Dr Helen Kemp

Biography

Helen Kemp studies reading and writing in the early modern world, focusing on seventeenth-century England. She is interested in networks of people and of texts: connections and obligations of family and profession, and how manuscripts and books circulated between these networks, resulting in new forms of communication, collecting, and material culture. Helen's research brings new insight into the social interactions and nuances of power between those who communicated through the media of manuscript and print. She is currently working on a monograph about seventeenth-century notebooks. Helen is also the curator of rare books at Thomas Plume’s Library (est. 1704), Maldon, and Special Collections Champion at the Albert Sloman Library.

Qualifications

• PhD History University of Essex, (2017)

• MA Renaissance Studies Birkbeck, University of London, (2011)

• BA (Hons) Humanities Open University, (2009)

Appointments

University of Essex

• Lecturer (fixed term), History, University of Essex (1/2022 - 6/2022)

• Community Fellow, History, University of Essex (1/2/2020 - present)

• Fixed Term Teacher, History, University of Essex (1/10/2017 - 31/1/2020)

Other academic

• 21st Plume Librarian, Rare books and special collections, Thomas Plume's Library (16/9/2019 - present)

• Maddock Research Fellow, Marsh's Library (23/3/2020 - 30/3/2020)

• Consultant on Gateway to Early Modern Manuscript Sermons Project, University of Regina (1/4/2018 - 1/4/2019)

• Local Conference Organiser, Social History Society (28/2/2023 - 31/7/2023)