Call Number:

Ms. Coll. 1779

Repository:

University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts

Extent:

• 4.3 linear feet
• 5 box(es)

Language Note:

The bulk of the collection is in English, with some correspondence, talks, and other material in other languages.

Preferred Citation:

Caroline Bruzelius papers, 1974 - 2026, Ms. Coll. 1779, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania

Date:

1974 - 2026 (inclusive)

Creator:

Bruzelius, Caroline Astrid

Abstract:

Caroline Bruzelius (1949 -), an art historian and scholar of Gothic architecture, urbanism, and medieval sculpture in France and Italy and a pioneer in digital humanities, was a professor of art and art history at Duke University from 1982 to 2018 and Director of The American Academy in Rome from 1994 to 1998. This collection documents Bruzelius's research in Gothic church architecture, particularly Notre-Dame de Paris and the Abbey Church of Saint-Denis, research on the architecture of the mendicant orders in Italy, and digital humanities projects related to medieval cities and architecture.

Caroline Bruzelius (1949 -), an art historian and scholar of Gothic architecture, urbanism, and medieval sculpture in France and Italy and a pioneer in digital humanities, was a professor of art and art history at Duke University from 1982 to 2018 and Director of The American Academy in Rome from 1994 to 1998.

Born in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1949, Bruzelius moved to the United States and earned her BA from Wellesley College (1971) and her M.A. (1973), M. Phil.(1974), and PhD (1977) from Yale University. After working at Dickinson College, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and Harvard University, in 1982 Bruzelius became a Mellon Fellow and assistant professor at Duke University, where she became associate professor in 1986, and full professor in 1991. She was named the Anne M. Cogan Professor of Art and Art History in 2001. Bruzelius took a leave of absence from Duke from 1994 to 1998 to become the Director of the American Academy in Rome. In 2018, she became the Anne Murnick Cogan Distinguished Professor Emerita of Art and Art History.

Bruzelius's books include Preaching, Building and Burying: Friars in the Medieval City; Medieval Naples (with William Tronzo); The Stones of Naples: Church Building in the Angevin Italy, 1266-1343; The Thirteenth Century Church at Saint Denis ; The Brummer Collection of Medieval Art at Duke University (1991); and The Abbey Church of Longpont and the Architecture of the Cistercians in the Early Thirteenth Century (1977). Among her many articles are works on the architecture of religious women and the use of digital technologies in art history.

At Duke, Bruzelius worked with colleagues to incorporate digital technologies into teaching and research projects, involving students in making digital models, maps, databases and interactive displays to better understand historical monuments and their decoration. In addition to co-founding the Wired! Group at Duke, she also co-founded Visualizing Venice, an international collaboration that developed models of growth and change in Venice over time and worked on the team that created The Kingdom of Sicily Image Database. (See related collections.)

Bruzelius was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2020. She is also a member of The American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, London, and a Fellow of the Medieval Academy of America.

Sources: wikipedia article on Caroline Bruzelius (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caroline_Bruzelius), Scholars@Duke viewed on August 4, 2026 ( https://scholars.duke.edu/person/c.bruzelius), and the CV in this collection.

This collection documents Bruzelius's research in Gothic church architecture, particularly Notre-Dame de Paris and the Abbey Church of Saint-Denis, research on the architecture of the mendicant orders in Italy, and digital humanities projects related to medieval cities and architecture. The collection is organized in three series: I. Correspondence, II. Talks, and III. Subject Files.

Series I, Correspondence, is organized in alphabetical order by the correspondent's last name. Many files contain years of scholarly and personal exchanges, while others contain only one or two letters. Folders that are marked [to] contain only a copy of Bruzelius's outgoing letter to the recipient. Although a few files include letters from the 2020s, including printouts of emails, the bulk of the correspondence consists of letters written before 2000.

Series II, Talks, consists of speaking notes, draft scripts, and paper printouts of electronic slide presentations. Dates range from 2006 to 2024, generally later than the material in the other two series.

Series III, Subject Files, consists of notes and drafts for research projects. These include measurements and drawings of medieval ecclesiastical buildings, with particularly rich documentation on Notre-Dame and Saint-Denis. Although material in this series covers the full date range of the collection, the bulk of the files date from the 1970s through 1990s.