The research for ‘Foreign Bodies’ would not have been possible without the help and support of many people and institutions. We would like to thank the Universities of Manchester and Melbourne for their generous funding in support of this project, which has resulted in three outcomes: special issues of the Bulletin of the John Rylands Library (95:2, 2019) and this on-line exhibition.

In both Manchester and Melbourne we have benefitted from the amazing generosity of colleagues.

For help with the collections, we are grateful to:

Manchester – Fergus Wilde, Senior Librarian at Chetham’s Library; Uthra Rajgopal and Zoë Lanceley, Assistant Curators of Textiles and Wallpaper at the Whitworth; Donna Sherman, Special Collections Librarian at the University of Manchester Library; and, at the John Rylands Library, Stella Halkyard, formerly Joint Head of Special Collections and Visual Collections Manager; John Hodgson, Joint Head of Special Collections and Manuscripts and Archives Manager; and Julianne Simpson, Rare Books and Maps Manager.

Melbourne – Dr Kerrianne Stone, Curator of Prints, University of Melbourne; Mr David Jones, Curator of the Map Collection, University of Melbourne; Susan Millard, Rare Books Librarian, Baillieu Library, University of Melbourne; Isobel Crombie, Assistant Director, Curatorial and Collection Management, National Gallery of Victoria; Dr Petra Kayser, Curator, Prints and Drawing, National Gallery of Victoria; Dr Matthew Martin, formerly Curator, International Decorative Arts and Antiquities, National Gallery of Victoria; Dr Anna Welch, Information Officer, Rare Printed Collections, State Library of Victoria; Des Cowley, Curator, History of the Book, State Library of Victoria

For images, we would like to thank:

Manchester – Colleagues at the Centre for Heritage Imaging and Collection Care at the John Rylands Library; John Kirkpatrick at the Whitworth. We are grateful to Chetham’s Library, the Whitworth, and the John Rylands Library for waiving permission fees and for allowing access to their collections and files.

Melbourne – Gwenda Thomas, Director, Scholarly Services and University Librarian, Baillieu Library, University of Melbourne; Susie Shears, Cultural Collections Coordinator, Baillieu Library, University of Melbourne; Isobel Crombie, Assistant Director, Curatorial and Collection Management, National Gallery of Victoria.

We have been ably supported by research assistants in both universities:

Manchester – Katy Ellis, Danielle Gravon, Dr Anne Kirkham, Jason Sun.

Melbourne: Susanne Chadbourne, Catherine Mahoney.

For help with the website, we would like to thank:

Manchester – Danielle Gravon for setting up and maintaining the project website, and for setting up the on-line exhibition; Sarah Feinstein for training members of the project team; and colleagues in Research IT at the University of Manchester who have provided support and training, especially Theresa Teng and Louise Lever.

Finally, in addition to those who have contributed exhibition texts, we would also like to thank Maria Hayward (University of Southampton), Rose Marie San Juan (University College London), Margit Thøfner (University of East Anglia), and Jenny Spinks (University of Melbourne) who attended the Manchester workshop, and whose input into group discussions helped shape our thinking about foreign bodies.