Rothermere American Institute

The Rothermere American Institute is an institution of the University of Oxford dedicated to the interdisciplinary and comparative study of the USA. Named after the Harmsworth family, Viscounts Rothermere, the Institute was opened in May 2001 by US President Bill Clinton and hosts regular conferences, lectures and seminars, particularly in the fields of American history, politics, foreign relations, and literature. Guests and speakers have included Queen Elizabeth II, US President Jimmy Carter, Jesse Jackson, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and Lord Patten of Barnes.

The Institute offers several categories of visiting fellowship for academics from around the world and hosts three of the university's chairs and two visiting professorships. These are the Mellon Professorship in American Government, the Rhodes Professorship in American History, and the Drue Heinz Professorship in American Literature, and the visiting chairs: the John G. Winant Professorship of American Government and the Harmsworth Professorship of American History. Recent holders of the Harmsworth chair have included Eric Foner, Lizabeth Cohen, Robin Kelley and Linda Kerber, and the post is held for the 2014-15 academic year by Annette Gordon-Reed.

Each May, Oxford University's annual Esmond Harmsworth Lecture in American Arts and Letters is held at the Institute. It has been delivered in recent years by writers such as Richard Ford, Joyce Carol Oates, Tobias Wolff, Lorrie Moore and Marilynne Robinson. The Institute also houses the University of Oxford's library collections in American history and politics in the Vere Harmsworth Library. The Princess Margaret Memorial Garden, situated in its grounds and dedicated in honour of Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, was formally opened by Queen Elizabeth II in August 2006.

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