Dumbarton Oaks
LightNews LightNews
banner
dumbartonoaks.bsky.social
Dumbarton Oaks
@dumbartonoaks.bsky.social
270 followers 46 following 110 posts
Humanities research center, gardens, and museum affiliated with @harvard.edu in Georgetown, DC.
Posts Replies Media Videos
dumbartonoaks.bsky.social
In observance of Veterans' Day, the Museum and Gardens at Dumbarton Oaks will be closed on Tuesday, November 11. We look forward to welcoming visitors again on Wednesday, November 12.

Plan your visit to Dumbarton Oaks at www.doaks.org/visit/plan.
November 6, 2025 at 4:02 PM
dumbartonoaks.bsky.social
Join us on Thursday, November 20, at 6:00 p.m. to hear from Brian S. Bauer, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Illinois Chicago, speaking on the mummification practices of the Inca and the journey of five royal mummies from Cusco to Lima.
November 4, 2025 at 3:21 PM
dumbartonoaks.bsky.social
Up next in our Music At Dumbarton Oaks Concert Series, we welcome father-son duo Jeffrey and Gabriel Kahane!
November 3, 2025 at 4:35 PM
dumbartonoaks.bsky.social
In the spirit of Halloween, meet Graylin and Giorgia, two Dumbarton Oaks fellows who participate in the Death Working Group—an informal group of DO scholars whose research tackles the topic of death.

What places in Dumbarton Oaks do you find the spookiest?
vimeo.com/1132248701
Death in Scholarship: The Death Working Group
Meet Graylin and Giorgia, two Dumbarton Oaks fellows who participate in the Death Working Group—an informal group of DO scholars from different fields whose…
vimeo.com
October 31, 2025 at 5:10 PM
dumbartonoaks.bsky.social
In observance of United Nations Day, did you know some of the first conversations behind the creation of the UN were hosted at Dumbarton Oaks? Find out more about this history at https://www.doaks.org/about/history/dumbarton-oaks-conversations.

Image source: US National Archives
October 24, 2025 at 6:01 PM
dumbartonoaks.bsky.social
"Gulmohar" is a popular name for restaurants, resorts, boutiques, songs, and even an award-winning 2023 Indian melodrama. But how did this tree become such an important symbol in Indian culture?

October 24, 2025 at 2:30 PM
dumbartonoaks.bsky.social
Less than two weeks left before the deadline!
October 21, 2025 at 8:07 PM
dumbartonoaks.bsky.social
It is with great sadness that we announce the death of Mary Cunningham, well-known among Byzantinists for her wide-ranging studies of the Virgin Mary and other topics in medieval Christianity.
October 15, 2025 at 8:37 PM
dumbartonoaks.bsky.social
Join us on Wednesday, November 12, for a talk by Professor Meredith McKittrick on the landscapes of white supremacy.

Register at www.doaks.org/events/garden-and-landscape-studies/public-lectures/landscapes-of-white-supremacy-water-aridity-and-racial-domination-in-twentieth-century-southern-africa.
October 15, 2025 at 6:14 PM
dumbartonoaks.bsky.social
Read Jonathan Wilcox's (The Medieval Review) new review of The Old English Catholic Homilies: The First Series, by Ælfric,Edited and translated by Roy M. Liuzza: https://domedieval.org/review-the-old-english-catholic-homilies-the-first-series/
October 15, 2025 at 3:01 PM
dumbartonoaks.bsky.social
Join us on Thursday, October 23, for a public lecture by Maximilien Durand, director of the Department of Byzantine and Eastern Christian Art at the Musée du Louvre.

Registration is free but required. Learn more about the event and register at www.doaks.org/events/byzan...
October 7, 2025 at 2:11 PM
dumbartonoaks.bsky.social
Calling all Byzantine, Pre-Columbian, Plant Humanities, and Garden and Landscape scholars! Fellowship and Grant applications for the 2026-2027 academic cycle are due by Saturday, November 1, 2025.
 
Learn more about DO's Fellowships and Grants and apply today at www.doaks.org/research/fel....
October 3, 2025 at 3:26 PM
dumbartonoaks.bsky.social
Dumbarton Oaks proudly supports the 2026 Byzantine Studies Prize by The Medieval Academy of America, awarding $1,000 to a meritorious monograph in Byzantine Studies.

The deadline for nominations is Wednesday, October 15, 2025.
www.medievalacademy.org/page/Byzanti...
A Byzantine coin is overlaid onto a purple background. Overlaid text reads "The Medieval Academy of America's Byzantine Studies Prize; Submission must be a monograph in the field of Byzantine Studies; Submission is eligible in the fourth year after publication; Dossier must include two or three published reviews. Nominations due by OCTOBER 15 via the Medieval Academy of America's website."
October 2, 2025 at 7:47 PM
dumbartonoaks.bsky.social
The Museum and Gardens at Dumbarton Oaks will remain open through the federal government shutdown. We look forward to welcoming visitors during our usual public hours.
October 2, 2025 at 3:19 PM
dumbartonoaks.bsky.social
MEDICAL WRITINGS is a “valuable addition” to DOML, “one that will be of interest not only to those specializing in medieval English medicine, but also to a broader readership.”

Read the review: domedieval.org/books/medica...
The image, a book cover, reads: "Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library. Medical Writings from Early Medieval England. Volume I. The Old English Herbal, Lacnunga, and Other Texts. Edited and Translated by JOHN D. NILES and MARIA A. D'ARONCO."
September 23, 2025 at 6:39 PM
dumbartonoaks.bsky.social
Congratulations to Thaisa Way, Director of Garden and Landscape Studies, on receiving a Special Commendation by the jury of the J.B. Jackson Prize at the University of Virginia's Center for Cultural Landscapes.
Read the full announcement at www.arch.virginia.edu/news/center-....
In the center, a photo of Way in front of book covers. Below, a screenshot from the DO website reads "Land As Archive: Our landscape and gardens are a collection of historical narratives and embedded knowledge." Three maps introduce the text "Land As Witness: Trees serve as Dumbarton Oaks' living archive"; "Land as Ancestor: This property is part of indigenous ancestral territory"; "Land As Property: Many enslaved people lived and labored here - humans who were deemed property themselves."
September 22, 2025 at 8:25 PM
dumbartonoaks.bsky.social
Presenting our 2025-2026 Fellows! Over the next year, they will advance scholarship in the areas of Pre-Columbian, Byzantine, Plant Humanities, Music, and Garden and Landscape studies.

Meet our fellows and their research projects at www.doaks.org/about/people....
The collage includes photos of the Pre-Columbian Studies Fellows and the Garden and Landscape Studies and Mellon Fellows, standing in front of a fence and trees smiling. This image features a collage of a photo of the Byzantine Studies Fellows and the Tyler Fellows, both standing outdoors in front of a fence and trees, smiling. This image features a collage of a photo of the Early Career Fellows and the Plant Humanities Initiative team, both standing outdoors in front of a fence and trees, smiling.
September 16, 2025 at 8:46 PM
dumbartonoaks.bsky.social
The Museum and Gardens at Dumbarton Oaks will be closed tomorrow, Tuesday, September 16. Daily tickets will not be sold and season passes will not be honored.
We look forward to welcoming visitors again on Wednesday, September 17.
Photograph of the Orangery in the Gardens. Ficus pumila vines hang over the glass walls and ceilings, and flower arrangements decorate tables and the floor. In the middle, an open door shows the surrounding trees. Overlaid text reads: "Museum and Gardens Closed; Tuesday, September 16," alongside the Dumbarton Oaks icon.
September 15, 2025 at 8:37 PM
dumbartonoaks.bsky.social
BOOK OF THE DEAD is officially out! The second book in our Texts from the Early Americas series is the first transcription and translation of a Nahuatl-language death registry maintained by the Indigenous people of Huexotzinco, Mexico (1619–1640).

Get your copy: www.hup.harvard.edu/books/978088...
[Alt text: Book cover. At top, brown strip with yellow text, “Texts from the Early Americas.” Below, brown text against beige background that tapers downward into a point, “The Book of the Dead from Huexotzinco (1619–1640). Below, yellow text against red background, "Tara Malanga, editor/translator."
September 2, 2025 at 2:09 PM
dumbartonoaks.bsky.social
Just published: SACRALIZING VIOLENCE IN BYZANTIUM!

[Image caption: Plate with the Battle of David and Goliath, Byzantine, 629–630. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917.]
Book cover. The bottom three-quarters is a silver plate. At the top of the plate, David confronts Goliath, and between them is a personification of the river from which David gathered stones for his sling. The bottom part of the plate depicts David and Goliath in battle, with a melee of soldiers in similar armor holding shields, swords, and spears. At the top of the cover: “Sacralizing Violence in Byzantium: Hymns, Empire, and the Narrowing of Christian Identity.” Below: “George E. Demacopoulos.”
August 11, 2025 at 2:57 PM
Reposted by Dumbarton Oaks
visithmml.bsky.social
🧵(1) This month, 10 students from around the world gathered at HMML in Collegeville, Minnesota, to learn Classical Armenian language and paleography. 



Thanks to @dumbartonoaks.bsky.social and the Zohrab Information Center, Eastern Diocese, for sponsoring the course!
Students and instructors in the 2025 Dumbarton Oaks / HMML Summer School, Introduction to Classical Armenian.
July 30, 2025 at 2:39 PM
dumbartonoaks.bsky.social
We’re thrilled to announce that vol. 1 of MEDICAL WRITINGS FROM EARLY MEDIEVAL ENGLAND has won the 2025 International Society for the Study of Early Medieval England Award for Best Translation or Edition! Thank you @isseme2025.bsky.social!

For this year’s awardees: isseme.org/2025/07/15/i...
Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library tan book cover with text: "Medical Writings from Early Medieval England/Volume 1/ The Old English Herbal, Lacnunga, and Other Texts/Edited and Translated by John D. Niles and Maria A. D'Aronco." DOML logo overlaid above, and Harvard Trustees logo overlaid below.
July 29, 2025 at 3:28 PM
dumbartonoaks.bsky.social
Our July #PlantOfTheMonth feature on @jstordaily.bsky.social explores the saguaro’s ties to desert wildlife, human history, and environmental change.🌵
Check out “Saguaro Cactus: A Desert Sentinel’s Prickly Plight” by Nina Foster:
daily.jstor.org/saguaro-cactus…
Image description: Saguaro cacti tower over Arizona’s desert landscape. Courtesy of Daniel Ramirez, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
July 25, 2025 at 4:45 PM
dumbartonoaks.bsky.social
Our bronze horse is back on display! This centuries-old Arabian masterwork is now on view in the Courtyard Gallery. To learn more about this object, from its origins to its reconstruction process, visit the object file at
museum.doaks.org/objects-1/in...
Photograph of a late Roman bronze statue of a rearing horse, mounted on a black plinth, as seen from the side in the Courtyard Gallery, DO logo overlaid Photograph of a late Roman bronze statue of a rearing horse, close-up of the head of the horse statue, profile of the horse's face has open eyes, nostrils and mouth and detailed carvings can be seen, DO logo overlaid
July 24, 2025 at 6:58 PM
dumbartonoaks.bsky.social
BIBLICAL AND PASTORAL POETRY is “of high quality” and “a clear and uniformly excellent prose translation,” an essential read for scholars of Avitus.

Thanks, JML @brepols.net!

Read the review: domedieval.org/review-bibli...
Tan book cover from the Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library with white title text: "Biblical and Pastoral Poetry; Alcimus Avitus." Black text underneath reads "Edited and Translated by Michael Roberts." DOML and Trustees of Harvard logos are overlaid.
July 17, 2025 at 1:49 PM