Spectrally Illuminating the Hidden Material History of David Livingstone's 1870 Field Diary

This paper presents the initial results of the second phase of the Livingstone Spectral Imaging Project (2013–16), a digital humanities initiative funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. The results suggest that spectral imaging technology can be applied successfully to illuminate the composition history of David Livingstone's 1870 Field Diary and to enhance and/or reveal material features of the text otherwise invisible to the naked eye. The results represent an important advance in the use of spectral imaging in the study of manuscripts. Preliminary review of the results also indicates that more detailed analysis will reveal new and important information about Livingstone, his manuscript, the African cultures among which he traveled, and the many environments through which his diary traveled and was preserved.