Uncovering Marion Scott: Exploring Musical Networks through Archival Research

Join us online on Thursday 22 May for 'Uncovering Marion Scott: Exploring Musical Networks through Archival Research' with Dr Antonina Puchkovskaia, the latest talk in the Bodleian Bytes series, hosted by the Centre for Digital Scholarship at the Bodleian Libraries.

This talk explores how digital humanities methods reveal Marion Scott’s (1877–1953) significant yet overlooked contributions to Britain’s early twentieth-century musical landscape. Dr Puchkovskaia's research, developed in collaboration with the Royal College of Music, utilises their archival collections to construct a comprehensive dataset documenting Scott’s professional activities and relationships.

By applying social network analysis to these materials, the researchers challenge reductive characterisations found in traditional scholarship, such as Byron Adams’s description of Scott as merely “a wealthy amateur whose modest career would have gone unremembered but for her massive crush on Gurney” (Adams, 2011).

This work-in-progress contributes to broader scholarly conversations about recovering women’s creative and cultural labour. It also demonstrates how digital humanities approaches – particularly computational and data-driven methods – can uncover complex historical relationships and institutional patterns, offering new ways to engage with archival materials.

Speaker Biography

Dr Antonina Puchkovskaia is a Lecturer in Digital Products and Industries at the Department of Digital Humanities, King’s College London, having recently transitioned from her role as Lecturer in Digital Humanities within the same department. Prior to joining DDH, she was an Associate Professor of Digital Humanities at ITMO University in Saint Petersburg, where she launched and led a Digital Humanities Centre. Her research and pedagogy take place at the intersection of cultural history, cultural heritage, digital products design and digital humanities. Her current research explores creative women, music leadership and political resilience in London during the 1900-1920 period, employing digital humanities methods to uncover previously marginalised historical networks. This work is conducted in collaboration with the Royal College of Music and Wigmore Hall. More broadly, she has primarily engaged with the GLAM sector, exploring innovative approaches to working with archival materials and digital collections.

Bodleian Bytes

Bodleian Bytes is a series of online talks hosted by the Centre for Digital Scholarship at the Bodleian Libraries. The series engages with innovative national and international research in digital scholarship. It is a virtual space for discussions surrounding different tools and methodologies whilst also providing inspiration for future digital research.