Sophie de Schaepdrijver, born in Kortrijk, Belgium, in 1961. Ph.D. from the University of Amsterdam. Associate Professor in Modern European History at Pennsylvania State University, University Park.
Fellow (1 September 2005 – 30 June 2006)
‘THE LITTLE PEDESTAL’: A CULTURAL AND SOCIAL HISTORY OF RENTIERS IN 19th CENTURY WESTERN EUROPE
Substantial progress was made this year toward the research project supported by NIAS mostly in the form of the gathering of data. The study of rentiers and work represents a new and large-scale project, which entails wide-ranging reading in social and cultural history, as well as the belles-lettres of the 19th and early 20th centuries. During the period of my NIAS fellowship, I concentrated on gathering sources in the Dutch and French languages. As this project is in its initial phase, I have not reached the point in my research where I have been able to publish the initial results, but I have made substantial progress to shaping the final outcome of the monograph that will eventually appear.
Like most other fellows, I also took advantage of this year to complete several projects that were carried over from the past. The time allotted me by NIAS enabled me to virtually complete a monograph on the military occupation of Belgium in World War One. My work benefited greatly from discussions and presentations this year as well as proximity to the relevant archives.