Lincoln College Oxford/Oxford Bibliographical Society Research Associate

Applications are invited for an inaugural Lincoln College/Oxford Bibliographical Society research associate.

Early-career scholars and graduate students from any institution whose research would benefit from the holdings of Lincoln’s Senior Library, and whose work has a bibliographical component (broadly conceived), are invited to apply. The successful applicant will receive a £500 stipend, plus single accommodation, breakfast, and lunch in Lincoln for a two-week period during the Oxford University long vacation (13 July–25 September 2026; exact date to be determined with the successful candidate, subject to room and staff availability).

The applicant’s project should meaningfully engage with some aspect of the holdings of Lincoln’s Senior Library, the College’s collection of early printed books. The collection is particularly rich in Hebraica and Judaica, English Civil War pamphlets, 18^th century English poetry and drama, and includes significant bequests from Richard Kilbye (Rector, 1590–1620) and Thomas Marshall (Rector, 1672–85), and the library of William Vesey (Fellow, 1703–1755). The wider holdings can be seen at Lincoln College Senior Library.

Applications should consist of a brief (2-page) CV and a 500-word proposal describing how this 2-week association would benefit the individual’s scholarly work.

Please send applications, and any questions, to Dr Sarah Cusk at sarah.cusk@lincoln.ox.ac.uk by 27^th March, 2026.

Previous Fellowships

Balliol teamed up with the Oxford Bibliographical Society to support an early career scholar to work in Balliol’s library and archives. Dr Kate Allan visited for 2 weeks in 2025, exploring the 17th-century Nicholas Crouch collection.

Crouch was a Fellow of Balliol from 1640 until his death in 1690, and he left behind a large collection of books and manuscripts reflecting his interest in medicine, as well as politics, literature, and religion.

Dr Allan was particularly interested in the five poems by Katherine Philips (1631/2 – 22 June 1664) transcribed in Balliol MS 336, ‘a note-book containing a few arithmetical data and a short alphabetical catalogue of medical books, later used (the other way up) to copy verses’ (R. A. B. Mynors, Catalogue of the Manuscripts of Balliol College (1963), p. 342).

By using Crouch’s diaries, the Annual Lists of the College, and the Battels and Buttery Books, Dr Allan was able to locate points of contact between Crouch and Philips’s coterie, identifying Francis Finch as the most likely conduit through which Crouch accessed Philips’s pre-publication poetry.

Dr Allan writes: ‘I am deeply grateful to the OBS and Balliol College for the opportunity to carry out this research and produce a draft of an article based on the findings. I am also indebted to the entire Balliol Collections team, especially Faye McLeod, Naomi Tiley, Nigel Buckley, and Hannah Smith, for making this research trip such a pleasure. Their knowledge and generous advice was invaluable not only for navigating the Balliol archive but also for beginning to pursue a career in special collections. I’ve recently started working at the Eton College library and I am sure this would not have been possible without their kind help.’