Barbara Shailor

Barbara Shailor is a Senior Research Scholar in the Department of Classics at Yale University. She retired from teaching in Spring 2020. Prior to her current role, she served as Director of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library (2001–2012) and Deputy Provost for the Arts (2003–2012). Before joining Yale, she held positions at Rutgers University and Bucknell University, including Dean of Douglass College and Professor of Classics.

Her research focuses on Latin paleography and codicology, particularly Visigothic manuscripts from northern Spain during the 10th and 11th centuries. She is the author of the award-winning book The Medieval Book (University of Toronto Press, 6th printing) and co-authored the Catalogue of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library (3 vols.).

Ms. Shailor has received grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Council of Learned Societies, and the National Science Foundation, among others. She currently holds a Mellon Foundation grant for digitally enabled scholarship on medieval manuscripts at Yale.

• Elected Fellow of the Medieval Academy (2006)
• Elected to the Comité Internationale de paléographie latine (2000)
• Award-winning publication: The Medieval Book

She has advised on numerous educational initiatives and serves as Trustee of the Samuel H. Kress Foundation and Councilor of the Grolier Club. Her work bridges academic research with institutional leadership in the arts and humanities.