Charles Adams Kelly
Kelly studied engineering at the University of Michigan and received a scholarship to pursue his MBA at Michigan State. He was admitted to the PhD Program but elected to pursue a career in industry. Career highlights included early use of time-sharing computers, travel to Europe and Japan, and an executive program at Harvard.
Upon retirement, he founded Howland Research in 1995. Data and image processing tools had arrived on desktops, and his work involving relational-graphic produced four process patents for his corporate clients. His fascination with the century-old dispute over the variant texts of Shakespear’s Hamlet dated from 1979, and in the early 2000s he had the capability and the time to develop the research tools he had envisioned for study of the issues surrounding the variant texts.
Kelly’s research on the controversial 1603 text of Hamlet contributed to the resolution of a century-old dispute, and his work was cited in the 2016 Arden revised edition of Hamlet. His subsequent essays on the subject appeared in scholarly journals in 2019 and 2022. He is presently a Visiting Scholar at the University of Michigan and is working on an expanded edition of his Q1 HAMLET- The Evidence Matrix, which has been cited as “compendious and important.” He typically has one or two research assistants engaged with his current projects and has sponsored an endowed scholarship.
As a book collector, he is a member of the Grolier Club of New York, and the Caxton Club of Chicago. He is a past President of the Prismatic Club of Detroit, the Detroit area’s literary club. Before moving to Ann Arbor and founding Howland Research he raced sailboats in the Etchells Class, a favorite of America’s Cup sailors, and he enjoys thinking with antique and sports cars as he has done since his youth.
Contact: ckelly@howlandresearch.com or cakelly@umich.edu
Allison Sugiyama
In late 2018 Allison joined Howland Research as personal assistant to Howland’s founder. As a valued “jack of all trades,” the range of her responsibilities has included software trouble shooting, financial auditing, cataloging rare book collections, woodworking, landscaping, and the maintenance and light repair on two collector cars.
In 2021, her role grew to include work as a research assistant and co-author of an essay on the controversies surrounding the Battle of Hastings in 1066. The essay was presented in July 2024 in a talk at University Commons in Ann Arbor, which included insights into the nature of the battle itself, the character of the protagonists, the consolidation of William the Conqueror’s victory, and the conflict concerning the actual site of the battle. The next iteration of this work is planned for publication.
Allison has several responsibilities with the award-winning Triple Anvil Press, an activity of Howland Research. Among them are the curation of a collection of exotic papers, management of a varied paper inventory, coordination of custom binding, and serving as the press’s in-house binder for Japanese and other specialty binding.
Additionally, Allison uses her book cataloguing experience to manage Howland Fine & Rare Books, another activity of Howland Research. See About Howland Research.