With the support of a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Drew University has undertaken an important new institutional initiative in the Digital Humanities. The Pope Joan Project began with the generous funding from the Digital Humanities Summer Institute (DHSI), which pairs students with faculty mentors to conduct primary research using digital humanities over the summer. Our census began in May 2021, and will continue to acquire new data.
Candace Reilly is the Manager of Special Collections at Drew University. She received a Master’s in Medieval Studies at the University of York. She is a PhD candidate at the University of York in the History of Art department. Her dissertation, entitled The Priest, the Ferryman, and the Protector against Sickness and Death: The Roles and Functions of St Christopher imagery in England c.1200-1400 studies medieval English iconography of St. Christopher, and the intersections between theology and the science of optics in relation to devotional imagery.
Reilly became fascinated with the imagery of Pope Joan when she started working at Drew University. When teaching students about the Liber Chronicarum (1493) the smudged image of Pope Joan in Drew University’s copy was always a topic of conversation. Reilly’s predilection to compiling data-sets of Christian figures led her to propose this study, and provide a census of Pope Joan imagery for the world’s use.
Brynn Goldberg is currently a sophomore at Drew University majoring in Environmental Science with a minor in Studio Art. She intends to pursue a career in conservation of public lands. Helping to create the database for Pope Joan has been incredibly fulfilling to her.
Goldberg began working at the Drew University Special Collections in the first semester of her freshman year, and loves working there. Working at the Methodist Archives and spending the year scanning the 19th Century pamphlets exposed her to the digital humanities, and eventually led to her involvement with the Nuremberg Chronicle and the exploration of its content.
Zoe Bowser is currently a junior at Drew University double majoring in Studio Art and Art History with a minor in Spanish. She intends to pursue a career in education, and works towards creating educational resources that are both equitable and accessible for their audiences. Helping to amass a digital census of Pope Joan imagery for public use has fulfilled both her love of education and her love of Medieval art history.
Bowser began working at the Drew University Special Collections in the second semester of her freshman year, and immediately fell in love with it (she declared an art history minor shortly thereafter, which, as you can see, quickly became its own major). Working at the University Archives exposed her to a plethora of art historical content, and eventually led to her involvement with the Nuremberg Chronicle and the exploration of its content.
Sam Zatorski is an undergraduate student at Drew University, majoring in Chinese Studies. However, their academic interests also extend to Art History and Medieval Studies. Sam hails from Red Bank, New Jersey. Their paper Together We Look Like Our Mother: Motherhood, Memory and Legacy in The Joy Luck Club and The Book of Salt, was selected for publication by Drew’s peer-reviewed undergraduate research journal The Drew Review.
Our goal is host a comprehensive database of Pope Joan imagery. If you or your institution would like to submit your image of Pope Joan to our census, then please fill out the following form, Image Submission
Copyright Information: All images submitted to this website are courtesy of a worldwide collaboration to this project. These images are subject to copyright, therefore please contact each institution if you are interested in acquiring that image of Pope Joan.
