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Research Lab

The SHC Research Lab projects put advanced technology to work for humanities research using interpretative, qualitative methods. Projects are mostly long-term (3 yrs +), collaborative, and international in scope.

The Lab is based in room 123 at the Humanities Center and shares space on the fourth floor of Wallenberg Hall with partners Spatial History Lab and Stanford Literary Lab. The Lab is run by the the Center's Academic Technology Specialist, Nicole Coleman.


Before research universities and disciplinary colloquia, scholars depended largely on correspondence networks for the dissemination and exchange of ideas. These informal communities, collectively known as the Republic of Letters, pose considerable challenges to the modern historian, as their contours blur and shift over time. With the help of advanced visualization techniques, this project is literally "mapping" the Republic of Letters, by plotting the geographic data for the senders and receivers of correspondences. These maps will allow researchers to perceive the larger patterns of intellectual exchange in the early-modern world and raise new questions about the importance of places, nations, and cities, in the circulation of knowledge.

Primary Investigators
Dan Edelstein (French and Italian), Paula Findlen (History)
Nicole Coleman (Academic Technology Specialist and co-investigator)

Additional faculty members
Keith Baker (History), John Bender (English), Giovanna Ceserani (Classics), Jessica Riskin (History of Science), Caroline Winterer (History)

2011-12 Visitors

Paolo Ciucarelli
  • Scientific Director, DensityDesign, Milan [+]
Sébastien Heyman
  • PhD Candidate, Computer Science, Sorbonne and developer Gephi Graph Software [+]

2010-2011 Visitors

Giorgio Caviglia
  • PhD Candidate, Communication Design, Politecnico di Milano [+]
Michele Graffieti
  • Design Researcher, DensityDesign, Milan [+]