The thing to do with data is to let it out for everyone to have it.
–William G. Noel (1965 – 2024), from “Revealing the Lost Codex of Archimedes” TEDxSummit, April 2012
The William G. Noel Eureka Fund honors the legacy of one of the world’s great manuscript scholars and powerful advocates of unfettered access to cultural heritage in its handwritten forms. More than anyone else, Will Noel understood the promise of open access for manuscript images and data to spark new and exciting discoveries about our rich and varied cultural heritages and intellectual traditions. His visionary leadership of the Archimedes Palimpsest Project challenged and overcame conventional and restrictive approaches to data management through radical policies of open access and free use of manuscript data, opening up a wide range of possibilities for new discoveries and insights into the past.
In partnership with Digital Scriptorium, the William G. Noel Eureka Fund has been established thanks to the generosity of his many friends and colleagues around the world. Initiated by a generous grant from the Wallace Foundation on behalf of Daniel Weiss, the Eureka Fund will support the needs of Digital Scriptorium’s member institutions to make their manuscript holdings freely available for research and discovery through the funding of projects that lead to innovative digitization and cataloging practices, the creation of new manuscript descriptions, the education and training of a new generation of scholars in the curation of digital manuscript data, and the dissemination of new research. Most importantly, the fund will make possible those “Eureka” moments that Will so loved of discovery by students and scholars at all levels from around the world.
To begin, the Eureka Fund will support the continuation of the Manuscript Data Curation Fellowship. In September 2025, Digital Scriptorium will announce a call for applications for the inaugural round of funding.
Support the Eureka Fund
Tax-deductible donations in Will’s honor can be made directly to the Eureka Fund through PayPal or by check made payable to Digital Scriptorium (please include “William G. Noel Eureka Fund” in the memo field). Checks may be mailed to Lynn Ransom (DS Treasurer; [email protected]) at:
Digital Scriptorium
c/o Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies
University of Pennsylvania Libraries
3420 Walnut St
Philadelphia, PA 19104