Conquest as Revival
Victor Castillo finds evidence that sixteenth-century Maya nobles revived ancient religious architecture while claiming Christian identities
Monuments, Hieroglyphs, and Native Fauna
Stephanie Strauss conducts the first art historical assessment of Epi-Olmec elite visual culture
Wearing Wonder
Stephanie Caruso reveals how a group of gold pendants created a sense of wonder in late antique viewers
Volcanic Stone, Renaissance Fun Houses
Katherine Coty reimagines Italian villa gardens as experiments with the local landscape
Reflections from an Early-Career Musician in Residence
Viet Cuong makes relatable the seemingly magical process of composing music
Globalization in Guinea Pig Bones
Sarah Kennedy establishes why food is key to understanding power, identity, and status in colonial Peru
Revolutionary Churches Hewn from Rock
Mikael Muehlbauer identifies medieval churches in Ethiopia that evoke a lost Byzantium
Back in Print: Eriugena’s “Periphyseon”
The only complete English translation of Eriugena’s magnum opus
Behind the Scenes: Horseman, Poet, Soldier, Prince
Four recently acquired lead seals illuminate Byzantine lives and fill collection gaps
Ancient Pandemics Meet Climate Change
Michael McCormick combines science, archaeology, and history to solve puzzles from the past
Early Modern Armageddon
W. Sasson Chahanovich explains how the conquest of Constantinople kickstarted Ottoman enthusiasm for the end-times
The Rock Star of Encores
Robyn Bollinger revives the macabre Paganini, “The Hot Canary,” and other touchstones of an indulgent musical tradition
Finding Ancient Kings of Copan
Loa Traxler synthesizes what the physical remains of a dynastic founder reveal about the Classic Maya world and interactions with Teotihuacan
Forced Labor in the Americas
James Almeida studies enslavement, racial ideology, and labor history in the Andes and at Dumbarton Oaks
Rediscovering Bawit
Héléna Rochard reassesses one of the largest corpora of monastic wall paintings in Early Byzantium
Behind the Scenes: Giving Out-of-Print Treasures a New Life
Six new releases in a project to make classic books more accessible
Summer at Dumbarton Oaks Goes Digital
Robust virtual scholarly programming and internships developed for the summer months
Repurposing Ancient Knowledge
Dimiter Angelov studies geography in twelfth-century Constantinople and translates texts on philosophy, friendship, and Hellenic identity
Placemaking with Plants
Lindi Masur puts seeds under the microscope to find new evidence for indigenous food production and landscape management
Homer, Euripides, and Mount Athos
Costas Constantinides catalogues a rare manuscript collection ranging from medieval textbooks to works by classical poets and orators
Bringing Heaven Into the Church
Warren Woodfin presents six centuries of cross-referencing Orthodox ritual and heavenly iconography
Trees That Heal and Fly
Thomas Arentzen searches for Byzantine trees that interacted with humans and the divine
Biography of a Cultural Route
Eurydice Georganteli reveals the crucial importance of the Via Egnatia to European and world heritage
Behind the Scenes: Finding Food in Rare Books
Folger Before “Farm to Table” team visits the Plant Humanities Initiative
Of Landscape and Lawsuits
Philip Gant studies legal implications of the Buddhist temple as critical infrastructure
Picturesque Public Parks in Paris
Ann Komara digs deep into a celebrated nineteenth-century park transformed from a quarry site
Angels, Demons, and Narrative Conflict
Brad Boswell on how a fifth-century treatise out-narrates a rival
Hunting for Butterflies
Lewis Hyde talks butterflies, Buddhism, and the problem of the unforgettable
Digging into the Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library: Spotlight on “Allegories of the Odyssey”
Zeus is destiny (and other keys to understanding Homer)
Surveying the Borderland
Patrick Mullins sees diversity, conflict, politics, and coca in an ancient frontier landscape
Tracking Ancient Immigration through Teeth
Gina Buckley looks for skeletal traces of elite and working-class immigration at Teotihuacan
Behind the Scenes: Time-Traveling to Seventeenth-Century Holland
Dutch Golden Age masterpiece loaned to Dumbarton Oaks
Peripheral Lands, Contested Histories
Zeynep Kezer studies Elazığ, Tunceli, and the making of modern Turkey from the margins
Eastern Knowledge, Latin Letters
John Mulhall finds medieval translators who sought to remedy Latin deficiency with Greek and Arabic texts
From Paradise to Pompeii
Annette Giesecke finds Near Eastern inspiration for luxurious ancient Roman gardens
Digging into the Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library: Spotlight on Ælfric’s “Old English Lives of Saints”
From cross-dressing monks to the walking dead, everything old is new again
Encore from an Early-Career Musician in Residence
Robyn Bollinger reflects on researching the history of musical dessert
The Park as Evolutionary Art
Heidi Hohmann charts 150 years of parkways, playground instructors, and change in Minneapolis
The Bishop versus the Emperor
Matthew Crawford works on the first English translation of a surprising treatise from late antique Alexandria
The Pope’s Ghostwriter
Evangelos Chrysos describes how a ninth-century papal advisor used the world’s largest forgery to fuel a culture clash
Reflecting on Landscapes of Enslavement
Mellon award recipients discuss the 2019 Garden and Landscape Studies colloquium
Building on the Body
Saburo Sugiyama explains ritual construction, human sacrifices, and a missing zoo at Teotihuacan
Behind the Scenes: Beaming a Book to the Internet
Librarians preserve 500 years of history with keen eyes and sharp knives
Reconstructing What Is Lost
Arianna Gullo uses sixth-century epigrams to better understand Byzantine art history
Lost Murals at Chichen Itza
María Teresa Uriarte highlights remarkable women in the history of Pre-Columbian archaeology
When Pre-Raphaelite Meets Water Crowfoot
Sarah Mead Leonard searches for the plants and landscapes that shaped William Morris
Dancing Sickness and Burial Removal
Scotti Norman conducts the first archaeological investigation into the 1560s Taki Onqoy movement
Big Data Tells Intimate Stories
A Byzantine art historian, a palace servant, and new acquisitions to a celebrated seal collection
Suffering in the Garden
Joachim Wolschke-Bulmahn introduces Gethsemane, extinct fruit trees, and more
The Missing People of Crete
Vera Klontza-Jaklova develops a method to find remnants of the island’s Arabic period
Holy Boldness
Erin Galgay Walsh investigates the surprising role of the female body in early Christian poetry
Walking the Space of Time
Trent Barnes examines the influence of Teotihuacan across centuries and over thousands of kilometers
The Mystery of the Pink Pineapple
How a team of scholars uncovered the lost history of a rare Southeast Asian book
Slavery and Central Park
Sara Zewde assesses the legacy of a founding figure in landscape architecture
Dreaming in a Tree
Yingzhi Zhao uncovers political resistance in Chinese poems and garden dreamscapes
Call for Papers: 55th International Congress on Medieval Studies
Dumbarton Oaks is sponsoring 5 sessions in 2020
Reflecting on Landscape, Sport, Environment: The Spaces of Sport from the Early Modern Period to Today
Bliss and Mellon award recipients discuss the 2019 Garden and Landscape Studies symposium
Digging into the Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library: Spotlight on “Architrenius”
An epic journey past virtue and vice
Caravans, Papyrus, and Cotton
Anna Kelley upends the idea that the Roman world was the center of trade in late antiquity
Oilcan City in Casablanca
Sheila Crane challenges the “Slumdog Millionaire” narrative in colonial Moroccan history
Landscape Choreography
Bradley Cantrell says computation and culture (not control) will protect ecosystems
Hiding in Plain Sight
Christos Simelidis rediscovers a text on the Virgin Mary that is a missing link in Byzantine religious history
Making Empire Local
Carla Hernández Garavito shows how an Andean community used ritual to create a local history of their conquest by the Inca
2019 Summer Scholars
Dumbarton Oaks welcomes an international cohort of summer fellows, interns, and summer school participants across a variety of fields and disciplines in the humanities
Cultivating Perfume
Christine Griffiths tells a story about plants, artisanal knowledge, and experimentation in early modern England
The Ancient World’s TV
Reyhan Durmaz argues that storytelling facilitated Christian-Muslim dialogue in the Middle Ages
Digging into the Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library: Spotlight on “Saints of Ninth- and Tenth-Century Greece”
Saints, pirates, and armed invaders in the Byzantine provinces
Written in the Stars
Alberto Bardi examines astronomical manuscripts and cross-cultural exchanges in Byzantium
Dumbarton Oaks Announces 2019 Summer Interns
Eight Harvard students will undertake an array of projects
Romancing the Virgin
Annemarie Weyl Carr tracks Mary’s journey from Byzantine hymns to romantic knights
Digging into the Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library: Spotlight on “Tria sunt”
Composition 101 for the medieval university
Meet Robyn Bollinger, the Next Early-Career Musician in Residence
Rising star violinist breaks down barriers to classical music
Digging into the Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library: Spotlight on “Two Works on Trebizond”
What makes a medieval city great?
Swamps, Skulls, and Aztec-Mexica Identity
Ángel González López reconstructs an empire from fragments of stone sculpture
Revival and Restoration in Stained Glass
Artist Jeffrey Miller discusses the state of contemporary stained glass production in France
Modern Encounters with Medieval France
Hannah Weaver reflects on two Juggling the Middle Ages events
Moody Ancients, Renaissance Heroes
Glenn Most discusses Greek philosophers, Dutch art, and ancient trash culture
Reflecting on Botanical Gardens and the Urban Future
Bliss and Mellon conference award recipients discuss the 2018 Garden and Landscape Studies colloquium
Hagia Sophia’s Hidden History
Dumbarton Oaks is digitizing original records of Hagia Sophia’s restoration
Juggling the Middle Ages Opening Lecture
Jan Ziolkowski traces the path of Le jongleur de Notre Dame, or Our Lady’s Tumbler, from the story’s first appearance in a 13th-century manuscript to today.
Dumbarton Oaks and JSTOR Launch Plant Humanities Initiative
Andrew W. Mellon Foundation provides support for digital tool and research and scholarly programming
Putting Theory into Practice
Anastasia Day recounts her experience with the GLS summer graduate workshop
A Displaced Unity
Michael Lee studies the administration of landscape architecture in 19th-century Germany
2017–2018 Bliss and Mellon Awards
Recipients of the Bliss and Mellon symposium awards react to the 2018 Garden and Landscape Studies Symposium
The Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library at Kalamazoo
Panel sponsored by Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library and Platinum Latin on Medieval Latin Lives of Muhammad
Coins and Seals at Kalamazoo
Seven speakers explore Byzantine social, administrative, and economic history at the International Congress on Medieval Studies
The Unrealizable World
Kelly Presutti studies landscape and representation in nineteenth-century France
The Garden at Balentine’s
Nicholas Serrano studies postwar landscape architecture in the American South
2018–2019 Fellows and Project Grant Recipients
Dumbarton Oaks announces support for 53 scholars in the upcoming academic year
Dumbarton Oaks Announces 2018 Summer Interns
Ten Harvard students will undertake an array of projects
Life in Classic Maya Royal Courts
Maxime Lamoureux-St-Hilaire studies classic Maya royal spaces in La Corona, Guatemala
Repurposing the Apocalypse
Christopher Bonura studies the political history of apocalyptic literature
Bliss and Mellon Awards
Recipients of the Bliss symposium award and the Mellon colloquium awards react to recent Garden and Landscape Studies events
Reissue of Byzantium and the Arabs
Irfan Shahîd’s history of the Arab’s interactions with Rome and Byzantium before the rise of Islam is available for download
Dumbarton Oaks at Kalamazoo
Paper proposals for four sponsored sessions at the 53rd International Congress on Medieval Studies due September 15
Grammars of the Former World
Rare Book Collection acquires Andreas Sennert’s seventeenth-century lexicographical studies
On Mysticism and Materiality
Visiting Scholar Racha Kirakosian examines the fabric of medieval mysticism
What We Learned in the Gardens
Nathalie Miraval reflects on programming for second-graders and cultivating a sense of wonder
2017–2018 Fellows and Project Grants
Dumbarton Oaks is pleased to announce the fellows and project grants for the upcoming academic year
Renovation of the Garden
Dumbarton Oaks Garden closed to the public from July 10, 2017, to March 15, 2018
“Thirty-Six Views” Receives the John Brinckerhoff Jackson Book Prize
Authors Strassberg and Whiteman Recognized for Contribution to Garden History and Landscape Studies
Of Plants and Power
New from Dumbarton Oaks Publications: The Botany of Empire in the Long Eighteenth Century
Learning among the Plants
Second-Grade Classes from the Hyde-Addison School Visit the Dumbarton Oaks Gardens
In Memoriam Irfan Shahîd
Director Jan Ziolkowski Remembers Shahîd’s Scholarship and Long Association with Dumbarton Oaks
Garden Theory and the French Picturesque
Bliss Symposium Award Recipients Cabelle Ahn and Carlo Urmy Reflect on the Garden and Landscape Studies Colloquium on Hubert Robert
Theories of Ritual
Pre-Columbian Studies Junior Fellow Jessica MacLellan on Maya Stone Platforms and the Organization of Community
Contextualizing Robert
Garden and Landscape Studies 2016 Colloquium on Hubert Robert and French Garden Culture
“The World Upside Down”
Byzantine Studies Fellow Eleni Kefala on Byzantium and America before and after the Age of Reason
Announcing the Dumbarton Oaks Humanities Fellowships
Three Young Humanists from Harvard Arrive for a Year of Practical Learning and Career Preparation
Call for Papers: “The Individual in Material Culture”
A Dumbarton Oaks Panel at the 52nd International Congress on Medieval Studies
Mapping the History of Cultural Philanthropy in Washington, D.C.
News from the Summer Internship Program
Dumbarton Oaks Welcomes Its 2016 Summer Interns
Fifteen Harvard Undergraduates Arrive for an Array of Projects
Digital Humanities at Dumbarton Oaks
Tyler Fellow John Davis Creates Online Map of the D.C. Watershed
Chinese Ambassador Visits Dumbarton Oaks
Thirty Young Diplomats Also Visit Birthplace of the United Nations
A Report on the Proceedings of the 2016 Byzantine Studies Symposium
Konstantina Karterouli on Reconsidering the “Worlds of Byzantium”
Dumbarton Oaks Publication Discussed at German Embassy
Prince Hermann von Pückler-Muskau’s Letters of a Dead Man
New Books in the Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library
Hermit’s Lives, the Latin Timaeus, and Old English Psalms in Spring 2016
Letters from William Cowper and John Ruskin
Highlights from Mildred Bliss’s Autograph Letter Collection
Anthony Kaldellis on “The Byzantine Retirement of the Ancient Gods”
A Lecture in Collaboration with the National Gallery of Art
From Housing to Landscape: The Wohnungsfrage Academy in Berlin
Jeanne Haffner, Mellon Post-Doctoral Fellow in Urban Landscape Studies at Dumbarton Oaks
“The More I Learned, the More Interested I Got”
A Conversation with Chinese Garden History Scholar Alison Hardie
Seventy-Five Years of Arts and Humanities at Dumbarton Oaks
Jan Ziolkowski’s Welcome to a Concert by the Dover Quartet, with the World Premiere of Caroline Shaw’s Plan & Elevation (The Grounds of Dumbarton Oaks)
The Order of the Universe
The Poetic Works of Bernardus Silvestris in the Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library
Upcoming Public Lectures in Byzantine and Garden and Landscape Studies
Claudia Rapp of the University of Vienna | Luke Morgan of Monash University
New Exhibitions
75 Years/75 Objects and Stephens & Catherwood Revisited: Maya Ruins and the Passage of Time
Public Lecture in Garden and Landscape Studies
“Culture, History, and Context: Inspiring Contemporary Landscapes” with Thomas Woltz | April 30, 2015, at 5:30 p.m.
Dante and the Greeks
A new publication from Dumbarton Oaks and an interview with volume editor Jan Ziolkowski
Diana of the Fellowship House
Jan Ziolkowski, Arthur Kingsley Porter Professor of Medieval Latin, Harvard University, and Director of Dumbarton Oaks
Dumbarton Oaks Hosts Inaugural Wintersession Course for Harvard Students
“Culture and Power: Art, Philanthropy, and Diplomacy in the Twentieth Century” | January 11–18, 2015
Pre-Columbian Public Lecture on December 4: Francisco Valdez
The Mayo Chinchipe-Marañón Culture: Pandora's Box in the Upper Amazon
Public Lecture in Byzantine Studies
“Ancients and Moderns: Reconsidering Style in the Visual Arts of Late Antiquity,” Sarah E. Bassett, University of Indiana, Bloomington | September 25, 2014, 6:15 p.m.
One-Month Research Stipends in Pre-Columbian Studies
Charles D. Cheek, Thomas W. Killion, and Matt Johnston
Off the Press
The Life of Saint Basil the Younger, Denis F. Sullivan, Alice-Mary Talbot, and Stamatina McGrath
Now on View
Seldom Seen: A Selection of Prints, Drawings, and Decorative Art | Until August 17, 2014
Dumbarton Oaks/Harvard Exchange
Ekaterina Nechaeva, American Academy in Rome, 2013–14 Dumbarton Fellow in Byzantine Studies
Pre-Columbian Studies Spring Workshop
Pre-Wari, Wari, and Inka Khipus: An Investigation of General Andean Cord Recording Principles & Technologies | April 11 and 12, 2014
Mellon Foundation Award in Urban Landscape Studies
Announcing the new Mellon Initiative in Urban Landscape Studies
Byzantine Studies Symposium on Sense Perceptions
“Knowing Bodies, Passionate Souls: Sense Perceptions in Byzantium,” April 25–27, 2014, Susan Ashbrook Harvey (Brown University) and Margaret Mullett (Dumbarton Oaks), Symposiarchs.
Upcoming Public Lecture in Garden and Landscape Studies
Eugene Y. Wang, Harvard University, “How to Read the Chinese Garden? Qianlong Emperor’s Retreat in the Forbidden City” | Thursday, March 20, 2014
Upcoming Public Lecture
John Pohl, UCLA, "Bringing the Pre-Columbian World to Life: The Scholar’s Role in Entertainment Media" | Thursday, February 6, 2014
Upcoming Public Lecture in Byzantine Studies
Sharon E. J. Gerstel, University of California, Los Angeles, "Witnessing Byzantium: The Greek Perspective" | Thursday, January 16, 2014
Visiting Scholar Peter Brown
Professor Brown discusses his impressions of Dumbarton Oaks and the transformation of late antique and Byzantine studies over the last four decades.
Upcoming Public Lecture in Pre-Columbian Studies
“To Write or Knot: Recent Advances in the Study of Andean Knotted Cord Records” | Gary Urton, Harvard University | Thursday, December 5, 2013
Pre-Columbian Studies Symposium
Making Value, Making Meaning: Techné in the Pre-Columbian World | October 11–12, 2013
Mildred Barnes ca. 1905 – Photographed at her Home in Sharon, Connecticut
James N. Carder (January 2018)
Inspiring Art: The Dumbarton Oaks Birthing Figure
Upcoming Museum Exhibition, June 27, 2013 through March 2, 2014
“Cultural Landscape Heritage in Sub-Saharan Africa”
2013 Garden and Landscape Studies Symposium, May 10–11
"We shall hurry back so as to be here to watch the garden put on its spring garb"
James N. Carder (April 2013)
"Underworld Courier": The Dumbarton Oaks Newsletter from the Pre-Digital Era
James N. Carder (May 2013)
The Cost of Ambassadorial Entertaining and the Bliss Tableware with the Department of State Great Seal
James N. Carder (November 2013)
Off the Press
Asinou across Time: Studies in the Architecture and Murals of the Panagia Phorbiotissa, Cyprus
Winterreise and the Journey of Wintertime German Lieder at Dumbarton Oaks
James N. Carder (February 2014)
Reuniting a Collection
The Image Collections and Fieldwork Archives (ICFA) Nicholas V. Artamonoff online exhibit
New Exhibition: Architectural Contrasts
Opening in February: The Rare Book Reading Room and the Pre-Columbian Collection Pavilion 50th Anniversary (1963–2013)
Upcoming Scholarly Event: “Working with Farrand/Farrand at Work”
Garden and Landscape Studies Colloquium Friday, March 8, 2013
75 Years Ago this Month: An Administrative Structure for the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection
James N. Carder (October 2015)
Seventy-Five Years Ago this Month: The Inauguration of the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection
James N. Carder (November 2015)
A Ninth-Century Greek-Arabic Palimpsest
An informal talk with Father Justin Sinaites and Professor Jack Tannous
History and Memory in the Manchu Imperial Park of Bishu Shanzhuang
A public lecture by Stephen Whiteman
The Byzantine Emperors on Coins
A new online exhibit highlighting the Dumbarton Oaks coin collection
75 Years Ago this Month: Mildred Bliss and the Maintenance of the Dumbarton Oaks Gardens
James N. Carder (April 2016)
Alexander Alexandrovich Vasiliev and the Bulgarian Badge Set of the Royal Order for Civil Merit
James N. Carder (July 2016)
Bliss Symposium Award Recipients
Five Harvard students received Bliss Awards that allowed them to attend the "Sign and Design" symposium
The Measure and Meaning of Time in the Americas
A summary of the 2012 Pre-Columbian Studies symposium
The Making of an Exhibition
An interview with Dumbarton Oaks museum staff on the making of the All Sides Considered interactive exhibit
God’s Regents on Earth: A Thousand Years of Imperial Seals
A new online exhibition of Byzantine seals from Dumbarton Oaks' collection
Commissioning and Performing Contemporary Compositions
Dumbarton Oaks’ mission to foster original research and publication in humanistic studies has found a parallel expression in the Friends of Music commissions and performances of contemporary music.
More Dumbarton Oaks Titles Available on JSTOR
Studies in Pre-Columbian Art and Archaeology are now available online
Byzantine Greek Summer School Concludes
A summary of the sixth session of the Greek Summer School at Dumbarton Oaks
Music at Dumbarton Oaks: The Performers
Many famous or soon-to-be famous musicians performed at Dumbarton Oaks over the years, and several have reminisced fondly about their concertizing there, in both the residential and institutional periods.
Stravinsky, Copland, Tower, and Shaw
The Blisses ensured that music was given proper space in their homes, a commitment that was enhanced through their sponsorship of musicians and the commissioning of new works. Dumbarton Oaks continues this commitment through a concert series and commissioning new works from early-career musicians.
Introducing the Dumbarton Oaks Tyler Fellows
Kuba Kabala, "Frontier Spaces: Eastern Europe, 800–1000 A.D."
The Musical Art Quartet and the Bliss Stradivarius Viola
Mildred Barnes Bliss was an enthusiastic patron of the Musical Art Quartet. She supported the string quartet from soon after its inception in 1926 until it disbanded in 1944. The quartet performed in the Music Room each year between 1941 and 1944, and it was largely due to the success of these performances that Dumbarton Oaks decided to inaugurate a Friends of Music concert series in 1946.
Now on View: Rome Re-Imagined: Antiquarianism and Colonialism in the Nineteenth Century Maghreb
Rare book exhibition in the Dumbarton Oaks Library
Now on View: From Clearing to Cataloging: The Corpus of Tunisian Mosaics
ICFA exhibition in the Bliss Gallery
Introducing the Dumbarton Oaks Tyler Fellows
Lisa Trever, "Moche Mural Painting and Practice at Pañamarca: A Study of Image Making in Ancient Peru"
Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Archives join Facebook
Launch of the official Dumbarton Oaks Library and Archives Facebook page
