The Louise W. and Edmund J. Kahn Liberal Arts Institute supports collaborative research among Smith College faculty, students and visiting scholars without regard to the traditional boundaries of departments, programs and academic divisions. Each year the Institute supports long-term and short-term projects proposed, planned and organized by members of the Smith College faculty.

Click a link to the left to learn more about our current and past projects, fellowship opportunities, and upcoming events.

New Book by Kahn Institute Senior Fellow

• Richard P. Unsworth, a Senior Fellow at the Kahn Liberal Arts Institute, Professor Emeritus of Religion, and retired College Chaplin, has published a biography of Magda and André Trocmé, two leaders of a World War II rescue mission in France that saved the lives of 5,000 refugees. The biography, titled A Portrait of Pacifists: Le Chambon, the Holocaust, and the Lives of André and Magda Trocmé and published by Syracuse University Press, tells the story of two remarkable individuals who made nonviolence a way of life. Click here to learn more.
  

Images from The Making and Meaning of Dress

Participants in the recent short-term project, The Making and Meaning of Dress (organized by Kiki Smith), spent a day among the collections of 18th, 19th, and early 20th century dresses and clothing accessories at both Historic Northampton and in Smith's own theater department. These images document some of the beautiful and interesting objects they considered. Photos by Mary Ellen Birkett.

Northampton Historical Society

Sewing Tools

Northampton Historical Society

Shoe

Northampton Historical Society

Shoes

Northampton Historical Society

Sweater

Northampton Historical Society

Thimbles

Smith

French Embroidery

Smith

Jessica Nicoll

Smith

Von Klemperer Dress

Smith

Undergarments

Smith

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Kahn Institute Lectures

• Each year, the Kahn Institute and its long- and short-term projects present a series of lectures by distinguished visiting scholars and artists. Audio recordings of those lectures are now available for 2011-2012 talks. Click here for more information.