February 2013 News and Events

Managing Archaeological Data Session from APA/AIA

Noah Mlotek — 2013-02-04T21:29:16Z

In early January, a few members of the Dumbarton Oaks community travelled to Seattle in order to participate in the joint annual meetings of the American Philological Association (APA) and Archaeological Institute of America (AIA), which were held January 3–6, 2013.

During the AIA meeting, Deborah Brown, Librarian for Byzantine Studies at Dumbarton Oaks, led a special colloquium, “Managing Archaeological Data in the Digital Age: Best Practices and Realities,” which she organized with the assistance of Lucie Stylianopoulos (UVA). Co-sponsored by the Medieval and Post-Medieval Archaeology Group (AIA) and the Forum for Classics, Libraries, and Scholarly Communications (APA), several of the papers featured archaeological projects that included important Byzantine or later material, but the colloquium also brought together archaeologists, librarians, and archivists for a discussion of common problems and possible solutions for the critical issue of long-term data management. Screencasts of the individual papers are available to the public on YouTube.

Late antique, Byzantine, and medieval studies were well-represented during the joint meetings. In addition to reports from active fieldwork projects in Greece, Turkey, Cyprus, Egypt, and other Mediterranean countries, presenters also discussed late antique and Byzantine material culture in AIA sessions such as “Mapping and Mathematics for Sites and Shipwrecks” and “The Afterlives of Monuments: Reuse and Transformation in the Ancient World.”

2013 Dumbarton Oaks Spring-Term Fellows

Noah Mlotek — 2013-02-04T21:29:16Z

Dumbarton Oaks is pleased to begin the 2013 Spring Term by welcoming six new fellows to the academic community.

Ricardo Agurcia, Asociación Copán
Pre-Columbian Studies
“Art, Architecture, and Archaeology at Temple 16, Copán, Honduras”

Julian Baker, Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Byzantine Studies
“Money in Constantinople, the Sea of Marmara, and the Northeast Aegean during the Fourteenth Century”

Finola O’Kane Crimmins, University College Dublin
Garden and Landscape Studies
“Revolutionary Landscapes: Ireland, France, and America from 1700–1810”

Jeff Kowalski, Northern Illinois University
Pre-Columbian Studies
“The Nunnery Quadrangle at Uxmal: Kingship, Court, and Cosmos in a Puuc Palace Complex”

Ralph-Johannes Lilie, Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften
Byzantine Studies
“Byzantine Historiography: Caught Between Literary Ambition and the Demands of Scholarship?”

Nicholas Marinides, Princeton University
Byzantine Studies
“Byzantine Lay Piety, ca. 600–850”

Friends of Music: Quicksilver

Noah Mlotek — 2013-02-04T21:29:17Z

The first Friends of Music's concerts of 2013, on January 13th and 14th, also marked the Washington, DC debut of Quicksilver. A recently formed ensemble that brings together some of America's most prominent Baroque instrumentalists, Quicksilver is led by violinists Robert Mealy and Julie Andrijeski. They were joined by David Morris, viola da gamba; Dominic Teresi, dulcian; Charles Weaver, theorbo; and Avi Stein, harpsichord. The program of rarities, entitled “Fantasticus: An exploration of the extravagant and virtuosic chamber music of the German seventeenth century,” explored rarely heard music by Matthias Weckmann, Johann Schmelzer, Massimiliano Neri, Dieterich Buxtehude, Johannes Vierdanck, Johann Kaspar Kerll, and Antonio Bertali—all played with breathtaking vitality.

From the Archives: Sirarpie Der Nersessian

Noah Mlotek — 2013-02-04T21:29:17Z

The Armenian art historian Sirarpie Der Nersessian (1896–1989), a specialist in Armenian and Byzantine manuscripts, held appointments at Dumbarton Oaks at a time when the young institute was striving to become a research center of national importance. Serving first as a Resident Scholar in 1944 and then as Senior Scholar in 1945, she became Professor of Byzantine Art and Archaeology in 1946. She held this position until 1953 when she became the Henri Foçillon Professor of Byzantine Art and Archaeology at Harvard University. She retired to Paris in 1963. At Dumbarton Oaks, Der Nersessian was instrumental in mentoring scholars, organizing and overseeing symposia, and publishing books and articles on medieval manuscripts. Dumbarton Oaks has two collections of papers related to Sirarpie Der Nersessian, one in the Image Collections and Fieldwork Archives (ICFA) and the other in the Dumbarton Oaks Archives (DOA). Unlike the administrative papers held by DOA, ICFA’s holdings comprise personnel records, annual reports of Der Nersessian’s research and publications, and a sizeable number of handwritten letters detailing her project goals, research findings, and travel details to such far-flung locales as Moscow and Aleppo. Collectively, these papers give researchers a clear picture of the resident scholarly community in the early days of Dumbarton Oaks as well as the personality of one of the world’s most accomplished early female Byzantinists. Because of the importance of these holdings, metadata and cataloguing specialist Anne-Marie Viola (ICFA) and archivist James Carder (DOA) have begun to explore the possibilities of “virtually reuniting” the Der Nersessian and other similarly shared materials by using the collections management software AtoM. Once implemented, this software will allow researchers to locate subject holdings across the Dumbarton Oaks departments and, in the case of Sirarpie Der Nersessian, gain a more comprehensive picture of the scholar and her work during her time at Dumbarton Oaks. Look for more details about the development of this online inventory in the year ahead.

Staff Accolade

Noah Mlotek — 2013-02-04T21:29:17Z

Yota Batsaki, Executive Director of Dumbarton Oaks, co-edited (with Sahar Bazzaz and Dimiter Angelov) a volume of essays on Imperial Geographies in Byzantine and Ottoman Space, just published from the Center of Hellenic Studies/Harvard University Press. While drawing on recent methodological and theoretical directions in the study of empire, the volume shifts our attention from the Atlantic to the eastern Mediterranean, a space shaped by two empires of remarkable duration and territorial extent, the Byzantine and the Ottoman. Through texts as diverse as court records and chancery manuals, imperial treatises and fictional works, travel literature and theatrical adaptations, the essays span the medieval to the modern periods and explore ways in which the production of geographical knowledge supported imperial authority or revealed its precarious mastery of geography.

Dumbarton Oaks 2011–2012 Annual Report

Noah Mlotek — 2013-02-04T21:29:17Z

The 2011–2012 Annual Report is now available online.

Each year, Dumbarton Oaks publishes a report of the previous academic year’s initiatives and achievements. The report recaps the previous year’s public lectures, museum exhibitions, garden installations, previous fellow’s projects and much more. Visit the online edition to learn about the exciting ways in which Dumbarton Oaks has grown and changed in the previous year!

Good Ink

Noah Mlotek — 2013-02-04T21:29:18Z

The Washington point reviewed the recent Friends of Music performance by Quicksilver.

50 Years of Pre-Columbian Art at Dumbarton Oaks

Noah Mlotek — 2013-02-04T21:29:15Z

In 2013, Dumbarton Oaks celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of the Robert Woods Bliss Collection of Pre-Columbian Art with a year-long program of exhibitions and events. For more information, visit the Museum website, and download the anniversary booklet with dates and information about all the events.

: The Pre-Columbian Collection Pavilion at Dumbarton Oaks.

Dumbarton Oaks Awarded Inaugural National Digital Stewardship Residency

Noah Mlotek — 2013-02-01T05:00:00Z

Dumbarton Oaks was recently named a host institution for the National Digital Stewardship Residency (NDSR), a groundbreaking program created by the Library of Congress in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). The program enables ten recent graduates of master's programs in relevant fields to complete a nine-month residency at institutions in the Washington, D.C. area, with the aim of advancing their digital stewardship knowledge and skills in real-world settings. Starting in September 2013, the NDSR resident will be embedded in the Dumbarton Oaks Image Collections and Fieldwork Archives (ICFA). In collaboration with project supervisors Shalimar Fojas White, ICFA Manager, and Anne-Marie Viola, Metadata and Cataloging Specialist, the resident will identify an institutional solution for long-term digital asset management at Dumbarton Oaks.

In addition to Dumbarton Oaks, the inaugural NDSR host institutions include: the Association of Research Librarians, the Folger Shakespeare Library, the Library of Congress, the Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities, the National Library of Medicine, the National Security Archive, the Public Broadcasting Service, the Smithsonian Institution Archives, and the World Bank.

For more information, visit ICFA's Internship Opportunities page. Project proposals will be posted to the NSDR website by February 2013, followed by a two-month application period for prospective candidates.

Upcoming Scholarly Event: “Working with Farrand/Farrand at Work”

Noah Mlotek — 2013-02-04T21:29:14Z

Dumbarton Oaks announces a one-day colloquium on Beatrix Farrand, the renowned landscape architect and designer of the Dumbarton Oaks Gardens. Titled “Working with Farrand/Farrand at Work,” the colloquium will take place on Friday, March 8, 2013. It will foreground Farrand’s thought and practice, and explore the efforts of current designers to work with surviving Farrand landscapes, adapting them to current conditions and purposes. Among the speakers will be Michael Van Valkenburgh on his firm’s work at the Princeton campus; Thaisa Way on Farrand’s relation to emerging ecological practices in the early twentieth century; Betsy Anderson on the entrance drive at the Mount and its anticipation of ideas about sustainable design and storm water management; Dennis Bracale on the relationship between Farrand and the Rockefellers at the Abby Rockefeller Garden; Mary Carroll on Farrand’s work with Lockwood de Forest at the Santa Barbara Botanical Gardens; Robin Veder on walking in the Dumbarton Oaks gardens; Patrick Chassé on lost Farrand landscapes; and Judith Tankard on Farrand’s later years and the move from Reef Point to Garland Farms.

The aim of the Colloquium is to introduce new and unpublished research, much of it by practitioners who are attentive to history and engaged in research. It is also meant to foster discussion of current stewardship of significant Farrand landscapes, including Dumbarton Oaks. The day will begin at 9:00am and run until 5:30pm, with a break for lunch from 12:30 to 2:00pm.

Reservations are required and are first come, first served. Please RSVP by March 1 to Landscape@doaks.org or 202-339-6460.

New Exhibition: Architectural Contrasts

Noah Mlotek — 2013-02-04T21:29:15Z

2013 marks the fiftieth anniversaries of the Rare Book Reading Room and the Pre-Columbian Collection pavilion at Dumbarton Oaks. Designed by Frederic Rhinelander King and Philip Johnson respectively, these two buildings were constructed simultaneously between 1961 and 1963 but in two dramatically contrasting styles, one traditional and the other modern. A new exhibition in the Orientation and Bliss Galleries will display original drawings, construction photographs, and a model to demonstrate the remarkable architectural contrasts of these additions as envisioned by Dumbarton Oaks under the patronage of Mildred and Robert Woods Bliss.

: Wyeth and King, Proposed Library Addition, East Elevation, ca. 1960.

Digital Humanities Group

Noah Mlotek — 2013-02-04T21:29:17Z

On January 14 and 15, Dumbarton Oaks hosted Kyle K. Courtney, Manager for Faculty Research and Scholarly Support Services at the Harvard Law School. A founder of Harvard’s Copyright Working Group, Mr. Courtney has given numerous workshops for librarians and archivists at Harvard. During his visit to Dumbarton Oaks, he gave a compelling presentation spanning the history of copyright law and the practical applications of current legal code. He also met with representatives from multiple departments, and answered some of our thorny questions about orphan works, electronic content, facsimiles, and best practices for fair use. This visit was a terrific opportunity to work through difficult questions and to create new contacts with our colleagues in Cambridge, MA.