By Adrienne Chaparro, Scholarly and Public Programs Assistant
The Harvard College Office of Undergraduate Research and Fellowships (URAF) and Houghton Library are pleased to announce that Madeleine Klebanoff-O’Brien, Class of ’22, is the winner of the Summer Humanities and Arts Research Program (SHARP) Fellowship. Houghton offers fellowships through SHARP, a program that supports arts and humanities research for a cohort of undergraduates each summer. Houghton’s SHARP fellowship allows students to propose their own research projects within any topic or discipline supported by the library’s collections. Usually a 10-week residential program, this year’s fellowship will be conducted remotely for 8 weeks due to the COVID-19 outbreak and Harvard’s commitment to the health, safety, and wellbeing of its community.
Map of the first five circles of hell, Divina Commedia (*IC D2358 472c 1506, f. O vi recto). Houghton Library, Harvard University.
Klenbanoff-O’Brien describes her project as a survey of Dante illustrations at Houghton Library focused on maps of the Divine Comedy, in which mapping signifies an effort to spatially synthesize multiple of the poem’s episodes. She plans to produce original maps for Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso, and the poem as a whole, as well as a commentary tying to her artistic decisions to her research.
The Harvard Undergraduate Fellowship at Houghton Library is open to all Harvard College students currently enrolled in an undergraduate degree program. Applicants are asked to describe their proposed project, including information about the Houghton Library materials the project would use and project outcomes. This year’s project supervisors are Houghton staff members Kristine Greive, Head of Teaching and Learning and Kate Donovan, Associate Librarian for Public Services.
Dante encountering the leopard, lion and she-wolf in the dark wood, Divina Commedia (*IC D2358 472c 1506, f. a vi verso). Houghton Library, Harvard University.