Giorgia Tolfo
- Roles
- Author
- Researcher
Collections Researcher
About
Giorgia works in the Research Department. Her role involves creating bridges between The National Archives collections and scholarly research, with a focus on digital, spatial, and medical humanities.
Giorgia previously worked as part of the Living with Machines project at the British Library/Alan Turing Institute, and in the academic publishing sector. She is a creative writer, literary critic, and translator.
Research activity
Giorgia holds a PhD in Postcolonial and Comparative Literature from the University of Bologna and a PgDip in Digital Humanities from University College London.
Her PhD explored the relationship between photography and writing in the face of traumatic experiences.
As a researcher at the National Archives, she has been exploring creative and spatial research practices and the role of emotions and memory in the archive.
Recently she has worked on trauma-informed practices, HIV and AIDS archives, queer places, and is currently working on ideas related to walking as a research methodology.
Publications
- Ahnert, R., Griffin, E., Ridge, M., & Tolfo, G. (2023). Collaborative Historical Research in the Age of Big Data: Lessons from an Interdisciplinary Project (Elements in Historical Theory and Practice). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/9781009175548
- Tolfo G., Griffin E., Ahnert R., Ridge M., “The Minimum Research Outcome: A Mechanism for Generating and Managing Projects in Labs”, Digital Humanities and Laboratories. Perspectives on Knowledge, Infrastructure and Culture, edited By Urszula Pawlicka-Deger, Christopher Thomson, 2024
- Tolfo G., Vane O., Beelen K., Hosseini K., Lawrence J., Beavan D. and McDonough K. "Hunting for Treasure: Living with Machines and the British Library Newspaper Collection". Digitised Newspapers – A New Eldorado for Historians?: Reflections on Tools, Methods and Epistemology, edited by Estelle Bunout, Maud Ehrmann and Frédéric Clavert, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter Oldenbourg, 2023.
- Ridge, Mia, Tolfo, Giorgia, Westerling, Kalle, Pedrazzini, Nilo, & McGillivray, Barbara. (2022). “Historic machines from 'prams' to 'Parliament': new avenues for collaborative linguistic research”. DH Benelux 2022 - ReMIX: Creation and alteration in DH (hybrid), Belval Campus, Esch-sure-Alzette, Luxembourg and online.
- ‘Creating a national picture: digitising Ordnance Survey maps’ blog (January 2023)
- ‘Georeferencing OS maps” Georeferencing Ordnance Survey Maps – Living with Machines blog (January 2023)
Articles
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Blog post
Developing an enhanced dataset for the history of photography
Researchers Giorgia Tolfo and Katherine Howells reflect on their recent project focusing on the metadata in our photographic copyright collections.
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Focus on
Policing sex in public toilets in 1930s London
Records from the 1930s describe attempts to police sexual activities between men in public toilets – and officers’ thoughts on when to enforce the rules.
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Focus on
How the first women's refuge enacted change in the UK
The founding years of Chiswick Women’s Aid saw the opening of the world's first women's refuge, disputes with local government, and creating change in the UK.