Departments: Heberden Coin Room: Research: Visiting Scholars- Ashmolean Museum

Kraay Travel Scholarships
New Europe Studentships (formerly East Europe Studentships) [Currently suspended]
Robinson Visiting Scholarship (Heberden Coin Room) in association with the Kraay Visitorship (Wolfs
Shamma Visiting Fellowship in Islamic Numismatics and Epigraphy (in association with St Cross Colle

Kraay Travel Scholarships

This scheme was initiated from funds donated in memory of Colin Kraay, and is now funded by the Robinson Charitable Trust. The Scholarship is intended for productive scholars at a post doctoral level, and is normally held for a month in the summer. The Coin Room makes a grant towards expenses. Wolfson College normally elects the recipient to short-term membership of Common Room and may be able to make accommodation available.

Previous holders:

New Europe Studentships (formerly East Europe Studentships) [Currently suspended]

It was a generous initiative by Mr. Carl Subak and Mr. Jon Subak of Chicago, in which they were quickly joined by Mr. Ed Milas and Mr. Harlan Berk, to create a scheme of visiting studentships for numismatists from the countries in eastern Europe to which democracy returned through the events of 1989 and 1990. The studentships enable younger museum curators and numismatists working in archaeological and other such institutions to spend a period of 4 - 6 weeks in the summer at the Heberden Coin Room. The scheme is supported by Wolfson College, Oxford, which offers accommodation and meals to two students each year. It has also received generous financial support from the International Association of Professional Numismatists.

For some of the students, it was their first visit to the West. Others were more experienced travellers. For all of them, access to a world-class numismatic and archaeological library was like entering Aladdin's Cave, after their normal experience in institutions which for many years have been starved of hard currency, and unable to buy many books. Contacts with numismatic colleagues have been strengthened, through discussions and through a shared daily life in the Ashmolean Museum. Visits to the British Museum and to the Fitzwilliam Museum have been facilitated. Above all, the students have enjoyed the opportunity of living in the academic community of an Oxford graduate college for a few weeks. And the benefits have been mutual, as the staff of the Coin Room have made new friends and have deepened their understanding of eastern Europe.

Previous holders:

1991	Ms. Maja Bona?i? Mandini?, Arheološki Muzej, Split, Jugoslavia (now Croatia). Ms. Melinda Torbagyi, Magyar Nemzeti Múzeum, Budapest, Hungary. Tomasz Pola?ski, Institute of Hellenic Studies, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland (jointly with Hertford College).
1992	Ernest Oberländer-Târnoveanu, Museum of National History, Bucarest, Romania. Dr. Ján Hunka, Institute of Archaeology, Slovakian Academy of Sciences, Czechoslovakia (now Slovakia).
1993	Dr. Ivan Iordanov, Arheologicheski Institut i Muzei, Shumen, Bulgaria. Dr. Dimitar Draganov, Museum of History, Jambol, Bulgaria.
1994	Dr. Shpresa Gjongecaj-Vangjeli, Archaeological Institute, Tirana, Albania. Dr. Vlastimil Novák, Náprstkovo Muzeum, Prague, Czech Republic. Ms. Katerina Hristovska, Central European University, and Prilep, Republic of Macedonia.
1995	Dr. Kamen Dimitrov, Institute of Thracology, Sofia, Bulgaria.
1996	Ernest Oberländer-Târnoveanu, Museum of National History, Bucarest, Romania. Dr. Kamen Dimitrov, Institute of Thracology, Sofia, Bulgaria.
1997	Adrian Popescu, Institute of Archeology “Vasile Pârvan”, Bucharest, Romania. Dr. Alexander Bursche, Institute of Archaeology, University of Warsaw, Poland. 1997 Dr. Kamen Dimitrov, Institute of Thracology, Sofia, Bulgaria.
1998	Christian Gazdac, National History Museum of Transylvania, Cluj-Hapoca, Romania.
1999	Dr. Sergei Kovalenko, Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow.
2000	Dr. Mariusz Mielczarek, Nicholas Copernicus University Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology, Torun, Poland. Eugeni Paunov, The National Museum of History, Sofia, Bulgaria.
2001	Dr. Natalia Smirnova, Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow Dr. Borys Paszkiewicz, Curie-Sk»odowska University, Lublin
2002	Delia Moisil, National Museum of History Bucharest, Romania Jan Bodzek National Museum, Cracow, Poland
2003	Anahit Mousheghian, National Academy of Sciences, Yerevan, Armenia Anna Vikhrova, Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow, Russia
2004	Robert Pieñkowski, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland

Robinson Visiting Scholarship (Heberden Coin Room) in association with the Kraay Visitorship (Wolfs

In October 1976 Colin Kraay, who was then the Keeper of the Heberden Coin Room, wrote to the Robinson Charitable Trust with a suggestion for a new initiative, ‘...it would be very useful to many numismatists if they were given the chance from time to time to get away from their places of work to come for short periods to the Ashmolean, where they would be in touch with a group of people doing the same kind of work... I wonder whether it might seem attractive to establish something which might be called a Robinson Travelling Scholarship or something similar, and which could possibly be combined with visiting status at my college, Wolfson.’ This idea was received generously by the Trustees, and in due course Dr. Kraay made a formal approach to Wolfson College, which gave its blessing and kindly agreed to provide parallel financial support. The scholarship is named after Sir Edward (Stanley) Robinson, one of the most eminent of Greek numismatists, who was Honorary Keeper of the Coin Room.

There began a sequence of visits which has brought to the Heberden Coin Room and to Wolfson College a series of eminent numismatists from many countries. They have been given the opportunity to pursue their studies in congenial surroundings, and with all the facilities of an excellent library, freed from the distractions of the day-to-day routine in their own museum or university. They have all enjoyed their stay in Oxford, and the benefits have been mutual, for the staff of the Heberden Coin Room have enjoyed welcoming them, getting to know them better, and discussing numismatic problems with them.

After the death of Colin Kraay, Wolfson College took the opportunity to name the annual award in his memory. Since then the Visiting Scholar has had the title, in college, of ‘the Kraay Visitor’.

A name is proposed to the College each year by the Keeper of the Coin Room. The College prefers that the candidate should be of professorial or equivalent status. The minimum tenure of the award is a month. The recipient is provided with a room in college during the Summer, when fewer students are in residence, and the accommodation is available, and he or she is made a member of Common Room, with entitlement to eat meals in Hall, and to share in the facilities of the college generally.

Previous holders:

Shamma Visiting Fellowship in Islamic Numismatics and Epigraphy (in association with St Cross Colle

In association with St Cross College

Recipients hold a visiting fellowship at St Cross College. They work closely with Dr Luke Treadwell, the curator of Islamic coins, and in many cases have contributed to the publication of the collection in the Sylloge of Islamic coins in the Ashmolean Museum series.

Previous holders: