historic period rooms, several of which were created by the Parisian designer, Armand-Albert Rateau (1882–1938). Research Institutional program The mission of Dumbarton Oaks is to support and promote scholarship in three areas of study: Byzantine, Pre-Columbian, and garden and landscape architecture. Through a fellowship program, the institute invites scholars from around the world for an academic year or a summer to pursue individual research. A grants program also supports archaeological research, materials analysis, and photographic surveys of objects and monuments. In addition, each studies program sponsors public lectures, symposia, and colloquia as well as scholarly publications including annual journals, symposium proceedings, and occasional monographs. Byzantine Studies The program in Byzantine Studies, established in 1940, supports scholarship on the civilization of the Byzantine Empire from the fourth to the fifteenth centuries and its interactions with neighboring cultures and civilizations, including the late Roman, early Christian, western medieval, Slavic, and Near Eastern. Pre-Columbian Studies The program in Pre-Columbian Studies was founded in 1963 to support the study of the art and archaeology of the ancient Americas. The program focuses on the cultures that thrived in the western hemisphere from northern Mexico to southern South America, from the earliest times to the sixteenth century. Garden and Landscape Architecture Studies Dumbarton Oaks awarded the first fellowship in landscape architecture in 1956 under the provisions of the Dumbarton Oaks Garden Endowment Fund established in 1951 by the Blisses. However, the program in Garden and Landscape Studies (formerly known as Landscape Architecture Studies) was established in 1969 and inaugurated in 1972 to support the study of gardens and the history of landscape architecture around the world from ancient times to the present. Museum and collections The Dumbarton Oaks Museum features collections of Byzantine and Pre-Columbian art, as well as European artworks and furnishings. Mildred and Robert Woods Bliss initiated these collections in the first half of the twentieth century and provided the vision for future acquisitions even after giving Dumbarton Oaks to Harvard University. The Byzantine Collection spans the imperial, ecclesiastical, and secular realms and comprises more than 1,200 objects from the fourth to the fifteenth centuries. Although the collection emphasizes objects of precious materials, underscoring the conception of Byzantine art as luxury art, the collection also includes large-scale works such as mosaics from Antioch and relief sculpture, as well as more than two hundred textiles and comprehensive holdings of coins and seals. It owns six