The Clark Library, in collaboration with the American Trust for the British Library (ATBL), will offer the option for applicants for 2025-26 Clark Library Short-Term Research Fellowships also to be considered for ATBL Research Fellowship Program support, designated to fund research at the British Library. The ATBL Research Fellowship is an add-on short-term fellowship that…

A performance by the New York-based Calidore String Quartet kicked off the 30th season of Chamber Music at the Clark. The Nov. 17 recital was dedicated to the memory of Peter Hanns Reill (1938–2019), who founded the concert series and served for nearly two decades as its director. In addition to the Calidore’s performance, the program featured…

On October 18-19, the UCLA William Andrews Clark Memorial Library hosted the first conference in this year’s Core Program on the Early Global Caribbean, bringing together scholars to explore the cultural, political, and economic convergences that defined the early Caribbean world. The conference’s overarching theme, the interactions between Indigenous peoples, Africans, and European colonizers, showcased…

The Caribbean has always been a region of dynamic convergence, where peoples, ideas, and technologies intermingled in complicated ways. In her talk, “Caribbean Kaleidoscope: Convergence and Transformation in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries,” Professor Ida Altman of the University of Florida explored this history on Thursday, October 17 at UCLA’s William Andrews Clark Memorial Library….

Speaking in person to an intimate gathering of scholars, curators, students, and artists, followed by a lively discussion, Johanna Drucker’s spotlight talk on Los Angeles-based wood engraver Paul Landacre (1893-1963) provided important insights into an under-explored area in the Clark Library’s collection. Drucker outlined three main points: Landacre’s constant struggle to earn a living with…

During my month’s residence as a History of Science Fellow at the Clark Library, I was able to conduct archival research to support my doctoral dissertation, “On Vegetables and Vermin: The Politics of Insect-Plant Encounters from the Early Modern to the Anthropocene.” This project foregrounds the ways in which interactions between plants and insects, from…

In 2024-25 the Center for 17th-and-18th-Century Studies and Clark Library celebrate the 30th anniversary of Chamber Music at the Clark, which began in 1994 as a tribute to William Andrews Clark Jr. The Clark Library’s founder, William Andrews Clark, Jr., was also founder of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and personally covered all of the…

On October 10, 2024, the Clark Library continued our Arts on The Grounds programming with a lecture and demonstration of “Kunqu Opera Performance: Techniques and Characteristics,” sponsored by UCLA Asia Pacific Center and Center for Chinese Studies. Elements of the event included a robust book display, as well as costuming representative of some of the…

On Sunday, September 28, over 180 visitors graced the grounds of the UCLA William Andrews Clark Memorial Library for its annual open house and adopt-a-book fair. Our staff invited scholars, local families, curious community members, and regular supporters of the Clark Library to explore our historic rare book and manuscript library, built in 1926 by…

Congratulations to Clark Head Librarian Anna Chen, who has been appointed Associate University Librarian for Special Collections and Director of Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina, and who will be leaving the Clark Library as of October 2024. In her new role, she will oversee 50 staff in 5 curatorial units: Research and…

The Center and Clark thank the following for their generous support during 2023–2024: Major Supporters The Ahmanson Foundation Catherine G. Benkaim and Barbara A. Timmer Legacy Fund Frances L. Brody* Garden Endowment at The Clark Memorial Library Henry J. Bruman* Endowments for Chamber Music at the Clark and Summer Chamber Music Festival Dr. Paul L….

Congratulations to Anna Chen, who has been appointed Associate University Librarian for Special Collections and Director of Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina. She will oversee 50 staff in 5 curatorial units: Research and Instructional Services, Technical Services, Preservation and Conservation Services, the North Carolina Digital Heritage Center, and exhibitions and engagement programs….

We are pleased to announce that Professor Carla Gardina Pestana, Distinguished Professor and Joyce Appleby Endowed Chair of America in the World (Department of History), will serve as Director of the Center for 17th– & 18th-Century Studies and the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library for Academic Year 2024-25. Professor Pestana studies the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century…

On May 9, John Sullivan, a PhD candidate in history at Northwestern University, delivered an online lecture as a 2023–2024 recipient of the Kenneth Karmiole Endowed Graduate Research Fellowship. The lecture considered how cities figured in and spurred the production of various genres of historical writing that naturalists and governmental officials used to comprehend catastrophic…

On June 15, 2024, the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library hosted The Clark is Burning, an immersive celebration of ballroom culture, queer history, and the art of vogue. Led by ballroom historian, voguer, and producer Sydney Baloue, and featuring members of the newly formed Kiki House of FUBU, the event invited audiences to explore how…

While the nationalistic myth of Japan as a homogeneous society has persisted, two marginalized groups—the Ainu and the Ryūkyūan—challenge this misconception. This pivotal topic took center stage at the final conference of the Open Edo series, hosted at the UCLA William Andrews Clark Memorial Library on April 19, 2024. Titled “Edo Outsiders: Ainu and Ryūkyūan…

The Renaissance Society of America (RSA) hosts Webinar: Library Showcase II.  Ikumi Crocoll will present for the Clark Library.  Join us on Thursday, June 13, 2024 as staff from libraries with holdings of interest to early modern researchers will present on their collections. This webinar will showcase resources at William Andrews Clark Memorial Library (UCLA),…

We are pleased to announce that Raphaëlle Burns, Assistant Professor, Department of European Languages and Transcultural Studies (ELTS) and Javier Patiño Loira, Assistant Professor, Spanish and Portuguese, are recent fellowship recipients at I Tatti, The Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies. Information on their research can be found in the following links; Raphaëlle Burns…