GREAT OPPORTUNITY IN ROME

Professor Edward Kennard Rand '94 who has just returned from sabbatical leave at Rome has kindly outlined for the CRIMSON the aims and advantages of the American Academy there.

While in Rome he played an important part in uniting the separate institutions of the Academy of Art and the School of Classical Studies to form the American Academy. The Academy is now under the directorship of Professor J. B. Carter of Princeton, succeeding Mr. Frank Millet, the artist, who perished in the Titanic disaster.

The Academy occupies a commanding and inspiring site on the summit of the Janiculum. Below it lies the city of Rome; on the distant horizon are the Appennines and in the middle distance rise the Alban and Sabine hills.

Object to Encourage Research.

The main object of the School of Classical studies is to encourage scientific research. In the past year there were about twelve students, men and women, in the school, working on different problems not only in classical subjects, such as topography, paleography and Roman religion but also in Renaissance art and Christian archaeology. The greater part of these students are sent as the men of greatest promise from the supporting American colleges. There are several fellowships for which competitive examinations are annually held in New York. These examinations are in charge of the Committee on Fellowships of the University Board of Trustees. The school is supported by a large endowment and by the leading American colleges, whose students are excused from the usual fee.

Close Relations With Vatican.

Professor Rand's interest lay in the field of paleography, a subject for which there is abundant chance for research in the library of the Vatican. There have always been the most intimate relations between the Vatican and the school, and Father Ehile, the prefect of the library, is most courteous and helpful to the students in allowing them to use the valuable manuscripts of which he has charge.

Excavations Near at Hand.

The school is not directly in charge of excavations, since these are now managed entirely by the Italian government, but there is ample field for investigation of the remains already discovered. A year in Rome is not only of great value to the investigator of some technical subject who can deal directly with material inaccessible to him here, but also opens up new vistas to the general student of ancient history, or literature, or art. He has all the concrete originals before him: Rome and Pompeii are near at hand; and the recent striking excavations at Cyrene in Tripoli are not faraway.

Professor Rand is on the lookout for promising candidates, and he will be only too glad to talk to anyone who is interested in research work at the American School in Rome.