The MacLeish and Hersey Scholars programs are offered by the English and Humanities & Social Sciences departments, respectively.

The programs provide select Seniors the opportunity to participate in archival research, engage in year-long courses, and produce capstone papers.

In the summer before their Senior year, the scholars conduct in-depth research for two weeks. MacLeish scholars visit the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University, while Hersey scholars explored the collections in the Harvard Library.

During the school year, the students take classes to develop the skills needed to pursue independent projects in their discipline. Toward the end of their Senior year, students present their research to the community.

Dr. Jeff Blevins, instructor in English, oversees the MacLeish program. He said, “The students conduct literary research in the library’s archives. They pick an author or multiple authors and look at their letters, diaries, notebooks— anything that the library has saved about their work. They also do a long, extensive creative project, like a book of poems.”

Students learn basic book-making techniques and ultimately design their own books. Examples of past projects are on display in one of the glass cases on the lower level of the Rotunda.

Dr. Thomas Fisher, instructor in humanities and director of the Hersey program, said, “For the Hersey Scholars, the summer archival research component lasts about two weeks. Students conduct archival research at libraries in Boston. During their Senior fall, they take an advanced research methods course and use that time to develop proposals for their papers. They then take Hersey Seminar in the spring and produce 30- 35 page research papers using the archival materials gathered in the summer and throughout the school year.”

Each year, Hersey Scholars’ papers are published in a book, a copy of which is added to the collection of the Edsel Ford Memorial Library.

Ava Frankel ’24, a Hersey Scholar, said “My project is about 17th century British propaganda. Existing literature and historians claim that the English Civil War from 1642-1649 catalyzed propaganda development in 17th century England; I’m proving that theory wrong, as no one specific event is responsible for all propaganda development over the century.”

Richard Lu ’24, a MacLeish Scholar, spent time last summer researching in the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University. He said, “We’d go to the basement where they keep their archival folders. All of us would be at our separate tables looking through the boxes, trying to find things we thought would be important, taking pictures of everything.”

Hersey Scholar Jacob Zweiback ’24 said, “I enjoyed being able to dive deep into a topic and fully flesh out my understanding of it. My focus is on abortion rights cases that were argued before Roe v. Wade. I compare and contrast Roe to another case, Abramowicz v. Lefkowitz, which was argued two years before in the New York circuit courts.”

This year, scholars presented their work to the community in the Faculty Room on Thursday, May 23. Attendee Maeve Hottenrott ’25 said, “The scholars found unique areas that people might not necessarily think of. Considering the complexity of archival research, it was remarkable how they put together their presentations.”