From the Director of Dumbarton Oaks, 2010 - 2011

dumbarton oaks research library and collection Annual Report 2010–2011 From the Director In past incarnations of this publication, I have written of my perspectives and objectives as director of Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, but this year I will not impede the reader from approaching directly the statements that those who manage the ten departments and who oversee various other initiatives have to relate about 2010–2011. Their reports show very clearly what Dumbarton Oaks is and what it achieves. The overture to their accomplishments will be the list of fellowships, followed by the accounts that the fellows give in their own words about their research. It is thrilling to facilitate the work of such talented individuals, by which I mean the entire staff and all the fellows of Dumbarton Oaks. The institution is steady and yet anything but static. On the contrary, it is like a tall ship under sail. Its canvases billow thanks to the winds of progress in its three areas, namely, Byzantine, Pre-Columbian, and Garden and Landscape Studies. Extra breezes come from Harvard University, which, although from a distance of a few hundred miles, has ultimate responsibility for the well-being and progress of an establishment that has been under its oversight for nearly seventyfive years. This vessel, which moves more rapidly than appearances may indicate, is obviously affected by its immediate environs, which are Washington, D.C., in general, and Georgetown, in particular. The neighbors and government, both municipal and federal, could not be more supportive: they are gentle waves, lapping at the sides of the boat. But most credit goes to the people whom I have mentioned now twice, colleagues at Dumbarton Oaks. They are the crew, who collaborate with all the special skills and energies required to keep this majestic schooner in motion. Forward ho! Director Jan Ziolkowski with former Executive Assistant Nancy Hinton on the occasion of her retirement, April 2011. 9