Amy Solomons

Twitter: amy_jsolomons
Email: a.j.solomons@liverpool.ac.uk

Thesis Title

Books for Everyone? National Trust Libraries and their Reading Communities in the Long Eighteenth Century

Institution

BA (Hons) English and History (2:1), University of Leeds (2015-2018)
Dissertation title: Creating a Religious Community: York’s Bar Convent 1686-1786

MSc Information Management and Preservation (Distinction), University of Glasgow (2018-2019)
Dissertation title: Compiling, Reading and Cataloguing Marginalia: Analysing Seventeenth-Century Books for Evidence of Female Readership

Supervisors

Professor Mark Towsey, University of Liverpool
Professor Elaine Chalus, University of Liverpool
Tim Pye, Libraries Curator, National Trust
Nicola Thwaite, Assistant Libraries Curator, National Trust

Research Summary

My thesis examines country house libraries for evidence of shared reading practices across the long eighteenth century. I am specifically interested in interactions women and children had with the libraries and any evidence of engagement with eighteenth-century texts. My research analyses the space of country house libraries and books to counter current suggestions that libraries in the long eighteenth century were masculine spaces.

The thesis is a collaboration between the University of Liverpool and the National Trust. Case studies used within my study include: Dunham Massey, Erddig, Lyme Park, Tatton Park and Townend.

Research Interests

I am interested in the history of the book, and, in particular, the history of women’s reading and writing from circa. 1600-1800. A major aspect of my research is country houses and the history of country house libraries and reading. This involves researching the broader social, political and religious context of the period. Other influences on my research include the history of archives and recordkeeping, the intersection between archival theory and practice and creating catalogues with searchable copy-specific information.

Publications

coming soon