Giorgia Tolfo
- Roles
- Author
- Researcher
Collections Researcher
About
Giorgia works in the Research Department as a Collections Researcher. Her role involves researching and creating bridges between The National Archives collections and scholarly research. She is interested in creative research methodologies, embodied and affective responses to archival collections, visual culture and place studies.
Giorgia previously worked as part of the Living with Machines project at the British Library/Alan Turing Institute, and in the academic publishing sector. Beyond her role at The National Archives, she is a creative writer 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
Follow the acorn: Designing a symbol for long distance national trails
NewIn this blog post, Lucy Razzall and Giorgia Tolfo investigate some of the administrative history behind marking rights of way.
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Blog post
Archive Rambler: from Lynmouth to Woolacombe
NewGiorgia Tolfo continues the second leg of her journey while exploring how archival research and walking can work together.
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Blog post
Archive Rambler: Lynmouth and Lynton
NewContinuing her exploration into the combination of archival research and walking, Giorgia Tolfo sets off on the next leg of her journey.
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Blog post
Pollution in the Archive
In this blog, Heather Craddock and Giorgia Tolfo reflect on the 2025 ‘Talking records: Pollution in the Archive’ symposium held at The National Archives.