Frances Burney: Life and Works
Single Session Class | Registration closed 9/10/2025
There will be a presentation by Robert DeMaria of the Vassar College English Department on Frances Burney and her place in English Literature. This will be followed by a presentation by Ronald Patkus on holdings relating to Burney in the Vassar Library. There will be time for discussion. Lastly, there will be a tour of the exhibition in the Vassar Library.
Ronald Patkus
Ronald Patkus received a BA from Boston College (1986), an MA and Certificate in Archival Management from the University of Connecticut (1987), an MS in Library Science from Simmons College (1993), and a PhD in History from Boston College (1997). He serves as head of the Archives & Special Collections Library and is the College Historian. A member of the History Department, he also holds the Frederick Weyerhaeuser Endowed Chair in Biblical Literature and Bibliography. His teaching and research interests focus on the history of books and printing, and the history of Vassar.
Robert DeMaria
Robert DeMaria, Jr., Ph.D., is the Henry Noble MacCracken Professor of English at Vassar College where he has taught since 1975. His main field of study is eighteenth-century British literature. He is the author of three monographs on the life and works of Samuel Johnson (1709–84) and the general editor of The Yale Edition of the Works of Samuel Johnson, a series of 23 volumes (1958–2018). He is also interested in the history of the Language, the presence of the classical tradition in British literature, and the history of books.
Maureen King
Maureen King is a retired Vassar College administrator. She finds joy in walking the many scenic trails of the Hudson Valley.