Elizabeth Dospel Williams completed a Ph.D. at New York University, focusing on jewelry, dress practices, and attitudes towards adornment in the Byzantine and early Islamic periods. She has worked as curatorial assistant in the Department of Medieval Art and the Cloisters at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and was a fellow in the Department of Islamic Art. She is currently assistant curator in the Museum Department of the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, D.C., where she is responsible for their collection of Byzantine art.