The Quill Project

Enhancing research and education

 

Our Projects

 

Voting in a US election

United States Founding Documents

A ground-breaking presentation of the processes at the Constitutional Convention and in Congress that created the 1787 Constitution of the United States and the Federal Bill of Rights, and the later Reconstruction Era Amendments.

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Preamble to the Utah State Constitution

State Constitutions Collection

Quill is revolutionising understanding of and access to key constitutional texts that impact on the day-to-day life of US citizens, by working to present the processes that created state constitutions in unprecedented detail.

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The peace wall in Belfast

Writing Peace:
Penning the Good Friday Agreement

A unique visualization of the primary source material surrounding the negotiation of the Good Friday Agreement.

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The Indian flag

PACT: The Indian Constitution

The AHRC-funded PACT project, in conjunction with SOAS and the University of York, is using the methodologies developed at the Quill Project to explore the creation of India’s post-colonial constitution after 1946.

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Developing cutting-edge tools to help teachers, lawyers, and researchers interpret and teach key historical texts.

Quill’s digital tools enable richer understanding of how a text changed during negotiation – who influenced it, at what stage, and what impact this had. For legal scholars, they clarify what writers intended to say, and how their words should be interpreted in today’s context. For educators, our tools bring to life a story of negotiation and compromise.

 
 
 
 
Quill Research Assistant at work.JPG
 

Meet the Team

Partnership and opportunity

“Working so closely with Dr Cole has created a research opportunity that is found no-where else on campus. [Three of the undergraduate research assistants] now have plans for law school and [a fourth] will be going to graduate school...This project sets them apart.”

Danielle Maddox, UVU student and Quill Research Assistant

 
 
 

A group of Quill summer school students outside the Bodleian Library in Oxford.

 

 

Some of Quill’s projects and partnerships