New Summer Research Grant Tied to West Coast

New Summer Research Grant Tied to West Coast

Last December, the Decorative Arts Society of Orange County, known as DARTS, provided the Trust with a generous $25,000 grant to underwrite a new Summer Research Grant. This partnership targets graduate students tied to the West Coast with the aim of increasing awareness of the Trust and our Emerging Scholars Program in that region while also enabling DARTS to enjoy the fruits of current research. The contribution generates an annual allocation of $1,000, to be awarded to Masters or PhD students either tackling topics tied to West Coast artisans, designers, or collections; or to those enrolled at West Coast universities pursuing subjects elsewhere in the United States or abroad. A requirement of the grant is that the recipients will present their findings to the DARTS membership. This year the Trust received eight proposals that qualified for the grant, selecting those submitted by PhD students Danielle Charlap and Matthew Limb, which are described at left. In addition to the opportunity to lecture on their research, the Trust will consider Ms. Charlap and Mr. Limb’s end-of-summer reports for the Magazine and blog.

The Trust previously created the Marie Zimmermann Grant in partnership with the Marie and John Zimmermann Fund. These grants are allocated to projects that focus on late-19th and 20th-century topics. Next summer the Center for American Art will underwrite a grant to assist research tied to the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s collection. If other decorative arts organizations would like to develop similar collaborations with the Trust, we are eager to expand the geographic and chronological range of the Summer Research Grant program through an established network of colleagues in the academic community.

July 2018