Mary Erica Zimmer studied Literature and Classical Studies through the University Professors Program at Boston University, with graduate work in English Education, Mediaeval English, and Humanities at BU, the University of St. Andrews, and the University of Chicago, respectively, before her Ph.D. in Editorial Studies from The Editorial Institute at Boston University. She came to MIT in 2017 after teaching at both BU and Louisiana State University (whose secondary English Education program she helped redesign); she has also worked in conjunction with MIT’s Mellon-funded Programs in Digital Humanities. Her research interests are literary, historical, and editorial, with emphases in poetics, material culture, and varied forms of adaptation. To this end, she is pleased to have been part of the team responsible for MIT’s Global Shakespeares: The Merchant Module, which is accessible through the global edX platform. Her current projects include a digitized model of the bookshops and stalls surrounding London’s St. Paul’s Cathedral before the 1666 Great Fire (for which she has recently been awarded a Summer Residency in Manuscript and Print Studies at the Institute of English Studies, University of London) and—with her Concourse students—a digital edition of Isaac Newton’s 1690s translation of The Book of Nicholas Flamel, which is held by MIT’s Distinctive Collections. She is happiest finding analogies, amassing pictures of things she loves best, and exploring new possibilities for programming in the humanities.
