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
-
Blog post
Pollution in the Archive
NewIn this blog, Heather Craddock and Giorgia Tolfo reflect on the 2025 ‘Talking records: Pollution in the Archive’ symposium held at The National Archives.
-
Blog post
Archive Rambler: from Westward Ho! to Bideford
NewGiorgia Tolfo continues her trip along the South West Coast Path, exploring the rewards of combining archival research and walking.
-
Blog post
Archive Rambler: from Hartland to Clovelly
NewHow can archival research deepen the experience of hiking, and vice versa? Giorgia Tolfo finds out on a trip down the South West Coast Path.
-
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.