Postdoc helps KU connect public with humanities research
Katherine Knowles | Postdoctoral Researcher | Hall Center for the Humanities
Universities play an important role in helping their local communities explore the arts and humanities. Katherine Knowles is one of many KU researchers who makes that a reality.
Knowles studied English and music at Hanover College before attending the University of Birmingham in Stratford-upon-Avon, the birthplace of William Shakespeare, where she earned her master’s degree.
“When I came back, I wasn't sure quite yet if I wanted to go straight into a Ph.D. program,” Knowles said. “I wanted to make sure I had financial stability before I went back to graduate school. So I accidentally found my way into digital humanities by working at Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville in their IRIS Digital Humanities Center.”
After her time at SIUE, Knowles earned a doctorate in English at Michigan State University. She now serves as a postdoctoral researcher in the Hall Center for the Humanities, primarily in the Institute for Digital Research in the Humanities, which is a partnership between the Hall Center, the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences and KU Libraries. In this role, she continues her research on Shakespeare and executes public programming.
Knowles explores the relationship between Shakespeare’s birthplace and how his life and work are remembered. The renowned playwright grew up and retired to Stratford but spent most of his working years in London. Prior to the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust acquiring the author’s childhood home in 1847, guidebooks to the town don’t emphasize its connection to Shakespeare. Likewise, analysis of his plays often overlooked potential connections to the town. Knowles traces how this has changed across time. She’s writing a book on the topic and developing a digital memory map that shows the textual changes in guidebooks over the years.
“During the COVID years, I couldn’t travel to archives. I couldn't do a lot of the things that I had proposed in my initial research project,” she said. “What's been really great about this postdoc position is that the Hall Center funded me to go back to Stratford this past summer, so I was able to do a little bit more research on site in their archives.”
In addition to her own research, Knowles makes humanities work more accessible to the public through programs like Lawrence Reviewed. Inspired by the 2025-26 KU Common Book — “The Anthropocene Reviewed,” by John Green — Lawrence Reviewed offers community members an opportunity to think more deeply about life in Lawrence. Members of the public are invited to submit thoughtful reviews, which can take the form of short podcasts, videos, multimedia essays or other formats. Some of these will be published by Knowles and her colleague, KU Common Book Librarian Sam Greeson, to promote dialogue and encourage intellectual engagement.
“What's really special about some of these humanities centers is that it's inviting folks in to see things like academic talks but also contribute to projects. I think it opens a pathway for dialogs to happen between the university and the community,” Knowles said.
“The Hall Center, more than anything, demonstrates that there is a need and want for humanities. There is both an academic and a public audience that is really hungry for what the humanities have to offer, and the Hall Center can open those important dialogs.”
