From Hans Weigel’s 1577 Habitus praecipuorum populorum,
Courtesy of the Huntington Library.
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Mellon Foundation Supports Early Modern Studies
By Nicole St.Pierre
The trustees of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation have awarded a $629,000
grant to USC College, for a collaboration with the Henry E. Huntington
Library & Art Gallery.
The gift will help boost the USC-Huntington Institute for Early Modern
Studies, bringing together researchers to share discoveries and
scholarship on human societies between 1492 and 1800—a period richly
captured by the Huntington’s huge collection of rare books, manuscripts
and newspapers.The money will be used over the next three years to
support research and graduate training in studies of the early modern
world.
“One of the unique features of the institute is that there are no
comparable institutions on the West Coast,” says Peter Mancall,
director of the Institute and a history professor in the College. “That
gives us something of an advantage in terms of integrating scholarship
on the Pacific Rim with scholarship on the Atlantic world.”Unlike
existing centers that focus on particular regions, the emphasis will be
global, both in scope of research topics and in the recruitment of
fellows, seminars and conference participants.
Seminars cover five specific areas including: early modern British
history, early American history, East Asia, material and visual culture
and a yearly theme-based seminar. This year the Institute will host
five seminars; two focus on literature, the others on colonial America.
Up to nine additional seminars are in the planning for next year,
Mancall says. In addition, the Institute promotes the Huntington’s
programs, including such endeavors as the program on theatre history in
the age of Shakespeare.
“The Huntington’s archives are a natural magnet for researchers,” says
College Dean Joseph Aoun. “Innovative scholarship is inevitable when
museums, nonprofit organizations and libraries join forces with
scholars from research institutions.”
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