UCLA Center for 17th & 18th Century Studies

The Center provides a forum for the discussion of central issues in the field of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century studies. It organizes academic programs, bringing together scholars from the region, the nation, and the world, with the goal of encouraging research from as early as the time of Lope de Vega and William Shakespeare to the defeat of Napoléon and the death of Lord Byron. Established in 1985, the Center also administers the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, located on a historic property in the West Adams neighborhood of Los Angeles. The Clark serves as the research laboratory for a distinguished array of fellows working either in early modern studies or the fin-de-siècle world of Oscar Wilde. The Center also offers a range of cultural programs, including chamber music concerts, theatrical performances, and lectures.

Core Program

The annual core program—a series of interdisciplinary events developed around a common theme—ranges from three or four consecutive workshops to a series spanning a year or more, with a full complement of symposia, workshops, graduate seminars, and public lectures, held at the Clark or on UCLA’s main campus. Core programs are organized each year by the current Center/Clark Professor or Professors, who are encouraged to design programs that will lead to publication in the Center/Clark series. The Center’s Ahmanson-Getty Fellowships are linked to the core programs as well, both in terms of themes and events.