Heritage Digital Microscopy

At the University of Manchester’s History Department, The Bodies, Environments and Material Culture Collective hosts the largest collection of cutting-edge digital microscopes at any Faculty of Humanities in the UK. The Collective’s heritage digital microscopy activities are led by Professor Stefan Hanß.

Our collection of state-of-the-art digital microscopes is used for the advanced microscopic analysis of heritage artefacts.

We are guided by the conviction that microscopic, material-scientific analysis deepens our understanding of the material properties of historic artefacts, including manuscripts and prints. This insight is crucial to accurately characterising, interpreting, preserving, and sharing heritage, as well as improving its accessibility. Building on this foundation, we spearhead an integrated approach to innovative heritage digital microscopy. The digital microscopic study of historic artefacts helps us recalibrate and historicise the matter and making of material culture, and how it was experienced on a sensory and cognitive level.

Using digital microscopy to study historic artefacts allows us to tell exciting new stories about the past, to recover hidden histories, and historical agents.

Methodological innovation is at the core of our activities. We are committed to developing a range of innovative applications of digital microscopy for heritage and to advancing and refining its methods.

To support this work, we draw on the unique breadth of expertise within The Bodies, Environments and Material Culture Collective, whose members have an exceptional track record in pioneering the use of digital microscopy in material culture studies.