The Melville Society is dedicated to the study and appreciation of the nineteenth-century American author Herman Melville, writer of Typee, Moby-Dick, and Billy Budd, such short stories as “Bartleby” and “Benito Cereno,” and several volumes of poetry, including Battle-Pieces and the epic Clarel. We publish the award-winning journal Leviathan which all membes receive three times a year and which offers scholarly articles, book and art reviews, Society news, and Melville-related events. Membership is open to all. For information about Leviathan and joining The Melville Society click here.
The Eaton Portrait
By permission of Houghton Library, Harvard University: 61Z-4
click for larger image
Melville Electronic Library
The Melville Electronic Library is an online resource for Melville texts. Housed on a Hofstra University server, MEL is being developed and maintained by a group of Melville scholars and digital specialists.
Johns Hopkins University Press
To join the Melvillle Society and subscribe to Leviathan, visit Leviathan's Johns Hopkins University Press journal site by clicking here.
Melville Society Cultural Project
The New Bedford Whaling Museum in collaboration with The Melville Society is the established home of the Melville Society Cultural Project and Melville Society Archive. The Melville Society Archive is housed at the New Bedford Whaling Museum's Research Library, where significant works from this collection are also on display. The Melville Society Cultural Project also sponsors a book donation program and presents exciting annual events including the Moby-Dick Marathon and a Birthday Lecture.
Herman Melville's Arrowhead
Herman Melville's Arrowhead Facebook Group page of the Berkshire Historical Society. Celebrating historical Berkshire County and Herman Melville's Arrowhead, the farm and home where Melville lived while writing Moby-Dick.
You Can Contribute Today
Please contribute, during our Bicentennial Drive, to help establish a new endowment in support of the range of the Society’s programs and activities, or give to sustain our Henry Murray Endowment, which supports Leviathan: A Journal of Melville Studies and other Society publications. For more information about special donations, bequests, etc. please contact the treasurer at the address below.
- Bicentennial Fund — to establish an endowment to support the full range of the Society’s programs and activities.
- Henry Murray Endowment — supports Leviathan: A Journal of Melville Studies and other Society publications.
Use the dropdown menu below to select the fund to which you wish to contribute.
If donating to more than one fund, please make separate payments by returning to this page and selecting a different fund.
Other Melville Society Funds and Endowments:
• Hennig Cohen Endowment — honors the memory of Hennig Cohen with an award given annually for the best article, book chapter, or essay in a book about Melville. Preference is given to newer scholars in the field of Melville studies.
• Melville Society Cultural Project — archive, book donations, research fellowship
• Walter Bezanson Fellowship — research support
Supports a scholar to work in the Melville Archive at the New Bedford Whaling Museum.
Checks payable to The Melville Society may be sent to our treasurer, Steven Olsen-Smith, at the address below. Please specify the fund you wish to support in the memo line:
Steven Olsen-Smith
Department of English
Boise State University
Boise, ID 83725-1525
Subscriptions and Membership
Donations are Welcome!
The Melville Society on Facebook
Visit for Details about Upcoming Events and Melville-Related News
Calendar
Upcoming Conferences and Events
| 18 Jun 2020 07:30PM - 08:30PM Zoom event: In Bed with Ishmael: Queer Approaches to the Life, Work, and Legacy of Herman Melville |
| 01 Aug 2020 Melville's Birthday |
| 28 Sep 2020 Melville's passing |
| 18 Oct 2020 British Edition of Moby-Dick Published as The Whale |
| 14 Nov 2020 Moby-Dick Published |
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Fellowships and Scholarships
Melville Society Archive
Walter E. Bezanson Fellowship
The Melville Society, under the auspices of the Melville Society Cultural Project in New Bedford, offers an annual fellowship to help a scholar undertake research on Herman Melville at the Society’s Archive in the Research Library of the Whaling Museum in New Bedford, Massachusetts.
Click here for more information and application details.
New York Public Library
Short-term Research Fellowships
Graduate students or other affiliated academics whose work would benefit from visiting the Manuscripts and Archives Division to view collections such as the Gansevoort-Lansing collection, and Duyckinck family papers are encouraged to apply.
Click here for more information and application details.
Links
Woodlawn Cemetary
Woodlawn Cemetary - final resting place of Herman, his wife, Elizabeth, and other family members. Click here to view photos of the gravesites.
125th Anniversary Celebration
A celebration of Melville's life at Woodlawn Cemetary on the 125th anniversary of his passing.
Lansingburgh Historical Society
Melville lived for nine years in this Lansingburgh house. It was here that he wrote Typee and Omoo.
Berkshire Historical Society
Melville's Arrowhead home and farm in Pittsfield, MA where he wrote Moby-Dick and lived for most of the 1850s.