On December 1 and 2, 2023, scholars from various disciplines convened at a two-day conference titled “Converting Natural Resources: Representations, Performances, Narratives,” hosted by the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library in Los Angeles. This gathering, building upon discussions initiated at the Renaissance Society of America meetings in Dublin in 2022 and San Juan in 2023…

Dr. Marissa Nicosia recently spoke at the Clark on manuscript recipe books and their connection to Early Modern English literature, as well as how she adapts the recipes for modern kitchens. She walked the audience through some contemporary recipe-book history, telling listeners about the connectedness of food and medicine, the practice of sending recipes in…

On November 15, 2023, I had the pleasure of being in attendance at Arthur L. Little, Jr.’s “Citing Race and Seeing Death in Shakespeare,” the inaugural talk in The Clark Memorial Library’s Spotlight Talk series. Dr. Little’s presentation, which begins with Ben Jonson’s reading of Shakespeare in the First Folio and concludes with a careful…

In what was no doubt a particularly laborious act of diplomacy, representatives from the Netherlands sent three gargantuan lanterns to Japan as diplomatic gifts during the Edo period (1603-1868). Unbeknownst to the Dutch, however, the lanterns’ true provenance was later altered to further enhance the objects as markers of shogunal authority and prestige. One of…

“A library is a focal point, a sacred place to a community; and its sacredness is its accessibility, its publicness,” author Ursula K. Le Guin famously said. “It’s everybody’s place.” To celebrate one such world-class resource, the UCLA William Andrews Clark Memorial Library held its annual open house and adopt-a-book fair Oct. 7, inspiring more…

I write with sad news. Our dear colleague and friend Mary Terrall, Professor of History Emerita, passed away on September 11, 2023. Mary was a brilliant historian of science and a beautifully literary writer, whose work, teeming with the richly observed and vibrant detail with which her subjects imagined the natural world, transformed our understanding…

We are pleased to welcome Juliette Wise, the Center & Clark’s new Financial Analyst, to our team.  As a graduate of the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) with a B.A. in English and a specialization in early modern literature, Juliette’s academic interests are perfectly aligned with the Center and Clark Library’s programs. Juliette began…

Please join us in welcoming Laura Clennon, the Center & Clark’s new Chief Administrative Officer and Assistant Director. Laura has worked at UCLA in various capacities for the past 17 years and is eager to immerse herself in all things Center & Clark.  Laura began her academic career as a Ph.D. candidate in Comparative Literature…

In March, Rebecca Fenning Marschall, Nina Schneider, Anna Chen, and Oakland University (OU) librarians Emily Spunaugle and Molly McGuire organized a two-day joint conference, “Item Not Found: Accounting for Loss in Libraries, Archives, and Other Heritage and Memory Organizations.” The conference was anchored by keynote speakers Tamar Evangelestia-Dougherty, T-Kay Sangwand, and Gabriel Solís, and featured…

On Saturday, July 22, the Clark Library held “Regency Fun and Fanfare: A Workshop on Jane Austen and the Art of the Conversation Fan.” Participants enjoyed discovering the fascinating history and artistry of Regency-era fans in this interactive workshop led by Dr. Leigh-Michil George. Dr. George took inspiration from the charades in Austen’s Emma and…

The leaf of a late eighteenth-century folding fan held at the Clark Library titled General Idea of Sciences lists, as its final item, “Economy: Informs us how to regulate our expences & is always commendable.” “Architecture,” meanwhile, “Is the Art of Building with Taste and Solidity.” Delegating only two branches of the Vitruvian triad to…

May 17, 2024 One-day conference May 18, 2024 Public lecture on science Workshop on flora and fauna on the Clark grounds Organized by: Rebecca Fenning Marschall; rfenning@humnet.ucla.edu Anna Chen; achen@humnet.ucla.edu Summary: The early modern period was a hothouse for the study of physical things in the natural world, and for the collection and assembly of…

It is with a mixture of sadness and gratitude that we extend our best wishes and a fond farewell to Candis Snoddy, who retired in June 2023 after an impressive 35 years of employment at UCLA. For the last 29 years, Candis ably served the Center for 17th- & 18th-Century Studies and Clark Library. All…

On Friday, May 19 and Saturday, May 20, I attended a variety of panels at the “From Bodies to Things” conference organized at the Clark Library by Tawny Paul and Andrew Apter of UCLA. The conference was organized in order to study the commodification of the body in the early modern period, a topic, the…

It was an honor hosting Augustin Hadelich on April 23 as our penultimate concert in the 2022-23 season of Chamber Music at the Clark.  William Andrews Clark Jr. was an accomplished violinist and founder of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and one can be certain that Mr. Clark would’ve been delighted to have one of the…

We are very happy to announce fellowships to support research at the Clark Library during the 2023–24 academic year. The Center offers fellowships each year to graduate and post-doctoral researchers as well as support for senior researchers and independent scholars. Applications for fellowships are taken in the late fall and winter each year. 2023–2024 Fellowships…

Jessica Li is the recipient of the 2023 UCLA Library Prize for Undergraduate Research in the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library. The Library Prize for Undergraduate Research recognizes and honors excellence in undergraduate research at UCLA. Jessica’s study, “How Paul Landacre’s Wood Engravings of the Coachella Valley Region Reflect the Erasure of Indigenous Populations in…

On April 14-15, 2023, the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library hosted the third and final session of the 2022-2023 Center & Clark Core.   This session’s theme was “Imperialism,” and speakers explored histories of ephemeral architecture in the Americas as forms of Indigenous and African Diasporic survival and resistance. Continuing from the Core Program’s previous two…

The Center and Clark thank the following for their generous support during 2022–2023: Major Supporters Dr. Paul Chrzanowski Colburn Foundation Dr. Patricia Bates Simun and Mr. Richard V. Simun Memorial Fund Professor Emeritus Nathaniel Grossman J. Paul Getty Trust Penny and Ed Kanner* Stephen A. Kanter, M.D.* Kenneth Karmiole Virginia F. and Dr. Lawrence Kruger…