Paul Nelles

Paul Nelles is a Professor in the Department of History at Queen's University. His research focuses on the intellectual culture of the Renaissance, with particular emphasis on libraries and communication networks, especially those of the Jesuits. He holds degrees from the University of British Columbia (B.A.), Johns Hopkins University (M.A.), and Johns Hopkins University (Ph.D.).

Key research areas include history of the book, early modern Catholicism, Jesuit missions, and cultural exchanges. He co-edited Connected Mobilities: the Practice and Experience of Movement in the Early Modern World (2023) and has published widely on topics ranging from global Jesuit communication to the materiality of religious texts. Nelles teaches undergraduate courses on early modern European history and supervises graduate students in cultural, religious, and intellectual history of early modern Europe.

His recent work explores transnational religious networks, global circulation of ideas, and the role of books in shaping early modern intellectual communities. He has contributed to major projects such as the Sixteenth-Century French Religious Book and co-authored studies on Jesuit correspondence systems.

His publications reflect interdisciplinary engagement with material culture, historiography, and the intersection of religion and scholarship. Nelles maintains an active research agenda centered on the mobility of people, texts, and ideas in the early modern period.