After a generous financial gift from Nicholas D. Chabraja (WCAS ’64), Northwestern’s Center for Historical Studies was renamed the Nicholas D. Chabraja Center for Historical Studies last month.

The money was put toward the center’s endowment, Assistant Director Elzbieta Foeller-Pituch said. It will be used to fund the center’s yearly activities, which include eight to 10 lectures featuring eminent historians from around the world and several workshops on campus and abroad to engage graduate students in discussion, book launches, conferences and other lectures on campus, she said.

The center, established in 2006, is geared toward the department as a whole, Foeller-Pituch said. The History Department will return to its home in the renovated Harris Hall, 1881 Sheridan Rd., next fall.

One program that will benefit from the donation is Leopold Fellowships, which is geared toward undergraduates, Foeller-Pituch said. Leopold Fellows are paid to work with a faculty member conducting his or her research. While most history research assistants examine secondary sources, Leopold Fellows study primary sources, which may include government reports, letters and interview transcripts, Foeller-Pituch said.

Medill junior Sisi Tang, a Leopold Fellow, is currently researching suicide in urban China in the early 20th century with history Prof. Peter Carroll. Her work involves looking through old newspapers to find editorial content on suicide and analyzing suicide rates and statistics to relate the data to the modern world and sociological studies, she said.

“I’ve definitely enjoyed it,” Tang said. “Even when I look through the newspapers, it’s not confined to what I’m researching. I’m also able to look around, and there’s a lot of interesting advertising, editorials and historical content. It kind of puts you in the time period.”

This type of work is one of the best parts about being a historian, said Brodwyn Fischer, associate history professor.

“The most exciting part of being a historian is looking through old documents,” she said. “It’s almost like being a detective and finding the missing pieces to a story.”

Leopold Fellowships let professors give students an idea of what their life is like, said Fischer, who serves on the faculty advisory board of the Chabraja Center.

Student response to the program has been very positive, Foeller-Pituch said. This year 40 students applied for nine spots, she said.

Another program the Chabraja donation will fund is the international doctorate workshop series, Foeller-Pituch said.

For these workshops a small group of doctoral students from the history department travel outside the United States for a history conference, she said. Past conferences have been held in Ireland, Germany and the United Kingdom. NU professors and students will travel to Italy for the next conference in April and may travel to Brazil, Turkey and the Czech Republic in the future, she said.

Former University president Henry Bienen initially established the center using funds from Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences and income from research patent revenue, Foeller-Pituch said.

“Now the Chabraja gift has gone into the endowment to make sure these funds are maintained,” she said. [email protected]