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Mellon Democracy and Landscape Initiative

Dumbarton Oaks, a research institute of Harvard University, has been awarded a “Humanities in Place” grant renewal by the Mellon Foundation. The grant will support research and scholarly programming on Democracy and Landscape with particular attention to questions of race, identity, and difference. To this end, the Foundation has awarded Dumbarton Oaks $2 million over five years.

Over the past three years, the second installment of the Mellon Initiative in Urban Landscape Studies at Dumbarton Oaks turned attention to the interrogation of Democracy and the Urban Landscape through questions of race, identity, and difference. By cultivating partnerships, supporting scholarly activity, and connecting with youth in the community, the initiative contributed to the inclusive dialogues required to nurture a dynamic democracy and address legacies of neglect and marginalization. The first phase produced publications on such topics as the resilience of river cities and the physical, social, and political relations between the production of food and urban settlements.

In this third phase, the Initiative focuses on “Democracy and Landscapes: Race, Identity, and Difference” as a part of the Mellon’s “Humanities in Place” program. Grants in this area “support a fuller, more complex telling of American histories and lived experiences by deepening the range of how and where our stories are told and by bringing a wider variety of voices into the public dialogue.”Mellon Foundation website At Dumbarton Oaks, we are building scholarship in landscape, environmental, and place histories that recenter cultural points of view historically un-heard, shared, and/or honored. This work broadens the contributions of Dumbarton Oaks to scholarship that promotes and strengthens the essential role of humanities and history in the landscape and in place.

Learn more about the Mellon Democracy and Landscape Initiative at Dumbarton Oaks in short videos featuring members of the advisory board.

Image courtesy the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, fsa 8d28925.

Advisory Board

NDB Connolly, Johns Hopkins University; Justin Garrett Moore, Columbia University; Dell Upton, UCLA: Michele Wilkinson, NMAAHC; Thaisa Way, Dumbarton Oaks; and Willow Lung Aman, University of Maryland; missing from the photo are Eric Avila, UCLA; and Alice Nash, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
NDB Connolly, Johns Hopkins University; Justin Garrett Moore, Columbia University; Dell Upton, UCLA: Michele Wilkinson, NMAAHC; Thaisa Way, Dumbarton Oaks; and Willow Lung Aman, University of Maryland; missing from the photo are Eric Avila, UCLA; and Alice Nash, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Meet the Advisory Board

Read the 2021-2022 Annual Report

Read the 2020-2021 Annual Report

Press

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Awards and Opportunities

Mellon Fellowships in Democracy and Landscape Studies

Available to cross-disciplinary scholars, with preference for candidates with terminal degrees (PhD or MLA). Awards are for a semester or academic year. Apply by November 1.

Mellon Summer Fellowships in Democracy and Landscape Studies

Each summer we host fellows whose research gathers around a specific topic. In 2023 the theme is “Black Atlantic Geographies” Apply by November 1.

Conference Travel Awards for Students

Mellon Conference Awards are travel grants for students wishing to attend Dumbarton Oaks’ annual colloquia or symposia in Garden and Landscape Studies.


People and Scholarship


Interviews with Past Mellon Fellows

View AllInterviews with Past Mellon Fellows
Jul 27, 2022

A People’s History of Cantera

Sarah Lopez traces the movement of people and cantera stone across the US-Mexico border
Jun 28, 2022

The First Black Landscape Architects

Glenn LaRue Smith researches the history and contributions of Black landscape architects in post-Reconstruction America
Mar 29, 2022

Preserving Black History

Amber N. Wiley tells the story and legacy of Black historic preservation during the Bicentennial


Public Outreach