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Mapping Cultural Philanthropy

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About

Mapping Cultural Philanthropy: Donors and Cultural Institutions in the Nation’s Capital is an ongoing project of the Dumbarton Oaks Archives. Begun in 2016, the project chronicles the history of the philanthropy that helped create cultural institutions in the Washington, D.C., area. The project also profiles the collectors and patrons who made these institutions possible and investigates how they served as “cultural diplomats” for a better appreciation of their institutions’ objects and purpose.

The research for this project has been undertaken by Dumbarton Oaks summer interns and Humanities Fellows from Harvard University. The outcome of the project is the compilation of a digital map of the cultural institutions, with associated timelines and contextual material. Using the map, one can choose a cultural institution, represented by an orange dot, and explore that institution further by clicking the “Learn More” tab.

Humanities Fellows

Priyanka Menon (2016–2017) and Faye Zhang (2017–2018)

Summer Interns

Melda Gurakar, Melissa Rodman, Joy Wang, and Leah Yared (2016); Noah Houghton and Julia Lu (2017); John Lim and May Wang (2018)

Wintersession Students

Chris Chow, Cengiz Cemaloğlu, Nathalie Gale, Michael Bervell, Diana Gerberich, Mofeyifoluwa Edun, Xinyue Selina Xu, and Julian Rauter (2018)

Felicia Cucuta, Ava Hampton, Francesca Hess, Jamie Ostmann, Vaishnavi Patil, Elijah Schimelpfenig, Nathaniel Steele, Yiting Yang, and Oliver York (2019)