Dr. Emerson Storm Fillman Richards
Antiquarian Bookseller & Rare Book and Manuscript Specialist
Environmental & Historic Cultural Resource Consultant
Talking about the Apocalypse for a session of the M6 Reading Group, 2019.
I am a rare books professional, a scholar of historic material culture, and a certified environmental consultant. These three disparate career paths converge at the centre of conservation of resources and presenting information to diverse audiences through objective data analysis.
I received my PhD in Comparative Literature from Indiana University, Bloomington with a Graduate Area Certificate in Medieval Studies and a minor from the English Department focusing on Medieval British Languages (Old Irish, Middle Welsh, and Middle English).
I hold a Certificate of Proficiency (History of the Manuscript) from the University of Virginia’s Rare Book School and have taken coursework at the University of London's Rare Book School as well as the École nationale de Chartes.
I have worked in, and for, Special Collections since 2015, with various professional experiences in Indiana University's Lilly Library and Moving Image Archive; the University of Manchester's John Rylands Library; the University of Kentucky's Margaret I. King Library; the Portico Library of Manchester; and Pembroke College Library at Cambridge University.
I will be starting an MA in Anthropology (Archeology) at the University of Central Florida, College of Sciences in 2024 in order to become a Registered Professional Archeologist to compliment the environmental consultancy credentials I already hold. With this set of skills, I am able to provide environmental and cultural resource assessments to ensure federal and state compliance of private and commercial development.
My work station at the Portico Library where I volunteered and restored books from the 16th to 20th c.