Hostetler Receives Dumbarton Oaks Fellowship

Doctoral candidate Brad Hostetler will spend the next academic year studying at Dumbarton Oaks, a Harvard University-directed research institution that owns one of the finest libraries and collections of artifacts from the Byzantine Empire. Hostetler was awarded one of four Junior Fellowships from Dumbarton Oaks in Byzantine Studies. He is the only art historian of the group, and the only student from a North American university.  The Dumbarton Oaks collection comprises more than 1,200 objects from the fourth to 15th centuries, and includes objects from the imperial, ecclesiastical and secular realms.

Brad will be in residence in Washington, DC completing his dissertation, “The Function of Text: Byzantine Reliquaries with Metrical Inscriptions, 843-1204.” Brad’s research incorporates an under-utilized body of evidence—the metrical dedicatory inscriptions, or epigrams, inscribed upon Middle Byzantine reliquaries–examining the ways in which reliquaries and the inscribed dedications functioned in Byzantium.

Associate Professor Lynn Jones encouraged Hostetler to use the Dumbarton Oaks library for his research as well as apply for the junior fellowship. “The Art History faculty is delighted — but not at all surprised — that Brad has received a Junior Fellowship from Dumbarton Oaks,” Jones said. “He has taken full advantage of all that FSU has to offer, developing from a promising M.A. student to an accomplished doctoral candidate.  I am excited to watch this next stage of Brad’s career unfold as he takes his place as a member of the academic community at the premier center for Byzantine Studies.”