In August, Ph.D. candidate Emilela Thomas-Adams traveled to Europe to conduct research for her dissertation in which she explores medieval practices of reuse and recycling in religious contexts. Emilela was able to travel to several cities in Sweden and Switzerland to visit important medieval art and manuscript collections in museums, convents, and libraries, as well as photograph several of her dissertation case studies.

The highlight of Emilela’s trip was a visit to the Benedictine Abbey of Engelberg, whose collection of medieval manuscripts boasts a large number of codices with extensive decorative embroidered repairs. Emilela spent the day examining and photographing fifteen manuscripts produced at the abbey during the 12^th through the 15^th century, several of which have not been digitized.

Emilela’s research trip was made possible with the generous support of the Murnane Travel Grant, the Nicholas G. Howe Memorial Fund, and the Arts and Sciences Graduate Research Small Grant.