Lillian Datchev

Lillian Datchev is an Assistant Professor of Humanities at the University of Florida (effective Fall 2026). She holds a Klarman Postdoctoral Fellowship at Cornell University and has been a Fulbright Scholar in Italy and a Rome Prize recipient from the American Academy in Rome. Her expertise lies in premodern European cultural and intellectual history, with focuses on knowledge systems, material culture, and early capitalism in medieval/early modern Italy and the eastern Mediterranean.

Education

• Ph.D. in History, Princeton University (2024)
• M.A. in Cultural and Intellectual History (1300–1650), The Warburg Institute (2016)
• B.A. in Philosophy and History of Mathematics and Science, St. John’s College, Annapolis (2013)

Research Explores the origins of archaeology through her book project on fifteenth-century scholarly movements in Italian mercantile communities. Recent work includes analyzing epigraphy and artifact studies in Renaissance Quarterly.

Awards

• Klarman Postdoctoral Fellowship
• Fulbright Scholar
• Rome Prize

Her research bridges historical methodologies with interdisciplinary approaches to material culture, emphasizing Mediterranean networks and premodern scholarly practices.