Welcome to the new EMSI website!
The USC-Huntington Early Modern Studies Institute (EMSI) supports advanced research and scholarship on human societies between 1450 and 1850. The Institute’s range is global. Unlike existing centers that focus on particular regions, the Institute aims to advance knowledge of the diverse societies in and around the Atlantic and Pacific basins.
We invite you to explore our website for more information about our fellows, our programming, partnerships, and accomplishments.
2023 Annual Conference: “Women in Art and Science in the Early Modern World”
Friday & Saturday, November 10 & 11, 2023
The USC-Huntington Early Modern Studies Institute’s Annual Conference for 2023 is “Women of Art and Science in the Early Modern World.” Organized by Daniela Bleichmar (USC) and Nicole LaBouff (LACMA) this two-day conference will take place at the Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. The program will bring together scholars whose work examines the connections between gender, art, and science in the early modern period (ca. 1450–1850); it will have a global purview and some inroads into the modern period.
EMSI 20th Anniversary Conference
Our community of early modern scholars in the Los Angeles area is uniquely enriched by the EMSI Mellon postdoctoral scholars. This 20th Anniversary Conference of the USC-Huntington Early Modern Studies Institute will celebrate their scholarship, partnerships, and contributions to early modern studies.Our community of early modern scholars in the Los Angeles area is uniquely enriched by the EMSI Mellon postdoctoral scholars. This 20th Anniversary Conference of the USC-Huntington Early Modern Studies Institute will celebrate their scholarship, partnerships, and contributions to early modern studies.
Congratulations to our 2023 – 2024 EMSI fellows!
Lina Nie
Ph.D. Candidate, Van Hunnick History Department
EMSI Ph.D. Dissertation Fellow, 2023-2024
Project Title: “Being Transnational: Maritime Exchanges in East Asian Sphere from the Tenth to the Seventeenth Century”
Daniela Bleichmar
Professor of Art History and History
EMSI Faculty Fellow, Spring 2024
Project Title: Women of Art and Science in the Early Modern World
Mengxiao Wang
Assistant Professor of East Asian Languages and Cultures EMSI Faculty Fellow, Fall 2023
Project Title: Buddhism and Theatricality in Early Modern China
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Land Acknowledgement
The USC-Huntington Early Modern Studies Institute (EMSI) exists on the ancestral lands of the Gabrielino-Tongva and Kizh Nation peoples who continue to call this region home. EMSI respectfully acknowledges these Indigenous peoples as the traditional caretakers of this landscape, as the direct descendants of the first people. EMSI recognizes their continued presence and is grateful to have the opportunity to work and learn on this land.
