John Schofield publishes St Paul's Cathedral: Archaeology and History

John Schofield, the Archaeologist at St Paul's Cathedral, member of our Production Team for the Virtual St Paul's Project, and author of St Paul's Cathedral Before Wren (2011), is now publishing a companion volume, St Paul's Cathedral: Archaeology and History, due out in September from Oxbow. 

UK preorders are being accepted here, from the usual source in the UK.

USA preorders are being accepted here, from the usual source in the USA. 

Dr Schofield's work documents the archaeological history of Wren's St Paul's, and describes as well the changes it has gone through since its initial completion in the early 18th century. 

While, to me, this building is important chiefly as the home for John Donne's memorial statue, Wren's St Paul's has served as the cathedral of the Diocese of London through the rise and fall of England's empire and through the crises of English history in the 20th century.

Everyone knows the iconic image, above, of St Paul's dome rising above the smoke of bombs dropped on London during the Blitz, embodying the spirit of England's commitment to keep calm and carry on during Hitler's efforts at conquest.

The publishers celebrate Schofield's work in this volume, reviewing the cathedral's "history from the early 18th to the early 21st century, as illustrated by recent archaeological recording, documentary research and engineering assessment."

Schofield also provides "A detailed account of the construction of the cathedral . . . based on a comparison of the fabric with voluminous building accounts which have survived and evidence from recent archaeological investigation."

This volume is a must-have for people interested in the history of baroque architecture, the career of Sir Christopher Wren, and the cultural role of St Paul's as the iconic center of London's growth as a world capital and as the best-known building at the heart of the Church of England and the world-wide Anglican Communion. 

Congratulations to John Schofield, our good friend and professional colleague, for bringing us this landmark of archaeological and architectural history. 

Willard McCarty Visits Virtual Paul's Cross

Willard McCarty, a member of our Advisory Committee, Professor of Humanities Computing at King’s College London, and Adjunct Professor in the Digital Humanities Research Group, Western Sydney University, joined us in Raleigh for several days in late June of 2016.

McCarty visited with the digital humanities faculty here at NC State and was able to explore a number of our on-going projects on display in our Hunt Library's Teaching and Visualization Lab. 

McCarty also learned about our new interdisciplinary Visual Narratives cluster project, just now getting developed.  

McCarty's visit was a highlight of our summer, and a reminder that we are grateful when members of our Advisory Committee can drop by for a visit. 

The Paul's Cross -- and soon to be Cathedral -- website gives a great deal of information about our work, but the opportunity to experience the installation at our Hunt Library is a whole 'nother experience. 

The 10 high definition projectors cast a seamless 270-degree image of Paul's Churchyard, and the 21 speakers immerse the viewer inside the acoustic model of the churchyard. 

If you can come to Raleigh, this is not to be missed! We promise to roll out the red carpet. 

Virtual Paul's Cross and the Project on Space, Place and Image in the Poetry and Prose of John Donne

Space, Place and Image in the Poetry and Prose of John Donne 

FNS Project, Université de Lausanne, 2014-2017 

Dr. Kirsten Stirling, a Senior Lecturer in the English department of the University of Lausanne, and two of her graduate students -- Sonia Pernet and Kader N. Hegedüs --have announced the launching of a project entitled Space, Place and Image in the Poetry and Prose of John Donne.

 Dr. Stirling's project is funded by the Fonds National Suisse de la recherche scientifique (FNS).

The Virtual Paul's Cross Project is now linked to this project, here:

 http://wp.unil.ch/johndonne-space/partners-links/

This project is sponsoring a major conference on the topic Space, Place and Image in Early Modern English Literature, to be held on the campus of the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, on 11-13 May 2017.

The Call for Papers for this conference is here:

http://wp.unil.ch/johndonne-space/2017-conference/call-for-papers-space-place-and-image-in-early-modern-english-literature

Happy to see that Mary Morrissey, a member of the Advisory Committee for the Virtual Paul's Cross Project, is already signed up to be a keynote speaker at this conference.