The RCN Head of Library Services welcomed ‘an excellent resource to help’ nurses ‘develop critical thinking skills … and use evidence to continue to develop their practice’ (5.10.ii). The development process shed light on under-representation of nurses in public-facing accounts of medical history (5.10.ii). Initially free to users, the game is now under commercial development via Oxford Innovation. Physical copies have been requested by nursing educators, public health specialists, school teachers, medical library staff and museum professionals around the world – Nigeria to New Zealand (5.10.iii).

Combined Faculty expertise enabled an Oxford Shakespeare Festival which enhanced cultural engagement with Shakespeare’s legacy during the quatercentenary year, 2016. Arts Council funding ( GBP62,000) (bid-writing assisted by Smith) supported ‘Shakespeare Wanted: Dead or Alive’—a partnership between the Bodleian and Oxfordshire County Library Service. 59 educational participatory sessions enriched local library users’ appreciation of Shakespeare’s life and cultural legacy. **125,275 people engaged in person (**13% ‘never’ normally attended arts events) ; 16,598 people visited the website; 73 artists received 16 new commissions ( 299 days’ employment) (all data in report to Arts Council) [5.1.i]. The Flintlock Theatre, Oxford, expanded its audiences and diversified its performance-venue portfolio via ‘flash mob’ performances at 4 local libraries, bringing Shakespeare to ‘non-conventional settings’ (Artistic Director email): at Blackbird Leys Library (a deprived area of Oxford) ‘the tills stood slap bang in the middle of the space and people checked out library books’ mid-performance’ [5.2].

The Festival centrepiece was an exhibition, co-curated by Smith and Palfrey, at the Bodleian Weston Library, 22 April - 18 September 2016. ‘Shakespeare’s Dead’ shed light on the playwright’s power of dramatising mortality. Rare texts, including a First Folio and cue-parts for Desdemona’s death scene, drew on Shakespeare in Parts to show how stage death differs from reality. Actors animated textual exhibits, overriding library/theatre distinctions; painter Tom de Freston **gave visual form to Palfrey’s Poor Tom with a triptych interpreting ‘Places of Death’. [5.1.ii] 13 public lectures by Smith, Stern et al. (980 attendees in total) [5.1.iii] explored Shakespeare’s interest in dying, as did two linked Oxford University Press engagement videos by Maguire ( 2,781 and 3,254 views, OUP and Youtube figures) [5.1.iv] 98,130 gallery visitors were a Bodleian record, only 9% identifying as regulars. [5.1.iii] Visitor book entries shared, ‘Creepy presentation, nice facts’; ‘We contemplate our own end through Shakespeare’s words’; ‘performances b[r]ought it to life’. [5.1.v] A Twitter tour achieved a Bodleian record 174,600 impressions, 1,345 engagements. Global educational impact resulted from partnering with HarvardX who filmed ‘Shakespeare’s Dead’ for a free MOOC on Hamlet: 5,500 outreach students from over 130 countries viewed the exhibition, discovering (e.g.) why Hamlet distrusted the ghost. [5.1.iii] An exhibition book, co-written by Smith and Palfrey [5.3] sold 562 copies on site; a range of 55 souvenir objects at the Bodleian (including triptych postcards) brought in GBP340,000 income (calculated from ‘spend per head’, profit undisclosed) [5.1.iii]

Public interest in Shakespeare First Folios was stimulated by Smith’s authentication of a copy at Mount Stuart House, Isle of Bute, April 2016. Her identification of 18^th century editor Isaac Reed’s copy corrected a mistaken provenance, attracting worldwide press coverage [5.4]. Verification had implications for valuation (recent comparable sale GBP2,800.000). The current Head of Collections confirms that it ‘has become a defining asset for us … incredibly effective PR’ [5.5]. The Mount Stuart Library was encouraged to curate its collection more actively. Smith assisted a First Folio display, writing descriptive panels. Under her direction 18 graduate summer interns, 2015-17, completed a major phase of library and archive cataloguing and created displays and information sheets. Visitor numbers rose by 80% in 2016 [5.6] with journalists rating the First Folio high among the estate’s ‘jaw-dropping’ cultural riches [5.4]. Local education services benefitted from activities led by the Mount Stuart Education Officer, supplementing curricula in English and History. All three local primary schools visited the Library, learning about the Folio. 150 Rothesay Primary children heard a dedicated assembly, with free follow-up visit. Another day-event brought in 99 secondary students from mainland academy and comprehensive schools. Just over a third had never studied Shakespeare. Assumptions were overturned: ‘I expected [the Folio] to be a scroll’; ‘I thought it would look like handwriting printed onto paper, … it was a lot more sophisticated’. [5.7.i]

The Hidden Room Theatre, Austin, Texas devised new repertoires based on Stern’s puppet research. Collaboration was initiated by Hidden Room’s Director after hearing Stern speak about ‘the puppet Hamlet’ at a conference in Staunton, Virginia, 2013. Choosing Brudermord as its next production, the company worked with Stern over two years to ‘recreate what a puppet show … might have looked like’ in 1710 (a year when Brudermord is known to have been in production). ‘Entirely inspired, guided, and shaped by Stern’s scholarship’, Hidden Room developed the production via workshops and WhatsApp consultations, creatively emulating historic playing practices **to recapture a lost way of mediating Hamlet to non-English-speaking audiences [5.8]. Playing initially to approximately 1,000 people in Austin, January-February 2014 (‘a rare gem of an experience’ [ Austin Chronicle]), the production then toured the UK (May-June 2015), seen by approximately 800, returning to the States for remounting in Austin and US tours (2015-18) with total audience approximately 2,500 (Director's estimate). The production increased critical recognition of the company, ‘now considered cutting edge … though we are steeped in early modern scholarship’ (Director), bringing visible measures of esteem including the Austin Critic’s Table award for Best Production of a Comedy (2013-14) and B. Iden Payne Awards for Best Production of a Comedy, Best Director, and Outstanding Ensemble. Entertaining a wide range of publics, including children (post-show photographs capture ‘kids chatting with the puppet king’). [5.8] Brudermord recreated the pleasure of early puppet Shakespeare: ‘ Brudermord as a straight play is pretty terrible. As a puppet show? Delightful’). [5.8] A video performance featuring in the British Library’s ‘Shakespeare in Ten Acts’ exhibition, 2016, was seen by 10,000 people, enabling the Library to showcase Germanic Early Modern collections [5.9]. Online video is archived on the company website (180 views). Brudermord’s success prompted further collaborations, including a 2016 production of Nahum Tate’s The History of King Lear, undertaken at Stern’s suggestion. Supported by competitively awarded Knowledge Exchange funding from Oxford, she guided the actors on Restoration theatrical gesture, ‘ completely changing our interpretation of the text, and again produc[ing] a multi-award winning touring show’ (Hidden Room director). The production made sense of a historically remote text, sometimes ‘ridiculous’ in production but here ‘light and lovely … “a perfect little music box”’ (director, quoting audience feedback.). [5.8]

The Globe Theatre benefitted from Maguire’s advisory work with its Education Director (over 140,000 engaged per year., on his estimate). She championed Read not Dead text-in-hand performances ‘allow[ing] the public … to see and hear early-modern plays that are rarely performed’. 8 plays per year. in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse attracted audiences of approximately 250 each. [5.10.i] With the Globe HE-lead, Maguire founded a Forum for Medicine and Theatre in Practice, leading a symposium on amputation to complement a visceral Titus Andronicus at the Globe and commissioning a play on anatomy theatres for a 2015 symposium. ‘Actors […] gain[ed] deeper understanding in stage portrayals of real conditions … – the sort of insights that last a career’ (Director/actor testimonial). [5.10.iii]

Stafford’s exploration of close connections between physical characteristics of tree types and their cultural associations has encouraged public involvement in woodland conservation and tree planting. The Woodland Trust’s Tree Charter Project Lead acknowledges her ‘pivotal role in … defining and communicating’ a new Charter for Trees, Woods and People, 800 years after the Carta Foresta re-established free men’s access to royal forests (5.1). Public interest was raised by Stafford’s 15 BBC Radio 3 programmes on The Meaning of Trees, 2012-17, based on LLLT research (5.2.i). Recognizing the value of the programmes’ approach, the Trust appointed her in June 2017 to write the charter (5.1). Stafford worked closely with Trust management, creating the wording—drawing on her own expertise, a text analysis of the Tree Story Project (60,000 members of the public articulated how trees and woods enhance their lives), and consultation with representatives of 70+ cross-sector organisations and 130,000 people. Her achievement was to capture common goals between often disparate groups: conservationists, commercial wood managers (e.g. Forestry Commission, Royal Forestry Society) and mixed-interest organisations (e.g. Church of England, National Trust, National Farmers’ Union). Stafford gave numerous talks, making the case for shared interests in conservation, disease prevention and halting spread of pathogens (e.g. Institute for Chartered Foresters, 300 attendees; National Association of Local Councils, 150) (5.2.ii). GreenBlue Urban, a sustainable cities consultancy, praised her ‘eloquen[t], … at points poignan[t]’ articulation of a political way forward: ‘the combination of narrative to create a sense of place and community’ and accessible expertise ‘will help us to win the argument for increased canopy cover on a global scale’ (5.3). The final Charter text, distilling 10 principles that define and protect the place of Trees in Britain, acknowledges Stafford’s authorship (5.4).

Publication of LLLT in mid-2016 assisted engagement with the Charter’s development and enactment, the Project Lead reports, ‘ rais[ing] the profile of trees and their associations with … culture and history’ (5.1). At July 2019 LLLT has sold 23,378 copies (25,521 copies, December 2020) (profit undisclosed; cover-price equivalent, GBP318,000.) The editor recognises ‘a break out book for Yale University Press’, ‘ an anchor for further books in … cultural history and nature writing’; it ‘ **changed the perceptions of booksellers and buyers towards [the press]**’, showing ‘that we could [have] broad commercial appeal’ (5.5). 17 UK book-talks encouraged local uptake: Stafford worked with The Reading Agency, a reading promotion charity, inspiring regional libraries to create displays centred on LLLT and visiting the winner, Hartlepool (photographic evidence, 5.2.iii).

The Charter officially launched at Lincoln Cathedral and Castle on 6 November 2018. The National Association of Local Councils applauded the first ‘clear, unifying statement about the rights of people in the UK to the benefits of trees, woods and forests’ (5.6). Stafford encouraged institutional and personal engagement with the principles through linked events including a talk for the Sylva Foundation environmental charity (attendance c. 150) and British Library conversation with a legal sustainability expert (5.2.ii). 11 oak Charter Poles, carved by sculptor Simon Clements, were erected across the British Isles, providing durable expression of the principles (one per pole, a chief pole at Lincoln). From 2018 Stafford served as Woodland Trust Special Advisor assisting delivery of the Charter’s objectives through (e.g.) an annual Tree Charter Day engaging communities, schools, businesses, families with planting and education (5.1.ii, 5.4—‘Legacy’ page). Commissioned radio programmes and interviews in the UK, Ireland and USA maintained the prominence of the conservation message. By March 2020, individual signatures stood at 144,413; 639 Charter Branches (community groups) operated across the country committed to delivering the principles (5.4). Local practices have started to replicate the old tradition of meeting at trees (photographic evidence, 5.7). The Woodland Trust and partner organisations honoured a commitment to plant a tree marking each signature, with 114,000 trees planted by the end of the 2018-19 planting cycle (5.2.iii and 5.8). Assisting local involvement, Stafford wrote articles for the Trust’s newspaper Leaf!, distributed to schools, leisure centres and community centres (print run 10,000, readership 80,000-90,000) (5.2.iv). Numerous councils have incorporated the Charter in biodiversity planning and communications (indicatively, Cam Parish, City of Edinburgh, and Wolverhampton Councils) (5.9.i-iii). The Northern Forest Scheme reforesting large areas around Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield, Leeds, and Hull ( GBP5,700,000 government funding) acknowledged that it was ‘Inspired by […] the Tree Charter’ (5.9.iv-v).

Map showing Charter Branch locations across the UK (5.8)

In the wake of the Charter Stafford’s ongoing collaborations with biologists and arborealists have validated incorporation of the emotional significance of trees (hitherto under-acknowledged by scientific studies) into conservation agendas. The Sylva Foundation Chief Executive credits her with assisting this environmental charity in ‘convey[ing] complex ideas and messages to stakeholders, ranging from woodland owners and professional foresters to members of the public’ (5.10.i); she is ‘transforming hearts and minds’ through literature’s ‘capacity to translate difficult concepts, not only into palatable ideas, but into engaging stories’ (5.10.i). Through LLLT itself and close involvement in subsequent cross-constituency conversations (e.g. co-organiser, ‘Trees and Wellbeing’ conference, June 2018; keynote lecturer for ArtdotEarth and the Royal Forestry Society conference, June 2019—respectively 130 and 229 delegates from forestry, conservation and creative sectors) she has 'set the framework for discussion’ (RFS Chief Executive): ‘Using examples of how poets and artists … have captured the value of trees beyond the utilitarian, she was able to illustrate how the emotions that trees provoke [are] deeply rooted in human experience. … It was clear that forestry is not the preserve of STEM disciplines and that cross pollination … with other disciplines is hugely valuable’ (5.10.ii). Her RFS lecture was published in a general-audience interdisciplinary art book, Evolving the Forest (2020) (5.10.iii).

Writer Richard Powers credited LLLT’s ‘attention to the literary and cultural meaning that humans have assigned [trees] throughout history with ’ **inform[ing]’ his best-selling work of New Nature Writing, The Overstory (5.11). A German reader of LLLT was ‘inspir[ed]’ to start a Dresden Treetrail project, creating an urban tree trail and integrating it into English as a second language teaching exercise for ‘students of horticulture, environmental monitoring and landscape planning (also … business and IT students on demand)’ (5.12). An Oxford Botanic Garden lecture on trees (March 2020, 230 attendees) led to development of a ‘literary garden’, using A Brief Life of Flowers as guidance (5.13.i). The garden was seen by 178,344 visitors in its first year (to Dec 2019) (5.13.ii).

The Mellon-Sawyer Seminars, 2017-18, designed and co-convened by McLoughlin and Munro (Oxford Brookes), enabled public reflection on the forms and practices taken by commemoration and assisted recognition of diverse individual and community investments in remembering war. Free public ‘In Conversation’ events headlined the main areas of inquiry identified in the underpinning research: Aminatta Forna (novelist and memoirist) explored Textual Commemoration with Elleke Boehmer (Oxford, English); Daniel Libeskind (architect) reflected on Monumental Commemoration; composer Jonathan Dove considered sound and silence in Aural Commemoration. Audience reach beyond 450 international attendees was achieved through podcasts on Oxford iTunes ( 4,841 unique page views by July 2020) linked to curated pages on the TORCH website with dedicated Twitter account (432 followers). ‘In Conversation’ expanded understanding of what counts as commemoration: it ‘doesn’t have to be a state ritual but can simply be a matter of people coming together in a foyer or café’ (anonymous feedback, 5.1).

The research emphasis on diverse imperatives for commemoration informed seminars with veterans and survivors, artists, and those with institutional responsibilities for commemorating war, transforming participant perspectives and institutional practices. For the Director of the Australian National Veterans Art Museum (himself a veteran), the transnational and transhistorical approach ‘opened my eyes’, dislodging an Australian ‘veteran-centric perspective’ encouraged by the WWI centenary, bringing ‘perspectives from the American Civil War … to the Rwandan genocide’ (5.2, 00:02:34-03:24). For the Head of Arts Programs, the attention to literature provided needed ‘validation’ for the Museum’s work ‘integrating history and heritage … with greater focus on social connection [to] contemporary veterans and families’. The series ‘ helped guide our programmes’ based in ‘narrative and the narratives of the community that we work with’—including the narrative of the Museum itself, a disused former WWI repatriation clinic repurposed as a cultural institution (5.2, 00:07:20-08:00). Mellon Sawyer ‘reframe[d] our sense of what is possible’ through 2020 as the Museum responded to the widespread impulse to record experiences of COVID lockdown and bushfires (the largest veteran ‘assist operations’ in Australian history). The seminars also alerted the Director to the multicultural, multi-generational nature of commemoration: ‘The blinkers came off’, helping him to see ‘indigenous Australians as setting the gold standard example of art and … commemoration’ (5.2, 00:38:57-39:45).

For Eric Murangwa, Founder and Executive Director of the Ishami Foundation, a Mellon Sawyer workshop enabled contact and sharing of experiences between those ‘from military background in different countries’ and those like himself ‘who have suffered from conflicts and genocide’ (5.3, 00:03:00-03:55). The Foundation was inspired to increase its use of art to ‘tell these complex and sensitive stories …, keep memories alive and educate people’ (5.3, 00:11:20-13:20). Examples (5.3, 00:13:20-17:58) include the ‘100 stories from Rwanda’ project, co-led by Murangwa and Jo Ingabire Moys (Art Therapist) from 2018; and a 2019 ‘Kwibuka 25’ workshop with 15 survivors, who learned to tell their stories ‘in a creative way’, including in poetry. Performed at the Victoria and Albert Museum as part of Refugee Week, 2019, their narratives are now an online ‘Learning Resource’ for ‘share and tell’ use in schools (5.4). These two projects provided content for a schools workshop, London City Hall, May 2019, marking 25 years since the genocide—Gilbert assisting. Her research concentration on ‘women and girls in commemoration’ heightened Murangwa’s awareness (‘the gender element … was a standout’ of the seminars) leading to further collaborations that have assisted diversity in the Foundation’s work (5.3, 00:09:20-10:20).

The seminars aided critical reflection within Historic Royal Palaces on criteria for ‘successful’ memorialisation. An attendee, then Research Leadership Fellow at HRP, undertook audience research detailing how cultural organisations can best understand the different meanings people find in commemoration (see blog post, 5.5) and organised an HRP training symposium for 40 museum and heritage sector staff, Sept 2019. The symposium report, published on the HRP website, made recommendations for improved operations, including sharing audience research between heritage organizations to assist understanding of diverse investments in commemoration (5.6). Another attendee, then WWI Memorials Programme Manager at HRP, 2018, now leading Historic England’s High Street Heritage Action Zone programme, testifies that the series clarified best practice, increasing ‘the scope of who we might look to’ when engaging local communities: Mellon Sawyer’s emphasis on public spaces permitting meaningful sharing of personal experiences informed her subsequent efforts to reach out to groups not yet engaged with Historic England and tackle 'contested’ high-street heritage (video interview, 5.7, 00:04:00-04:20, 05:25).

Three creative productions put the research insights into practice.

From Gallipoli to the Somme, a composition informed by McLoughlin and Das’s research*, is the first major work of war commemorative music to represent minority voices. Commissioned and conducted by the Parliament Choir director, written by New Zealand composer Anthony Ritchie and librettist Kate Kennedy, its world première was recorded in Dunedin, 11 November 2016, made freely available with score online (5.8.i). Mellon Sawyer funding enabled the European première: a free public concert filled the 650-seat Sheldonian theatre, 2 June 2018 and the Southbank Centre, 11 June (audience c. 900). Kennedy testifies that the ‘shape of the composition was decided upon in discussion with McLoughlin’, with Das’s work on aural testimonies of Indian soldiers, fragments of writing and recorded testimony informing incorporation of diverse languages (including Turkish and Maori), individual voices, and found text (e.g. battle-plans). McLoughlin’s research into silence and the limits of verbal testimony helped guide the decision to put a violin, ‘sing[ing] wordlessly’, at the centre. The testimony of an NZ soldier who took his violin on his war travels provided the libretto thread; the surviving instrument was played at the première—'perhaps the first time that theories of object-biography have been incorporated into a musical work’ (5.8.ii; recorded highlights, 5.9.i). The 2018 performances enacted diversity in commemoration: ‘Sung by the Parliament choir – the traditional voice of governmental authority’ with the City Choir Dunedin and an international orchestra ‘represent[ing] almost every nation affected by the war’ (5.8.ii), they expanded audience awareness of the range of aural responses to war and challenge of aural memorialisation today. Attendees recognised ‘a most moving and inventive combination’ of music and words (poet) (5.9.iii); a ‘personal, colossal, majestic, ironic, heartbreaking piece’ (a choir conductor) (5.1). For 275 performers’, it was ‘spine-tingling’ (UK Parliament Choir on Twitter) (5.9.ii; and choir responses at iii). Subsequent performances, including at the RAF Church, St Clement Danes, for Remembrance Sunday service, 2019, have helped modernise commemorative musical programming (5.9.iv). G to the S was voted New Zealand’s favourite piece of classical music, 2020 (Radio NZ rankings) – the first NZ composition to top the poll (5.9.v), reflecting the piece’s integration of Maori experience and culture with western classical commemoration (5.8.ii). During lockdown, the Ataturk chorus expressed solidarity around the world: NZ musicians unable to travel home for Christmas, performed it in a recorded Albert Hall concert, released online to support furloughed singers (more than 7,800 Youtube views; GBP50,000 raised) (5.9.vi and vii); it was played on Radio NZ, Christmas Day (5.9.vii).

The innovative forms of Tenter, by Mellon-Sawyer poet-in-residence Susie Campbell (Guillemot Press, 2020), reflect the series’ impact on her creative practice. Published in lockdown, May 2020, Tenter launched online with a publisher’s website interview in lieu of live event. Campbell acknowledged the seminars’ role in ‘enabl[ing] me to listen to the […] plurality of voice around any experience of war’; and guiding her diagnosis of ‘a breakdown in [the UK’s] commemorative practice’, ‘paralysis in the face of a refugee crisis on its front door step’ even as ‘“Lest We Forget” was the keynote of the WWI centenary period’ (5.10.i and ii). Her reflective essay for Australian journal Axon explored wider implications, grappling with how contemporary poetry can de-‘privilege’ the ‘one voice’, admitting competing perspectives and … tensions, while acknowledging ‘the lyric impulse’ (5.10.ii). Early reviews provide qualitative recognition of her achievement: ‘excellent’ (Mehmet Izbuduk, translator and poet); ‘ambitious, layered, challenging’ ( Sabotage Reviews) (5.10.iii).

A crossover trade-scholarly volume, On Commemoration (Peter Lang, 2020) informed public recognition of changing perspectives on commemoration, with contributions from creatives (Forna, Libeskind, Dove, Campbell), military veterans, an international human-rights lawyer, faith representatives, a war journalist, alongside essays by the researchers. A foreword by participant Lord Alderdice (first speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly, consultant psychiatrist) recognised exceptional inclusivity enabling ‘perspectives … not imagined before’, collectively grasping the ‘emotional imperative’ of commemoration (5.11.i). Jay Winter, historian/co-founder of the Historial de la Guerre (Somme Museum), applauded ‘expansion of the space of commemoration beyond monuments’, the focusing of persistent ‘existential questions’, and the ‘ originality’ of attention to the ‘sound to silence’ spectrum in commemorative practices’ (5.11.ii).

Educational Entertainment. A collaboration with Chipping Norton Theatre (2017-20; trialled with Pegasus Theatre 2016) adapted 19^th-C popular drama and music with interspersed educational talks, creating ‘Contagion Cabaret’. The Cabaret showed diverse audiences how popular culture, past and present, exploits metaphorical connections between disease and ‘contagion of ideas’. Venues included the History of Science Museum, Oxford (audience: 60), Pitt Rivers Museum (200), and Chipping Norton Theatre (50) (5.1.i). Updated and filmed during COVID-19 lockdown, the Cabaret provided online educational entertainment for 735 viewers (post-show discussion: 345+ views) (5.1.iii). Its ‘brilliant and irreverent historical look at lockdowns, diseases and pandemics’ (Ox in a Box review, 5.1.ii) generated intense audience responses (‘Moved me to tears… what a powerful idea’; ‘current/past/scientific...... I couldn't stop watching’) (5.1.iii). The theatre benefitted from ‘new ways of working during lockdown/social distancing’, speaking to ‘themes and ideas … of immediate relevance and interest to our audience’ (Director). 45 days of freelance actor and production staff employment were created during enforced theatre closure (5.1.iii).

19 state-school students on the 2018 Oxfordshire County Music Service Advanced Musicianship Programme developed composition skills, interpreting ‘Contagion Cabaret’ for a ‘Contagion Camerata’. Working with composer John Traill (U Oxford), they elaborated motifs of contagion, capturing ‘the feeling of what it was like to have a terminal illness’ and improvising on thematic ‘cells’, ‘mutating’ between instruments (participant interview feedback, 5.2.ii) (live audience: 65; YouTube video of performance viewed 83 times, 5.2.iii).

A DML-designed programme of interactive games and activities at the History of Science Museum, Oxford (HSMO) in 2018 educated 180 amateur science enthusiasts in the technologies that fuelled 19^th-C anxieties about accelerating pace of life (5.1.i). Participants welcomed the ‘move away from a very academic approach only to museums’, reporting changed perceptions of ‘modern’ pressures: (indicatively) ‘I'm surprised at how not-modern the pressures are! ... even instant connectivity’ (5.3).

Collaboration with the Projection Studio created ‘Victorian Light Night’ (VLN), part of the city of Oxford’s Light Night, 2018: 2,500 festival-goers watched a rolling sound and light projection sequence on the Radcliffe Infirmary building, Oxford, in November (5.4.i). A scripted montage of Victorian archival images and sounds incorporated a ‘telegraph polka’ with commissioned recordings of 19^th-C environmental pollution songs on Victorian instruments and a telegraph machine (‘Amazing [how] … [p]resent conditions are simply an increment on’ rapid 19^th-C technological change – anonymous feedback, 5.4.ii). Accompanying talks and activities on historical perspectives of ‘work-life balance’ and technological/workplace anxieties gave visitors a changed understanding of ‘convalescence’ (‘didn’t know about … convalescent homes. … [I]nteresting!’, 5.4.ii). Others gained new perspectives on trade unions – born of ‘overly demanding’ 19^th-C employment practices (5.4.ii). The installation expanded Projection Studio’s ‘range as artists’, providing new research input (with Shuttleworth ‘guid[ing] and support[ing]’ interpretation) – yielding ‘an incredibly powerful way of working’ with new publics and generating a further commission (testimonial letter, 5.4.iii). VLN won an Oxford Preservation Trust Award (2019), recognising ‘temporary installations or events that help bring the city’s past alive’ (5.4.iv). Re-constructed at the Poole Guildhall in February 2020 for a Digital Light Art Festival, the installation was seen by 40,000 (5.4.iii). VLN moved to Otago, New Zealand the same month. As COVID-19 spread through the Southern hemisphere, it became increasingly relevant, attracting over 1,000 viewers in Dunedin, c. 80 of whom attended Shuttleworth’s accompanying public lecture at the Toitū Otago Settlers Museum (co-hosts: U Otago). The Museum’s Public Programmes Developer observed: ‘the work inspired … realisation that many … 21^st-century life [stresses]’ have 19^th-C precursors; musicians were intrigued by the audio track ‘imagining the sounds of Victorian life’ (5.5.i). Feedback postcards highlighted viewers’ surprise that ‘diseases of modern life have a long (and well-considered) history’; ‘The projection made me think about the pressures on us by COVID 19 […] panic buying adding bodily stress’ (5.5.ii). Nationwide reach came through a 30-minute interview on Radio NZ’s prime-time (live audience: c. 316,000). A listener, planning to write a popular Victorian history, welcomed a ‘resource gold mine’ (5.5.iii).

Enhancing English and History curricula in the UK. Workshops with Cheney School, Oxford supported the Year 8 English curriculum, comparing Victorian and modern responses to new communication and transport technologies. 30 children produced artistic interpretations – the most striking projected onto the Radcliffe Infirmary as part of VLN. The school lead observed ‘behavioural’ and ‘educational’ benefits (5.6). 62% of children changed ‘the way [they] think about how [they] communicate with others’: ‘the school should teach about phone addiction’; ‘I should talk in person for those who I can and only use online … for those I can’t’ (5.6).

An online kit of 19^th-C literary non-fiction extracts improved resources for the 9-1 GCSE English Language and Literature unseen test. Collaborating in 2019 with the Thomas Hardy Society educational charity in Dorset looking to widen access to 19^th-C literature, DML trialled extracts (AQA exam formatted including introduction and glossary) with 6 teachers from mixed schools. Teachers praised an ‘improved range of resources’ and fresh ways of ‘us[ing] contextual links’ in teaching (5.7.i). Released nationally via the Oxford English Faculty resources webpage, and used by the AQA with teachers (5.7.i, addendum), the kit filled a resource gap (teacher feedback, Finham Park 2 Academy: ‘I had been struggling to find appropriate texts, … non-fiction can be a huge challenge, … these extracts … [are] a little gold mine!’, 5.7.ii). 17 Year 10 students attending a free Dorset state schools workshop understood better ‘how to answer GCSE questions and prepare … for analysing texts’; 87% became more interested in the Victorians, 94% more interested in history of medicine (5.7.i).

Bonea created an online adventure story about a 19^th-C boy attempting to telegraph a mango seed, India to London. Hosted by open website Storyweaver (India), The Magic Mango educated children in the historical impact of technology. Since going live (31 March 2018), The Magic Mango has been translated into 9 languages including Bengali, Hindi, Romanian, Tamil (5.8.i), and adopted by Free Kids Books (online), recommended for Grades 1-3 History and English ( 9,000+ downloads) (5.8.ii). The story gave pupils ‘exposure and challenges beyond routine syllabus and social environment’ (Principal, Focus High School, Hyderabad, 5.8.iii). A virtual theatre production and documentary film adaptation were produced by Hyderabad children during lockdown, September 2020 (5.8.iv).

Informing patient-centred care and clinical practice. ‘MindReading’ workshops in Dublin, Birmingham and Oxford (2017-20) assisted patient-centred care and clinical practice. The first workshop (approved by the College of Psychiatrists, Ireland) enabled psychiatrists’ and patients’ reflection on how far they speak the same language, and how narrative can bridge gaps. Dickson and Shuttleworth gave public talks exploring mental health through literature and self-narration and curated an exhibition at the dlr LexIcon Public Library and Cultural Centre, Dun Laoghaire, Ireland, comparing literary and medical representations of mental illness (the Senior Executive Librarian welcomed ‘something quite radically new for us’, advancing the Centre’s work in bibliotherapy, 5.9.i). Representatives of REFOCUS (Recovery Experience Forum of Carers and Users of Services) found new ways to articulate experience of psychosis, including ‘A Healing Sonnet’ (5.9.ii). A MindReading online toolkit created by Shuttleworth and Dickson with clinicians and patient groups enabled psychiatrists to ‘explore the patient experience through the prism of literature and personal narrative’, informing ‘self-care, patient-centred care, and … clinical practice’ (toolkit introduction, 5.9.iii; clinicians’ endorsements, 5.9.iv). Two resource pages have been viewed 980 and 732 times; these include a YouTube video which has been viewed 60 times (average viewing time: 3.25 minutes, 5.9.v).

The Cut Out Girl’s revelations of Dutch collaboration with Nazism changed public perception of the war, informing media debate in the Netherlands and beyond. The Pauw & Witteman TV talk show interviewed Van Es and Lien on publication day, 6 September 2018, addressing Van Es’s diagnosis of cultural amnesia. Interviewer questions, podcast uptake (45,000 streams, 7,900 Facebook views, 4,800 Twitter views) (5.1) and audience feedback testified to changed perceptions—e.g. ‘I admit I've thought … oranje boven [rallying cry of Dutch nationalism …] I recommend reading The Cut Out Girl’ (Twitter response, 5.2.i). With outlets including the Stadsschouwburg theatre and Resistance Museum, Amsterdam, the initial print run sold out in a week. The Costa Prize enhanced visibility and reach: Van Es was interviewed more than 50 times (e.g. 5.2.ii -Trouw daily newspaper) , often with Lien, and addressed 100+ literary festivals worldwide (selected press coverage at 5.2). Global sales stand at 155,280 (November 2020), including 10,899 in the Netherlands (5.3).

A national self-image of decency and tolerance was challenged by ‘unpleasant truths’ ( de Volkskrant newspaper, 5.2.iii). Religious press coverage has special salience, given The Cut Out Girl’s exposure of Church failings ( Cut Out Girl 127-29, 180-1). Nederlands Dagblad (historically Reformed-Church) gave two pages to Dutch Protestant and Roman-Catholic church activities under Nazism, emphasising continued injustices: e.g. the widow of a resistance worker and concentration-camp survivor denied a resistance pension, 1980, cf. the securely pensioned ‘Jew hunter’s widow (5.2.iv, and Cut Out Girl, 160-61). De Volkskrant newspaper (historically centrist-Catholic) acknowledged harm done to those given ‘no room’ after the war ‘to articulate the loss of parents, family, … Jewish identity’ (5.2.iii). Algemeen Dagblad (popular tabloid) recognized church collaboration amid wider failings (‘the cooperation of the Dutch police, railway and citizens … later often covered up’) and noted parallels with present-day refugee children hiding from deportation (5.2.vi).

National and local commemorative practices have been improved. In 2018, the Nationaal Comité 4 en 5 mei, dedicated to preserving Dutch war memorials and monuments, funded discussion between Van Es, Lien and broadcaster Ad van Liempt before a ‘spellbound’ audience of 200 in Wageningen, where the Germans surrendered, enabling collective reflection on collaboration (5.2.v, 5.4.i and ii). Dordrecht revised its celebratory website account of Lien’s rescue, acknowledging her trauma (5.5). Commemorating 75 years from war’s end, local historian Kees Heitink and artist Ellen Bouter created an installation for Bennekom village: evacuation stories, recorded on mp3 players, were hung from a chestnut tree that survived bombing in 1945. Cut Out Girl text, read by a 12-year-old girl, captured ‘beautifully’ for Heitink the child’s experience of repeated deracination (5.6). In 2020, the owners of Lien’s childhood home in The Hague agreed to admit visitors as part of ‘Open Joodse Huizen’, supporting a nationwide initiative to raise awareness of Dutch-Jewish history (5.7.i - event postponed due to pandemic; filmed visit planned in lieu) (further local historian uptake 5.7.ii). NIOD enhanced its archive through acquisition of The Cut Out Girl primary materials, including an Auschwitz memorial record by Lien’s aunt.

Readings by Van Es for descendants of Jewish and resistance families, organised by Dutch Embassies in the UK, Australia and New Zealand, acknowledged state failings—the reparative significance evident in an invitation to Van Es and the UK Ambassador to attend Yom Hashoah at Pinner Synagogue (5.8). The Cut Out Girl has aided individuals’ understanding of personal and familial suffering. A file of over 2,000 emails to the author testifies to psychological impact down the generations. Over 400 acknowledge insights gained (‘a totally new vision’ – 5.9.i), some correspondents understanding parents’ experience for the first time: one sees ‘how it was … As the daughter and daughter in law of hidden parents you were never given any information’ (5.9.ii); another ‘could see through your book my own mother’s survival – escape, at the age of twelve, sent away from home […] her anxiety, abuse, pain, betrayal’ (5.9.iii). One Embassy invitee reported that the book assisted his psychotherapy practice, ‘develop[ing] more self-awareness and empathy’ in ‘business leaders and leadership teams’ (5.9.iv). A shared surname with Lien’s mother led a reader to pursue ‘a family tree’, discovering that all Dutch Spieros descend from ‘Elijah ca. 1730-1803’ (5.9.v). Lost personal contacts have been restored: a woman, watching Pauw in Australia, recognised Lien from childhood and made contact (5.9.vi); the children of Jo Kleijne (the boy who carried Lien on his back between resistance hide-outs) connected; also the children of Piet and Anna Schoorl, who helped rescue 166 Bennekom Jews, and the family who sheltered Lien in the village of IJsselmonde (5.9.vi-ix, The Cut Out Girl 166, 125-72, 102). The biography gave Lien a coherent sense of her life (‘I have a story, thanks to Bart’) and ‘reopened the channels of family’ (Costa Prize speech, 5.1.vi), generating a public role for her in promoting better understanding of Dutch wartime actions. She benefits from options on a feature film of her life (FilmWave) and BBC-funded documentary (in progress).

The Cut Out Girl has encouraged opposition to present-day anti-Semitism. In February 2019, after football supporters smeared hate slogans on Amsterdam buildings and vandalised a statue commemorating resistance to Jewish persecution, journalist Michel Krielaars singled out the book from other Jewish histories for insights into Dutch mentality: ‘The ADO-vandals should be made to read it by their management, as a punishment’ (5.2.ix). Social media respondents agreed: ‘timely reminder of why we should not tolerate the pernicious rise of fascism’ (5.2.i). Urgency goes beyond Europe: against a background of anti-immigration sentiment an Australian radio interviewer emphasised, the ‘Jew Hunters’ were ‘Dutch police, … not German’ (5.2.xvii).

The Cut Out Girl has become an exemplary text of ‘documentary novelisation’, using fiction techniques to access psychology without assuming interior knowledge. An Institute of Historical Research discussion in London recognised a model ‘reshaping how historians write’ ( Times Higher Education report, 11 May 2019 (5.2.xii); it has also inspired a non-professional reader to research and write a family war-biography (5.10.i) The book is taught on creative writing programmes, including UEA and Cambridge Institute of Continuing Education, where it is an assigned text for Advanced Study in Non-Fiction, assisting student understanding of ‘structure and the issue of images and how to use them’ and ‘facilitat[ing] discussion of ethics and who "owns" a story’ (‘particularly useful for students exploring their Jewish heritage’) (5.10.ii). Creative writing magazines examining Van Es’ methods include UEA’s Hinterland (5.2.xv).

Secondary-school history teachers recognise The Cut Out Girl’s value as a teaching tool for children. Kleio, the association of history teachers in the Netherlands, listed it in 2019; a US teaching blog recommended it to deepen children’s understanding of the Holocaust—‘challeng[ing] the dominance of biology in our thinking of family’ and drawing attention to ‘sexual abuse during wartime’ (5.2.xiv).

Great Writers Inspire - GWI (est. 2012) has brought free online literary-critical resources to school age and adult learners around the world, providing a recognised model for accessible, curated open education: ‘Notable among the technology approaches adopted … is …. syndication of recordings and metadata by RSS feeds’. Fed by the University’s podcast service (podcasts.ox.ac.uk) which in turn is aggregated by services including Apple iTunes and Spotify, the site achieves ‘wide circulation’ (A. Lane, Emancipation through Open Education, 2017). [5.1.i] With technical and visual updates enhancing tablet and mobile usability, GWI had 2,089,678 unique page views and 1,443,530 visitors between 15 July 2015 and 11 December 2020. Average usage was 8,345 unique page views per week. 68% of users were female, nearly half in the 18-24 age range. Top countries of origin were the US 42%; UK 15%; India 9%. (Data from IT Services, 11.12.20.)

The site has supported the UK core curriculum for English literacy. A top-performing essay page, ‘The Lost Generation’, is a set ‘performance task’ addressing Common Core State Standards for ‘citation of textual evidence, identification and analysis of salient themes, …development of valid written analyses and arguments’ (G. Berry, Cultivating Adult Literacy, 2017). [5.1.ii] GWI has aided learning of key critical and political concepts, with ‘Feminist Approaches to Literature’ the second most visited essay page (‘a lifeline of a site’—UK secondary student). It has supplied specialist resources (‘Just [what] I wanted’, UK undergraduate researching smallpox in literature) (site survey feedback) [5.2] and assisted non-academic professionals needing reliable literary sources, e.g. an Irish Tour Guide trainer. The varied formats have enabled study of English in the absence of formal support (‘I use them often for independent learning’—US student, with no set British literature) and provided stimulus for home-schooled students (‘Me and my partner are doing a sort of "booth" on Mysticism and Animals’ for Shakespeare: ‘This really helped a lot!’). GWI provided vital support for students around the world during the 2020 COVID lockdown (‘Such wonderful resources that you are offering now during the pandemic’—1^st-year Indian undergraduate) [all feedback in 5.2; selected examples of institutional use at 5.1.v]

Smith’s podcasts, the single most popular site section, have supported secondary teaching and improved student engagement with Shakespeare. Recommended by AQA Student Books for English Literature A and B [5.1.iii and iv], promoted by the School Library Association and English Media Centre, they are a recognised resource on school and HEI reading lists globally: ‘Accessible … for the non-specialist public AND advanced scholarship’ (Folger Library); [5.3.ii] ‘I listen over and over’ (U.S. Masters student) [5.3.i]; ‘my teacher mentions your podcast perhaps twice a lesson … [Could you] sign a photograph of yourself [to] put … in his office?’ (grammar school A-level student). [5.3.iii] See selection of uptake examples [5.3.iv] Prisoners and tutors on the Emory University, Atlanta ‘Shakespeare in Prisons’ programs have been helped in the programs’ ‘mission to bring Shakespeare to incarcerated populations [and] instil vital skills for social re-entry’: ‘Approaching Shakespeare’ provided ‘trusted expertise’, accessible ‘from diffuse time zones and environments’ (program tutor). [5.4] Linked podcasts recorded by TORCH during lockdown were an alternative to live theatre – (‘If yo[u] … just feel like you’ve been grounded … listen to … Emma Smith’, Evening Standard) [5.5.i] —e.g. ‘Shakespeare and the Plague’, 19 June: 138,024 Facebook feeds, 4,257 YouTube views over 18 days. [5.5.ii]

A recently-added Fantasy theme, co-designed by Lee (English/IT-Services) and Larrington, drew together existing Oxford iTunes podcasts by Faculty researchers and added new material. Launched 21 May 2020, the site has engaged fan communities with literary and historical research and promoted creative remediations. Since October 2020, the original podcasts have also been aggregated in Spotify, accruing 347 ‘starts’, 213 ‘streams’ to date, and 105 followers world-wide (50% female/46% male) with relatively even spread across age groups. [5.6.i] Theme users are guided to an introductory podcast ‘Approaching Fantasy Literature’ (Lee), then to talks on authors and collections, including recordings by writers and critics at Oxford’s Summer School on Fantasy Literature (2018) assisting connectivity to their fan bases. Contributions by Larrington draw on sources uncovered in Land of the Green Man and creative interpretations generated for a 5-part BBC Radio 4 series The Lore of the Land (2015). Her prior public engagement work with fan communities, including a Hag podcast series of Audible books, 2019, Virago short-story collection, and trade book (2015) exploring the medieval sources of Game of Thrones (3,200 copies sold by mid-2019) [5.6.ii], helped drive engagement with the site. Larrington’s tweet launching the GWI theme received **10,823 impressions and 449 engagements [**5.6.i], adding to Lee’s 5,189 impressions, 108 engagements. [5.6.iii] Students, creative writers and fans report enhanced understanding of genres and topoi and an enlarged sense of the canon: ‘cool to find out about connections between the Middle English romances and the Icelandic sagnakvæði’ (student respondent to Modern Fairies podcasts) [5.7.i]; ‘I highly recommend [Larrington’s] ‘Wolves and Winter’ for anyone who enjoys reading fantasy’ (award-winning Sci-fi novelist/critic) [5.7.ii]; ‘wonderful’ site, ‘placed … on my home page’ (US general interest reader) [5.2]. The most popular content to date has been Larrington’s Sylvia Townsend Warner essay (announcement tweet 3,999 impressions, 205 engagements) [5.7.iv] and the 10 ‘Modern Fairies’ iTunes podcasts (1,015 downloads, 587 streams, by 13 December 2020 [5.7.iii]; 5,406 twitter impressions and 107 engagements by 14 December 2020) to which the Fantasy theme acts as a portal. [5.7.iv]

In October 2017, GWI was enhanced by the launch of Writers Make Worlds (WMW), dedicated to British Black and Asian writing. WMW has modelled and supported curriculum diversification and outreach at secondary and tertiary level, providing new resources on 45 BAME British authors: 42 critical commentaries on individual texts/authors, 20 original video podcasts of writers in conversation. Four sections treat Approaches to Reading, Reading and Reception, Identifying with Literature, Performance and Reading, with curated links to writers’ blogs, interviews and secondary material. Audience reach was aided by public readings and interviews, social media activity and a launch article in The Conversation ( 16,783 reads; widely read and republished in, especially, India). [5.8] Since launch, WMW has had 80,171 total pageviews, 43,181 unique visitors from over 180 countries, including Syria, India, Pakistan, Argentina, Nigeria. 36.2% of visitors were 18–24 years old; 42.16% 25–44 years old. 19.3% were returning users.

WMW has improved resourcing for curriculum diversification in schools and universities. Content with the highest pageviews correlates to performance genres, writers in the media, and critical issues in teaching and creative practice. The popularity of essays on high-profile writers—V. S. Naipaul, 3,363 views; Andrea Levy, 898; Kazuo Ishiguro, 871—is outstripped by interest in authors whose reputations are not yet matched by resource provision: Warsan Shire, 7,394 views; Moniza Alvi, 1,681; Helen Oyeyemi, 1,200; Patience Agbabi (added January 2020), 948. A concept essay ‘Identifying with Literature’, focusing on representation and invisibility in markets and classrooms, was a top-performing page (2,923 views), indicating strong interest in syllabus widening and ‘decolonial’ debates (IT-services data). Educational support organizations have benefitted from this bridging resource between school and university English. The English and Media Centre ‘Studying English at University’ webpage recommends WMW as: ‘a brilliant site offering resources and ideas to support developments in diversifying the English curriculum … [it] will give A Level students a great idea of what’s happening … at university level’. The Centre Director promoted the site to AL & GCSE teachers by Twitter, May 2019 (94 likes; 53 retweets) [5.9.i]. Indicative school and LEA take-up includes Astrea 6^th Form Academy; St Neots (p.15) [5.9.ii]; and Hampshire English Home Learning (HIAS). [5.9.iii] Secondary, tertiary, and post-HE readers have been galvanised to study writers previously unknown to them (‘reading the essay about Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie […] has inspired me to read more of her writing and to further study postcolonial literature’—UK undergraduate; ‘re-educative’—Indian general reader) (feedback via GWI survey). [5.2]

WMW has helped school literacy co-ordinators adapt learning targets to multicultural environments: a Lead Practitioner for Academic Literacy/Oracy in Bristol, tweeted WMW as a ‘Reading on challenge’ (for ‘a white teacher on a wholly white teaching staff which does not represent the demographic of our cohort, what work needs to be done to recognise and represent diversity in English?’) [5.10.i]; another literacy lead at Key State 3 found ‘exactly the kind of resource I’m looking for … pushing to decolonise & improve our curriculum’ (Twitter). [5.10.ii] Teacher feedback also indicates benefits to more confident students pursuing independent projects: ‘many’ preparing for the Cambridge Pre-U 3,500 word essay ‘gravitate towards what we loosely call postcolonial writing, … I always point them towards that website … accessible as well as inspiring … a great resource’ (Teacher, Harris Westminster Academy). [5.10.iii]