Summer 2019
American Library in Paris Research Project
Aine O’Connor and Hannah Jones
The work continued for year two of the Paris Stories student research project at the American Library in Paris. This year Aine O’Connor ’20 and Hannah Jones ’19 developed a detailed finding aid for the books once owned by the American writer, Janet Flanner, now in the library’s special collections. For more about this work, see the student website Archive Stories. The Flanner finding aid can be accessed here. The students also discovered during their research a fascinating link between the ALP and Hope College.
Dr. Natalie Dykstra, and Kelly Jacobsma, Dean of Libraries, were co-directors of the project. More about their weeks in Paris is described here.
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Summer 2018
American Library in Paris Research Project
Sarah Lundy and Michaela Stock
Dr. Natalie Dykstra received a Grand Challenges Summer Research Grant in May 2018 to bring two students, Sarah Lundy and Michaela Stock, to do original research in the archives at the American Library in Paris. Check out Archive Stories|Paris, a website designed by Sarah and Micheala about their research! Their site also highlights fascinating projects at the library to take on in the future. Sarah writes about her experience on the History department blog here. For more information, Dr. Dykstra can be reached at ndykstra@hope.edu.
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May Term 2018
Marc Chagall, Derrière le village (1916). Courtesy of Centre Pompidou
In 2018, students on the Art, History, and Global Citizenship in Paris May Term paired up to research, experience, and analyze an exhibit, an artwork, or a building in the city of Paris. They brought their research and observations together in Smarthistory-style videos (Check out Smarthistory and their awesome videos here.)
Cherish Joe (Studio Art, ‘20) and Maddie Zimmerman (Art History/Chinese, ‘20) take us into the Musée Quai Branly and discuss not only King Ghezo’s Throne but also Benin art in general and the impact of the transatlantic slave trade on the Kingdom of Benin and its artistic production. They also offer a critique of the Musée Quai Branly itself.
Kelly Ocock (Studio Art, ‘19) and Merrit Kramer (Business, ’21) analyze Marc Chagall’s “Derrière le village,” 1916, as they observed it in the “Chagall, Lissitzky, Malévitch: The Russian Avant-Garde in Vitebsk (1918-1922)” exhibition at the Centre Pompidou. They analyze this piece in the context of other art from the period and in the historical context of World War I.
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Summer 2017
May Term
Julia Hines in Paris, Summer 2017
In 2017, Dr. Heidi Kraus received a Nyenhuis Faculty/Student Collaborative Summer Research Grant to document street art and public spaces in Paris that have been, in some way, inspired by or a response to the 2015 terror attacks in the city. Dr. Kraus and student collaborator, Julia Hines ’18, an art history and psychology double major, began to digitally map the locations in proximity to Paris landmarks. Take a look at Julia’s work! Dr. Kraus will continue to chart and assess changes to the artwork and surrounding areas over time.
Here is a link to the article in Spera that highlights this work.
Paris Stories 