I am the curator of the Harold and Mary Jean Hanson Rare Book Collection at the University of Florida, which is broadly poised to illustrate the emergence of literary, cultural, and scientific movements from the late Middle Ages to the present. I augment, teach from, and advocate for the collection as a driving force for research and creativity on and off campus. The collections of rare books at UF are invaluable resources for uncovering the thought and culture of the past, and in reassessing what it means to us in its current place and time.
Additionally, I am interested in how the evidence in books and book collections, from their production to the chance encounters preserved on their pages, can inform our study of the history and culture, as well as illuminate how successive generations have perceived their past. I have published on the reading and reception (sometimes credulous, sometimes critical) of Britain's origin history from its invention in the Middle Ages down to its enactment on the Shakespearean stage, as well as the intersections between history, fiction and forgery more generally.