CALL FOR MANUSCRIPTS: The University of Rochester Press welcomes manuscripts in its series: Changing Perspectives on Early Modern Europe. With a number of titles already in print, this series has become one of the leading outlets for publishing monographs on early modern European history. Books in the series include Megan C. Armstrong’s The Politics of Piety: Franciscan Preachers During the Wars of Religion, 1560-1600, J. B. Owens’s “By My Absolute Royal Authority”: Justice and the Castilian Commonwealth at the Beginning of the First Global Age, and Civic Christianity in Renaissance Italy: The Hospital of Treviso, 1400-1530, by David M. D’Andrea.

The editors of the series are James B. Collins, Professor of History at Georgetown University, and Mack P. Holt, Professor of History at George Mason University. They are assisted by a panel of distinguished scholars from a variety of institutions. The editorial board is seeking a mix of titles and formats, normally monographs by a single author. Our current plan is to release 2-4 new works each year.

Changing Perspectives on Early Modern Europe brings forward the latest research on Europe during the transformation from the medieval to the modern world. The series seeks to publish innovative scholarship on the full range of topical and geographic fields. Moving beyond the religious focus of some existing series, Changing Perspectives will include monographs on cultural, economic, intellectual, political, religious, and social history. Chronologically, the series will focus on the period 1400-1750. Geographically, it will include Western Continental Europe, Central and East Central Europe, Mediterranean Europe, and northern Europe. In an effort to avoid overlap with existing series, it will not publish works on the British Isles or on Russia.

To submit an appropriate project for consideration, please send a formal proposal or prospectus to the Series Editors. The proposal should include: 1) a brief but detailed synopsis of the work, outlining its intended contribution to the existing literature; 2) an abstract of 300 words or less, summarizing the work’s content; 3) a complete Table of Contents and one or two sample chapters; 4) an updated CV. Send to collinja@georgetown.edu or mholt@gmu.edu

JOURNAL OF EARLY MODERN HISTORY – CALL FOR PAPERS: The early modern period of world history (ca. 1300-1800) was marked by a rapidly increasing level of global interaction. Between the aftermath of Mongol conquest in the East and the onset of industrialization in the West, a framework was established for new kinds of contacts and collective self-definition across an unprecedented range of human and physical geographies. The Journal of Early Modern History, the official journal of the University of Minnesota Center for Early Modern History, is the first scholarly journal dedicated to the study of early modernity from this world-historical perspective, whether through explicitly comparative studies, or by the grouping of studies around a given thematic, chronological, or geographic frame.

JEMH invites submissions both of individual articles and of proposals for special editions (which may appear up to twice a year). For additional information visit the website www.brill.nl/journal-early-modern-history.

EARLY MODERN ARCHITECTURE: Early Modern Architecture (http://earlymodernarchitecture.com) is a new website devoted to global, interdisciplinary frameworks for the architectural theory and design of Europe and its colonies, 1400-1800. This site particularly disseminates and opens up international scholarly exchange of innovative research and education. We seek to showcase new methodologies that link areas of architectural history, art history, and the humanities. The range of resources now available includes: announcements of conferences and CFPs, images, syllabi, a listserv, and links to online databases of visual and printed works.

Editors: Freek Schmidt, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (f.schmidt@let.vu.nl) and Kimberley Skelton (KCSkelton@aol.com)

MUSEUM OF BIBLICAL ART: The Museum of Biblical Art announces the opening of the exhibition Passion in Venice: Crivelli to Tintoretto and Veronese. It will run February 11—June 12, 2011 at 1865 Broadway at 61st Street, New York, NY.

CINI FOUNDATION: The Vittore Branca Center offers both scholarships (once a year - http://www.cini.it/en/vittore/show/id/109 ) and co-financing (all year long) to scholars willing to pursue research in a field of peculiar interest to the Fondazione Institutes and Centers.

The residential facilities on the Island provide scholars and researchers with the opportunity to work and stay at length on the Island of San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice at economically reasonable conditions in a setting conducive to reflection and intellectual exchanges. A residence situated in the grounds of the Island can accommodate up to 90 scholars, allowing young researchers and expert scholars to enjoy the mutual benefits of working side by side.

Researchers at the Vittore Branca Center will also have privileged access to the Fondazione Giorgio Cini libraries and archives, specialized in the areas of art history, Venetian history, literature, music, dance and theatre, and to the literary, art, drama and music bequests housed in the Foundation.

Moreover, they will have free access to all cultural events (courses, seminars, conferences, exhibitions, concerts, etc.) organized by the Giorgio Cini Foundation. Thus, for example, musicologists can attend seminars of historical studies, while art historians can sit in on seminars on early music: both have the opportunity to explore the broader cultural background to their own work.

Researchers at the Vittore Branca Center will also have free access to a series of services, such as a workplace in the Nuova Manica Lunga library with Internet connection; an international newspaper library; cultural initiatives specifically aimed at residents; advice and information about libraries and archives of the main Venetian institutions.

Lastly, young researchers at the Vittore Branca Center can also benefit from the presence of a tutor who will assist them in becoming familiar with the general set-up on the Island of San Giorgio Maggiore and its documentary and artistic heritage. Tutors will also advise researchers on cultural events at the Giorgio Cini Foundation and in the city and will suggest which directors and collaborators in the Foundation’s Institutes and Research Centers can help them with their research projects.

Graduate and post-graduate students of all ages will be able to apply for admission to the Vittore Branca Center for a period of study. No distinction between Junior and Senior scholars exists anymore (Juniors were postgraduate students studying for a master’s degree, doctorate or specialization and Ph.D. graduates, and Seniors were expert scholars, university lecturers, senior researchers).

The requested period of stay is now flexible: there is no minimum requested stay anymore. Every scholar will be free to choose a period of stay in keeping with the aims of his/her research work at the Fondazione Giorgio Cini libraries.

Access to the Vittore Branca Center and all its facilities requires prior admission: see www.cini.it/centrobranca for more information..

ENGLISH WRITERS IN ITALY: English Writers in Italy is an informal association of English and American writers based in various regions of Italy. Our website is www.englishwritersinitaly.com. Our membership includes novelists, poets, journalists, translators and academics. We meet two or three times a year. The next meeting is in Umbria in May. We are currently putting together a proposal for an anthology provisionally entitled Exiles in Paradiso, about living, working and studying in Italy.

If you would like to join the association, or you have a piece (300-2,500 words) you'd like to put forward for inclusion in the anthology, please contact Gay Marks g.marks@alice.it

GRANTS FOR INDEPENDENT RESEARCH ON VENETIAN CULTURE AND HISTORY: The Trustees of the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation announce its annual call for applications for predoctoral and postdoctoral grants for historical research on Venice and the former Venetian empire and for the study of contemporary Venetian society and culture. Disciplines of the humanities and the social sciences are eligibile areas of study, including (but not limited to) archaeology, architecture, art, bibliography, economics, history, history of science, law, literature, music, political science, religion, and theater. The deadline for applications is December 15. Guidelines and application forms are available from the Foundation's website: www.delmas.org.

GRANTS FOR VENETIAN RESEARCH: The Trustees of the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation of New York announce that up to £20,000 will be made available to scholars from Great Britain and the Commonwealth for Research in Venice. The principal areas of research envisaged concern both the past (art, architecture, history, law, language, literature, music) and the present (conservation, culture, environment, politics) of Venice and the territories formerly subject to it. Further particulars may be obtained from Miss Kerry Drakeley, Faculty of Arts Office, Room H0.45, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL (email: Delmas@warwick.ac.uk). Applications should be received by May 13.

CESARE BARBIERI GRANT: The Cesare Barbieri Endowment for Italian Culture (Trinity College, Connecticut) will award a research grant in modern Italian history. The amount of the grant has been increased to $7,500 and the application procedure is streamlined. You will find all information at the the link below: http://www.cbendowment.org/grant

ARCHIVIO DI STATO ONLINE: L'Archivio di stato di Venezia annuncia che sono on line sia il Sistema informativo dell'archivio, che descrive tutti i fondi archivistici e gli strumenti di corredo (finding aids) collegati, nonché, per circa la metà di essi, la rispettiva articolazione in serie, sottoserie e - da poco iniziata, e per ora circoscritta a pochi fondi - anche le unità. I soggetti produttori (le istituzioni o le persone o famiglie che hanno prodotto gli archivi) sono presenti, ma ancora in corso di approfondimento.

E' on line anche il Progetto Divenire, che mette a disposizione numerose serie riprodotte come immagine digitale (Registri del Maggior Consiglio Senato e Consiglio di Dieci (fino all'anno 1500), nonché numerosi disegni, mappe e pergamene con regesti.

MEDITERRANEAN HISTORICAL REVIEW – CALL FOR PAPERS: Mediterranean Historical Review is a bi-annual, refereed journal, published by Routledge. The journal is interested in receiving papers treating the history of the Mediterranean basin, emphasizing contacts, relations and influences within a Mediterranean context, as well as questions of a comparative and comparable nature. For information regarding the submission of manuscripts, please visit our website: http://www.tau.ac.il/humanities/cmc/mhr/mhr.html. Or contact us at: mhrtau@post.tau.ac.il.

AMERICAN FRIENDS OF THE MARCIANA: As no one knows better than the readers of News on the Rialto, the Marciana Library is one of the world’s great cultural resources, which has been granting public access to its unparalleled collections for half a millennium. For the past nine years grants to the Marciana from The American Friends have been contributing to new projects at the library, and if you have worked there during that time you have been a beneficiary of those grants. For the past few years all the funds from The American Friends have been dedicated to entering the Marciana’s sometimes indecipherable hand-written catalogues of printed books into the on-line data base. These grants made it possible to continue the Golem project, the results of which have been integrated into OPAC (On line Public Access Catalogue), which you can now access from your office. As recent visitors to the Marciana can testify, once they have negotiated their way through the construction dust, they have found vastly improved access to the library’s collections.

The Marciana has now become the leader among the Italian state libraries in providing on-line services for its patrons. That leadership role is manifest in the Marciana’s sponsorship of a conference at the Palazzo Ducale on “L'evoluzione dell'accessibilità informatica.” The Marciana is setting the example.

As one of his final acts as the Marciana’s Director before retiring, Marino Zorzi began a campaign to digitize the catalogue of manuscripts, a project that would parallel what Golem has achieved for printed materials. This is an exciting prospect for researchers in the Marciana, and The American Friends have undertaken the responsibility for helping to finance the costs of the campaign.

The American Friends consist of people like you, scholars who work in Venice. Many are not even Americans, but all love the Marciana and have been willing to contribute. We would like to invite all the patrons of the Marciana, but especially the forestieri who have benefited from this magnificent Italian state institution, to join the Friends.

Of course, your gifts are tax-deducible. Please send your contribution to

The American Friends of the Marciana Library, Inc.
25 East End Avenue, Suite 15G
New York, New York 10028-7052

Many thanks,
Edward Muir
President

VENICE LAGOON FOUNDATION: The Forum for the Lagoon, of Venice, and the University of Minnesota have together set up the Venice Lagoon Foundation, a charitable organization intended to promote studies on the condition and preservation of the Venetian Lagoon's ecosystem. Its first projects will deal with the reclamation of the island of S. Giorgio in Alga, the Forum's future home, and the opening of an "eco-museum" within the Arsenal of Venice.
Website: http://www1.umn.edu/vlf/home.htm