Beyond the Margins: Mapping Gertrude Bell (June 2023 - March 2025)
Beyond the Margins: Mapping Gertrude Bell was a project focused on the creation of a map interface for the Gertrude Bell Archive website.
Generously funded by the Harry and Alice Stillman Family Foundation, the project involved collaboration with colleagues in Research Software Engineering and the McCord Centre for Landscape at Newcastle University in order to create a brand new, unique and immersive experience for users of the archive.
The map interface, which was launched in March 2025, allows unique archival items to be viewed via an interactive map and timeline which has involved the geo-tagging of over 11,000 letters, photographs and diary entries created by Gertrude Bell.
The creation of the interface has also included the curation of ‘stories’ which function as mini digital exhibitions using Bell’s material to tell bespoke narratives and highlight research topics within the archive such as Bell’s life in archaeology and the creation of the Kingdom of Iraq.
The project has also included the hand-selection and digitisation of original maps from Bell’s book collection for use as historic overlays, which provide users with the opportunity to view the archive in its original historical geo-political context.
Researchers can customise their experience, filtering by document type and by time period, whilst also changing the modern base map below to topographic or satellite views. The satellite view, when displayed alongside Bell’s original material allows for a unique experience in which historical representation of place and landscape can be viewed in tandem with current images of these sites, often highlighting the dramatic changes that have taken place since the time of Bell’s visit.
The launch of this bespoke mapping interface, and the culmination of the Beyond the Margins project, marks a new milestone in our continuing effort to widen access to the UNESCO Memory of the World inscribed Gertrude Bell Archive for an international audience including both long-time researchers and first-time users.
Evolving Hands (March 2022 – Present)
The Evolving Hands project is an Arts and Humanities Research Council funded collaboration between Newcastle University and Bucknell University which explores the use of Handwritten Text Recognition (HTR) to convert materials from cultural heritage institutions, improving workflows for conversion of these texts to TEI XML following the Guidelines of the Text Encoding Initiative.
Enhancing texts using TEI XML will allow for a nuanced and democratic experience of cultural heritage material, providing users with insight into terms, subjects, people, places, and their spellings within the digitised collections.
The project includes three case studies which demonstrate how digital tools can be incorporated into curation. One of these studies uses a selection of handwritten letters from the Gertrude Bell Archive, covering the summer of 1921 - a crucial period in the formation of the state of Iraq. Upon completion, the case study will result in a TEI-enhanced iteration of a selection of Bell’s letters which will be made available on this website.
Home Colours (2021-2022)
Home Colours was a project carried out by local artist Dr Kate Sweeney with the aim of colourising images from the Gertrude Bell Archive using organic materials found at the location depicted in the image. The project, which began in November 2021, culminated in May 2022 with the creation of a colourised composite image of Gertrude Bell’s childhood home, Red Barns, as well as two original paintings of the building by Kate. These were completed using ink made from organic materials found at the location in Redcar.
Whilst producing these unique artistic works, the project also inspired thoughtful discussion and deeper consideration of the nature and scope of archives, highlighting their multifaceted nature and the artistic responses that can be brought to it.
Dr Sweeney presented on the project and her work at the first Gertrude Bell Lunchtime Seminar held in May 2022 at Newcastle University’s Philip Robinson Library.
Find more information on Dr Kate Sweeney and her work.
Gertrude Bell Comics (2015)
The Gertrude Bell Comics project, supported by Newcastle University’s Institute for Creative Arts Practice, aimed to use digital comics as an entry point to original archive materials. The seven comics created during the project by cartoonist John Miers present snapshots of Gertrude Bell’s life and work. Each comic contains a circulate hotspot, linking to photographs, letters and other related material held within the Gertrude Bell Archive and other key sources. The comics were designed as a starting point for readers to explore the Archive and to provide contextualisation for those without subject-specific knowledge on Bell or related topics. The Newcastle Young Archaeologists’ Club was also involved in refining the comics and developing the second phase of the project.