John Emmerson Research Fellowship
The John Emmerson Research Fellowship allows research for a project on England in the early modern period. You'll have access to the John Emmerson Collection, which comprises more than 5000 books and pamphlets from the 15th to 18th centuries.
You can explore this Collection in Beyond the Book: A digital journey through the treasures of the Emmerson Collection. This digital exhibition uses photogrammetry technology to bring rare collection items to life.
The fellowship includes:
- $15,000 funding
- desk space at the Library for 12 months
- access to collections and Library staff expertise.
Australian and overseas researchers and writers can apply. Please note that there is no additional funding for travel or accommodation.
Funding is based on approximately 3 months of work in the Library. This can be either continuous or broken up over the year, and you’ll have access to your office for the full 12 months.
About John Emmerson and his collection
This fellowship is sponsored by a generous bequest from John Emmerson.
John McLaren Emmerson QC (1938 to 2014) was a bibliophile and scholar who had careers as both an Oxford physicist and a Melbourne barrister. His collection, which took over 40 years to form, is one of the world's largest collections of rare English printed works. It has a particular emphasis on the reign of King Charles I and the English Civil War, fought during the 1640s.
Its significance lies not just in the quantity and quality of the books, but also in the important provenance of items, including works originally owned by prominent figures during Charles I's reign.
John Emmerson's family donated the collection to the State Library in 2015.
2025 recipient
Professor Danielle Clarke – Constructing an alternative history of reading
Professor Danielle Clarke will use the extensive early modern holdings of the Emmerson Collection to construct an alternative history of reading, focused on the popular texts which were widely read by women and non-elite men from 1550 to 1700. An experienced scholar of early modern women’s writing, Professor Clarke aims to challenge accepted narratives about women, women’s spaces and their intellectual contributions.
Danielle Clarke is a Professor of Renaissance Literature at University College Dublin, whose research focuses on the literate worlds of women from 1550 to 1700. Professor Clarke has published extensively in this area and is interested in trying to learn more about what women and other non-elites actually read, and what use they made of their reading.
Previous recipients
- 2024: Dr Ruby Lowe with the project The Affects of Democracy: George Wither in Australia, exploring how 17th-century poet George Wither (1588-1667) used poetry, prose, and emblems to chronicle the effects of the political and media revolutions that swept through Britain during his life.