Amy Werbel, Professor of Fine Arts, received funding to support her next major project, a book titled “A Long Dark Shadow: The Life and Legacy of Anthony Comstock.”   Professor Werbel used the funds granted to pay for transportation and two weeks lodging in New York City.   While there, she conducted research in several archives including The New York Historical Society, the New York Public Library, Municipal Archives (police and district attorney records), and the  Art Student’s League.  This research was essential to the preparation of grant applications seeking support for a year long sabbatical leave to complete the research and analysis, and write the book about Comstock.  

 Anthony Comstock (1844-1915) was a censor, having served as Secretary of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice and as a special agent for the U.S. Postal Service.  He supervised the burning of thousands of books and paintings, persecuted life drawing art students, warred against pornographers and birth control advocates. Professor Werbel indicates that a modern analysis of Anthony Comstock “is especially important for disciplines engaged in researching nineteenth-century visual culture including American studies and art history, as well as for efforts to understand contemporary reform campaigns in their full historical context”.