Biography
Andrew Cusworth, BA, MMus, PhD, FRSA, is a researcher with interests in the intersecting points of digital humanities, archive, critical theory, cultural history, tangible and intangible heritage, music, performance and reception, and the ways in which the digital remediation of the archive affects the generation of historical narrative. As a digital humanities practitioner, his work has included generating novel digital outputs as well as traditional outputs such as conference papers and publications. As such, he has developed practical skills and critical interests in digital humanities fields such as the theoretical frameworks of relational and linked data and their structures, digital edition, digit[al]isation, and geographical and network visualisation.
A holder of first and masters' degrees in music from the University of Cambridge, in 2016 Andrew received his doctorate from the Open University for research on digital approaches to the archival record of Welsh traditional music at the National Library of Wales, where his research was embedded. He has held positions at the Bodleian Libraries, University of Exeter Special Collections, Ceredigion Archives, and National Library of Wales, and has conducted research in digital collections and digital history in partnership with National Library of Wales, Royal Collection Trust, and The Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851. He was the holder of an 1851 Commission Research Fellowship at the University of Oxford, where he now works in an academic-related but non-research position as acting programme manager and senior research facilitator of the Digital Scholarship at Oxford initiative. He is a trustee of the National Library of Wales, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and the convenor of the When archives become digital course at the Digital Humanities at Oxford Summer School. He is also active as a musician and composer.
Publications and papers
Articles
A choir still: sustaining a choir through the COVID-19 pandemic, Journal of Music, Health, and Wellbeing, October 2021.
Alawon Gwerin Môn: Towards a reception history, Canu Gwerin, 2017.
What makes the digital special: The research program in digital collections at the National Library of Wales, with Lorna Hughes, Rhian James, Owain Roberts, and Lloyd Roderick, New Review of Academic Librarianship, 2015
Books and journals
co-editor, Musicking in the time of COVID-19, special edition of Journal of Music, Health, and Wellbeing, 2021
Blog posts, &c.
A Prince's papers in a digital world, Prince Albert: His Life and Legacy, Royal Collection Trust, 2021
A fittingly impressive work: Prince Albert the composer, British Library Music Collections Blog, 2019
A tale of two questions: St Spiv, the musical, University of Exeter Special Collections blog, 2018
What are notes but tears with wings, University of Exeter Special Collections blog, 2018
Britten, Kennedy, Duncan, University of Exeter Special Collections blog, 2018
Essays and other printed materials
Moment and momentum: Prince Albert and the legacy of the Exhibition of 1851, in
Prince Albert: Founder of Albertopolis, Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851, London, 2019
Digital research outputs
A Prince's Papers, exploring Prince Albert's networks, 2021
Alawon Gwerin Môn, companion website, 2017
Towards a digital land of song, companion website, 2016
Papers, conferences, &c.
Re[de]fining Digital Humanities, Digital Humanities & Islamic Studies, Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, November 2021
The archaeology of illusions: Prince Albert the Good; Prince Albert the Man, Oxford in North America digital history lectures, July 2021
When archives become digital: [re]coding the archival machine, Digital Humanities Oxford Summer School, July 2021
re]coding the past digital [re]mediation and the [re]modelling of history, Digital Humanities Oxford Summer School, July 2020
Archival machines & me, Centre for Digital History Aarhus Showcase, Aarhus Universitet, December 2019
‘To speak powerfully to the public mind’: Renegotiating Prince Albert’s vision for a new industrial era, DCDC 19, November 2019
[In/]tangible traces: Osborne and the Exhibition, Victoria & Albert at Osborne, November 2019
‘Quite charmed’: Victoria, Albert, and the stage, Digitizing the Stage, July 2019
Raw materials beautifully arranged, poster presentation to HRH The Princess Royal, March 2019
Archival Machines, February TORCH Heritage Pathways, February 2019
Tuag at wlad y gân ddigidol, Cynhadledd Cymdeithas Alawon Gwerin, September 2015
The J. Lloyd Williams diaries: A musician’s notes to himself, The Listening Experience Database Project - Wales Study Day, The Open University in Wales, Cardiff, 23rd May 2014
Echoes and amplifications, Y Drwm, National Library of Wales, 18th January 2014
The nineteenth century and the forging of a Welsh musical identity, Biennial Music in Nineteenth Century Britain Conference, Cardiff, 25th June 2013
Welsh traditional music: An interfac[et]ed approach, Ethnomusicology in the digital age, BFE/ICTM-Ireland Joint Conference, Belfast, 5th April 2013
Music publications and discography
For details of musical publications and discography, please see the relevant section of Andrew's composer page.
Research-led teaching, &c.
When archives become digital, summer school course at Digital Humanities @ Oxford, July 2022
A Prince's Papers: Transcribing Prince Albert's World, 8-workshop introduction to digital edition, May 2020 - December 2020
An introduction to digitisation for Digital Humanities: Humanities research in the digital age, Oxford-Open-Cambridge Doctoral Training Partnership, Open Learn, August 2020 -
An introduction to born digital data for Digital Humanities: Humanities research in the digital age, Oxford-Open-Cambridge Doctoral Training Partnership, Open Learn, August 2020 -
On archival machines for Nineteenth Century Studies Master's Course, University of Oxford Department of Continuing Education, October 2019 -
Contact
If you are interested in any aspect of Andrew's work, would like him to speak at an event or seminar, or have any other queries, please do get in touch with him at andrewdjcusworth@gmail.com
He is also, occasionally, a twitter and Mastodon user; even more occasionally, he writes a blog post.