Please meet our brave adventurers who dare to research medieval history! It’s not easy to slay dragons (or heavy library books), but hey, it’s honest work.

Madison Julio
Madison kneels next to a farm animal, holding a cup of Dunkin Donuts coffee in one hand and the animal's chin in the other.

Madison ’26 holds on to her MA roots.

She/Her, ’27 — Madison Julio is a senior studying history, with a minor in government and a concentration in archives. Her academic interests focus on interfaith interactions in the medieval Iberian Peninsula. In the lab, she’s currently working on the Arabic, Persian, and Turkish rare books project, but has also contributed to several other projects in the past. When she’s not in the archives, Madison is probably binging historical dramas (which Professor Birk insists on mislabeling as ‘bad TV’), visiting museums and animal sanctuaries, or digging into her family genealogy project.

Projects: Arabic, Turkish, Persian Rare Books Project

Madelyn Malgieri

Mary smiles at the camera, with glowing circular lights and a painting of Our Lady of Guadalupe behind her.

Madelyn ’27 (and Mary) glow!

She/Her, ’27 —Madelyn is a junior double-majoring in English literature and religious studies with the intention of pursuing a Master of Arts in Library and Information Science (MLIS) after graduation. In her free time, she works as a library research mentor at Neilson Library, a Sunday school teacher in downtown Northampton, and as a student liaison in the religion department. She loves reading (essays, short stories, and 20th-century poetry), listening/playing music as a DJ for WOZQ 91.9fm, and collaging.

Projects: Touch

Eliza McClelland 
Eliza sits on a bed, smiling at the camera, with a large black cat sitting on her shoulders.

Eliza ’28 and her research assistant.

She/Her, ’28 — Eliza is a sophomore history major! She’s currently the project lead for the German archives project, and last semester, she worked on the anticlericalism in French fabliaux project. In her free time, Eliza loves playing ultimate frisbee (with Smith’s team Lunadisc), hiking, reading fantasy books, and drinking coffee.

Projects: German Archives

Mary McGrath
Mary sits in a chair next to a statue of Santa, smiling at the camera.

Mary ’28 gets festive!

She/Her, ’28 —Mary McGrath is a sophomore majoring in history. In CODEX, she is working on mapping the spread of Y. pestis collected from medieval plague victims. She is also working on the Dies Legibiles! In her spare time, she enjoys reading about current theater and the plays or musicals heading to New York City.

Projects: Plague geography, dies legibiles

 

Lucy O’Brien
Lucy stands in front of a skeletal model of a T-Rex. Her hands are on her face in fake shock and she smiles at the camera.

Lucy O’Brien ’26 chooses fright over flight.

She/Her, ’26 — Lucy is a data science and history double major concentrating in the history of science and medicine. In CODEX, she leads the Plague Geography project and hangs around as the token coder. Previously, she worked on the AHA Visualization project. In her free time, she enjoys talking at people about TV, playing Scrabble, and downloading journal articles she probably won’t read.

Projects: Plague geography; Arabic, Turkish, Persian Rare Books Project