Franklin Humanities Institute at Duke University

06/23/2026

The Smith Warehouse's history runs so deep. The bricks of the building were produced by Robert George Fitzgerald, who was freed from slavery in 1832 and started his own successful brick factory in Durham. He was the grandfather of civil rights icon, the Rev. Pauli Murray, and left an indelible imprint on the Durham-Chapel Hill area. The Smith Warehouse is a part of that tremendous legacy. Thank you Working for highlighting this part of campus!

Before it became home to hundreds of Duke employees, the Smith Warehouse was a to***co warehouse.

In a story from the October 2010 Working@Duke magazine, Jim Roberts, then Executive Vice Provost of Finance and Administration, talked about what it meant for Duke to purchase and renovate the facility in 2001.

“To have many different offices and departments in one central location is a microcosm of the Duke community – people with all kinds of skills and backgrounds who get to interact with each other to make a wonderful and unique workplace,” Roberts said.

Discover more in the archive issue: https://issuu.com/workingatduke/docs/w_d_october_2010

And join us as we celebrate 20 years of the Working@Duke publication and revisit stories from the magazine's history: https://today.duke.edu/2026/03/happy-20th-anniversary-workingduke

Do you work in Smith Warehouse? Share what makes it a special place to work.

The Alice M. Baldwin Scholars | Duke University Career Center | Cinematic Arts at Duke | Duke Facilities Management | Franklin Humanities Institute at Duke University | Duke University Global Education for Undergraduates | Duke University Libraries | Duke Office for Institutional Equity | Office of University Scholars and Fellows- OUSF - Duke University | The Robertson Scholars Leadership Program | Sustainable Duke

06/17/2026

NEW ON YOUTUBE! The 2026 Winner of the Méndez Book Award is “A Flower Traveled in My Blood: The Incredible True Story of the Grandmothers Who Fought to Find a Stolen Generation of Children,” by Haley Cohen Gilliland, a journalist and the director of Yale Journalism Initiative. In the book, Gilliland documents how the Argentine Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo set out to find their grandchildren, abducted by the military junta in the 1970s and 80s. With determination and creativity, the abuelas marched, confronted the authorities, allied with local and international human rights groups, and pioneered the use of genetic testing to find their loved ones. This is despite the intense grief of losing their adult children, “disappeared” by the security forces.

06/17/2026

NEW ON YOUTUBE! The 2026 Winner of the Méndez Book Award is "A Flower Traveled in My Blood: The Incredible True Story of the Grandmothers Who Fought to Find a Stolen Generation of Children," by Haley Cohen Gilliland, a journalist and the director of the Yale Journalism Initiative. In the book, Gilliland documents how the Argentine Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo set out to find their grandchildren, abducted by the military junta in the 1970s and 80s. With determination and creativity, the abuelas marched, confronted the authorities, allied with local and international human rights groups, and pioneered the use of genetic testing to find their loved ones. This is despite the intense grief of losing their adult children, "disappeared" by the security forces.

The Juan E. Méndez Book Award for Human Rights in Latin America honors the leadership and legacy of Juan E. Méndez, a champion of justice who has devoted his life to the defense of human rights. Presented by our Duke Human Rights Center at the Franklin Humanities Institute in conjunction with the Human Rights Archive at the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library

Learn about the Juan E. Méndez Book Award for Human Rights in Latin...

06/10/2026

NEW IN YOUTUBE! From Presenter, Dr. Alicia Jiménez: “Do things stand for people or should we allow them to stand for themselves as recent manifestos (symmetrical archaeology) have claimed? To investigate this question, this paper examines widely replicated female honorific statues from the Late Roman Republic and the early Roman empire (1st century BCE - 2nd century CE). There are three main reasons: because they did actually stand for people and were considered replicas of specific bodies in the past; because in fact they are not exact doubles of individuals, since they were “mass-produced” using a limited set of types throughout the Mediterranean and lastly, because these statues are representations of one of the social groups consistently silenced by the ancient sources and archaeologists alike: women, even if they certainly represented elite women. In this talk, I intend to go beyond the problem of women’s visibility in antiquity and tackle questions not only of absence/presence, but also of whether certain forms of presence may actually function as mechanisms of invisibility. In that sense my paper explores the extent to which these stone personifications of ideal femininity gave voice or muted women by speaking for them in ancient monumental porticoes, fountains, theatres, and funerary monuments.”

06/10/2026

NEW ON YOUTUBE: Do things stand for people or should we allow them to stand for themselves as recent manifestos (symmetrical archaeology) have claimed? To investigate this question, Dr. Alicia Jiménez, Associate Professor of Duke Department of Classical Studies examines widely replicated female honorific statues from the Late Roman Republic and the early Roman empire (1st century BCE - 2nd century CE).

"There are three main reasons: because they did actually stand for people and were considered replicas of specific bodies in the past; because in fact they are not exact doubles of individuals, since they were 'mass-produced' using a limited set of types throughout the Mediterranean and lastly, because these statues are representations of one of the social groups consistently silenced by the ancient sources and archaeologists alike: women, even if they certainly represented elite women. In this talk, I intend to go beyond the problem of women's visibility in antiquity and tackle questions not only of absence/presence, but also of whether certain forms of presence may actually function as mechanisms of invisibility. In that sense my paper explores the extent to which these stone personifications of ideal femininity gave voice or muted women by speaking for them in ancient monumental porticoes, fountains, theatres, and funerary monuments."

Part of our ongoing tgiFHI series!

FROM THE SPEAKER: "Do things stand for people or should we allow th...

06/05/2026

How do ordinary people remember, rationalize, and respond to political violence—and what can art reveal about responsibility in the gray zones of history?

In a recent visit to Duke, author and illustrator Nora Krug spoke with the FHI community about documentary illustration, family memory, and the moral questions that shape her work—from Belonging: A German Reckons with History and Home to projects exploring authoritarianism, war, culpability, and identity.

Rather than framing history only through heroes and perpetrators, Krug asks us to consider the choices made by people living through fractured and dangerous times. Her work is a powerful reminder that memory is never abstract. It lives in families, archives, streets, images, and silences—and it asks something of us today.

Read more from the Duke Human Rights Center @ FHI:

Krug visited the FHI during the spring semester to engage with students and faculty and discuss the process and practice of remembering political violence.

06/02/2026

JOB POSTING 📎
🗓️ Apply by June 21!

The John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute at Duke University is seeking a Program Director of Research Development and Scholarly Publishing.

This unique role supports humanities scholars across the research lifecycle—from book and publication development to fellowship and grant proposal advancement—while helping shape innovative programs that strengthen scholarly publishing and humanities research at Duke. The position offers a hybrid work arrangement based in Durham, NC.

If you are passionate about the humanities, scholarly communication, research development, and supporting faculty success, we encourage you to learn more and apply.

Applications are now being accepted:

Posted 2:23:13 AM. Duke UniversityDuke University was created in 1924 through an indenture of trust by James Buchanan…See this and similar jobs on LinkedIn.

06/02/2026

We invite our community to read a thoughtful new essay from KOLUMN Magazine examining the life, work, and enduring legacy of historian John Hope Franklin.

Widely recognized as one of the most influential scholars of the twentieth century, Franklin transformed the study of American history through his groundbreaking scholarship, public leadership, and unwavering commitment to historical truth. His work challenged generations of readers, educators, and institutions to reckon more fully with the complexities of the American past.

At a moment when questions of history, memory, and democratic responsibility remain especially urgent, this reflection on Franklin's contributions offers valuable perspective on the role of the humanities in public life and the importance of rigorous scholarship in advancing understanding.

We encourage you to take a few moments to read the piece and consider the continued relevance of Franklin's work for our present moment.

From Tulsa to Harvard to the White House, John Hope Franklin argued that honesty was a civic obligation.

05/08/2026

NEW ON YOUTUBE: The second video from our FHI Short Residency where we welcomed Christopher Newfield as he spoke on the knowledge crisis facing the university system from such challenges as the current administration, AI, and a devaluing of critical thinking. Here's Newfield's premise for this discussion:
"Most accounts of literary and cultural study reject or neglect the social demands placed on universities and all their disciplines, including theory, criticism, and race and gender studies. They understate the power of literature and criticism in the collective psychic life of culture-and diminish their own power within academia as well. I'll discuss several ways out of this trap, and suggest why criticism should be central to what Stuart Hall called the "new cultural order" that needs to be built."
-Dr. Christopher Newfield

SUBSCRIBE to the FHI Newsletter: https://duke.is/5/na5pFROM THE SPEAKER: "Most accounts of literary and cultural study reject or neglect the social demands p...

05/04/2026

We WELCOMED to our lecture hall to celebrate their landmark 100th year! Two panels that discussed EVERYTHING you need to know about publishing your humanities or social science book. From turning a dissertation into a book to finding the best press for what you want to write. A packed house full of questions is always a great way to know we had a successful event! A perfect way to round out an awesome Spring semester of conversations and engagement.