Emily Thames with paintings by Campeche from the Colección de la Arquidiócesis de San Juan de Puerto Rico at the Archivo Histórico Archidiocesano, San Juan, Puerto Rico.

With the support of the department’s Penelope Mason Dissertation Research Award, Art History doctoral candidate Emily Thames travelled to San Juan, Puerto Rico this July to conduct dissertation research. Her project, “The Life and Art of José Campeche: Enlightenment, Reform, and Identity in Late Eighteenth-Century Puerto Rico,” which is developed under the supervision of Dr. Paul Niell, focuses on José Campeche (1751-1809), a Puerto Rican artist who lived and worked in San Juan during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. During the course of her trip, Emily visited several churches, museums, and institutions to see works by Campeche, interviewed experts in the field of Puerto Rican art and history, and researched in archives and libraries. The museums and archives she visited include the Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, the Museo de Historia, Antropología y Arte at the University of Puerto Rico, the Museo de Arte de Ponce in Ponce, the Archivo Histórico Archidiocesano, the Archivo General de Puerto Rico, and the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña.

Following her trip to Puerto Rico, Emily’s research will further be supported by a Joe and Wanda Corn Predoctoral fellowship from the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Museum of American History. This fellowship supports scholars whose research interests span American art and American history, allowing them to draw upon the rich collections of both museums for their research. She will spend the 2016-2017 academic year in Washington, D.C. making progress towards the advancement of her dissertation.

Opportunities for Art History graduate research funding are plentiful at FSU, from grants offered by The Graduate School to departmental travel and writing awards.  All applicants to our master’s programs are automatically considered for research assistantships, and all doctoral students are supported with fellowships and full tuition waivers for a minimum of three years.  Travel, research, and dissertation writing fellowships are explained in detail here, and our students are well mentored and supported in garnering competitive external grants. Recent awards received by our grad students include Dumbarton Oaks and Metropolitan Musem of Art fellowships, Fulbright awards, Getty Research Institute Library Grants, Kress fellowships and grants, and Foreign Language Study Fellowships from the U.S. Department of Education,