In an increasingly digital world, scholars now have more information than ever to conduct research and to interpret historical documents. But as technology enriches work by humanities scholars and students, the humanities disciplines are giving back to changing world of information technology by helping researchers critically interrogate data.

That was the message delivered by Shannon McSheffrey, a professor of history at Concordia University, Montreal and guest speaker for UMBC’s medieval and early modern studies program fall lecture. McSheffrey presented the talk “Digital Humanities, Medieval Women, Sex, and Marriage” at UMBC on September 24, 2015.

Professor McSheffrey’s research focuses on gender roles, law, civic culture, marriage, literacy, heresy, and popular religion in late medieval England. For her talk, she presented her research on women and marriage in late medieval London, including her work in digital humanities. She focused on a case study of Margaret Heed, a young woman who was divided over whether she should marry the man her father chose for her or another man whom she clearly preferred. McSheffrey highlighted how the humanities help to interpret Margaret’s story and teach researchers about the subtleties of the evidence available.

“I’m hoping that students will think more about this whole question of how information relates to understanding, but also about how it is that young people in a very different kind of context had to deal with the kinds of choices that were available to them,” McSheffrey explained.

McSheffrey shared how technology facilitates researching Margaret’s story through digital photography and online archival research, but the humanities teach the critical thinking skills necessary to understand that there were social structures in place in medieval London that limited the ability for Margaret to exercise her right to consent for marriage.

“The humanities help us understand both what we know and what we don’t know. When you’re talking about history and the motivations of historical actors, you can’t understand that digitally. It’s only something we can approach understanding through using our critical faculties,” said McSheffrey.

Visiting Baltimore for the first time, McSheffrey explained that it was a rich experience for her to share her work with medieval and early modern studies students and faculty as well as students from other disciplines across campus. Following her talk, students and faculty engaged Prof. McSheffrey in a Q&A session to further understand the digital universe’s role in historical research.

Read more about the medieval and early modern studies program and upcoming events. Review some of McSheffrey’s work and a database she manages relating to the late medieval London Consistory court.