News and Information
Emory University
Atlanta, GA 30322

Release date: July 1, 1998
Contact: Nancy Seideman, Director

FIVE EMORY UNIVERSITY HISTORY PROFESSORS RECEIVE GRANTS, FELLOWSHIPS

Five Emory University history professors have received grants or fellowships to pursue academic projects in 1998-99 year. The five professors are:

o Michael Bellesiles. Associate professor Bellesiles specializes in America's gun culture. He delivered an Emory Great Teachers Lecture earlier this year on Samuel Colt and the early marketing of Colt's revolver. Bellesiles received a fellowship of $40,000 from the Stanford Humanities Center, where he will serve as senior fellow while working on a book about the origins of the gun culture in the United States. Bellesiles is a resident of Decatur (30033).

o Tom Chaffin. Adjunct professor Chaffin, who spent many years working as a professional journalist, served as director of the Emory Oral History Project until March and now acts as a consultant to the project. He has received an Andrew Mellon postdoctoral fellowship of $30,000 and will spend the academic year at The Huntington Library in San Marino, Calif. Chaffin will use the time to work on a biography of the 19th century statesman and explorer John Charles Frémont. Chaffin is a resident of Atlanta (30307).

o Margot Finn. Associate professor Finn specializes in British studies and edits the Journal for British Studies. She received a $30,000 fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities to spend a year at the Newberry Library in Chicago. Finn will be working on a book project titled The Character of Credit: Social, Cultural and Legal Constructions of Debt in England, 1760-1914. Finn is a resident of Decatur (30030).

o Leslie Harris. Assistant professor Harris received grants from both the Ford Foundation and from the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Her areas of expertise include slavery in the United States (19th century) and the history of working class blacks. Next year Harris will serve as scholar-in-residence at the Schomburg Center in New York City. Both of the grants (the Ford grant is affiliated with Columbia University) are for a book project, Creating the African American Working Class in New York City, 1626-1863. Harris is a resident of Atlanta (30306).

o Sharon Strocchia. Strocchia, an associate professor and associated faculty member with Italian studies and women's studies, specializes in Italian Renaissance history. She has received two grants, both for $27,130, from the National Humanities Center in Research Triangle Park, N.C., and from the American Council of Learned Societies. Strocchia will spend her year at the National Humanities Center working a book project titled Nuns and Nunneries in Renaissance Florence. Strocchia is a resident of Decatur (30033).