From Christina Neilson

Dear Maggi,

We had the conference in Shona's memory at the end of last week at the University of Manitoba and it went very well. We had 8 papers from people working in many different fields of Renaissance studies (history of literature, science, and politics, social history, and art and architectural history) and many of us had known Shona from our time with her at I Tatti. Shona came up a lot during the conference. At the beginning of the conference Roisin explained how the event had come about and how Shona had been one of the original organisers, and she went on to talk about Shona's work and how it engaged with many of the issues we would be talking about at the conference. Many people mentioned Shona during their talks and how their interactions with her had affected their thinking (for instance, Filippo de Vivo, one of the other organisers, explained how he had been moved to include a discussion of gender in his consideration of the experience of walking in the Renaissance city because of conversations he had had with Shona). On the final evening we had dinner at Roisin's house and we made a point of remembering Shona together. Roisin began by telling those people who were there and did not know Shona something about her. After that many of us talked about Shona and how she had influenced us or a funny story about an interaction we had had with her. Her droll sense of humour was mentioned more than once.

Something we were all happy about was the quality of the conference papers, which we plan on submitting to I Tatti Studies as a special issue, dedicated to Shona's memory. The high quality of the articles will be a fitting tribute to Shona's own remarkable talents as a scholar.  

I think of Shona often and I, like many, was very sad at the conference that she could not be there. She was very much missed, as she is in my life in general.

From Dr Adelina Modesti

I was very saddened to hear about Shona's passing. We first met at the RSA conference in Venice in 2010, when Shona introduced herself as a fellow researcher of Bolognese social history. I remember her enthusiasm and genuine interest in my work (seventeenth century Bolognese women artists), and willingness to discuss her own research . She was working on Bolognese professors and their families, and was interested in education in the city in the early modern period, especially of women, on which I had done some work. My last memory of Shona was earlier this year, when she invited me to I Tatti to chat about our latest findings on the material culture of Bolognese households. We passed a lovely afternoon over lunch and a glass of wine, and I felt once again her infectious enthusiasm and good cheer. Little did I know that this would be our last encounter. My thoughts and prayers go out to Shona's family.

From Laura M. Giles

As a recently arrived fellow at I Tatti, I only knew Shona for a few weeks in April. Fleeting as our acquaintance was, Shona made an indelible impression upon me with her wit, smile, and generous spirt--as Filippo De Vivo so aptly put it, she was truly "solare" in her disposition.  As my heart goes out with sadness to her family, friends, and colleagues, I would also like to express my gratitude for the short but memorable interludes I spent with her: on the train to Venice, in the rain in Padova, in the cucina at I Tatti (where she seemed to document every second with great glee on her camera!), at pranzo and at the terrace of the Villino, where we fondly shared 1980s memories of Unix, disco music, and the Archivio di Stato at Bologna.

From Monica Green

Memories of Shona

Dear Maggi (if I may),

I communicated with the Chair of History at UMKC shortly after Shona's death and sent him a copy of the letter of support I wrote for Shona the year before last when she was applying for the I Tatti scholarship.  

I could go on for pages about how wonderful and pathbreaking Shona's scholarship was (and augured to be in the future).  Indeed, if you've seen that letter, I in fact *have* been known to go on for pages about her work.

But what has elicited this outpouring of remembrance from others was the same thing that most struck me about Shona:  her generosity and curiosity, her frankness and her boldness, her sense of fun and her sense of the seriousness of history and the importance of "getting it right."

One anecdote from 2005:  I was working on a chapter of my book and it dawned on me that there might have been a significant change in medical practitioners' therapeutic practices because of the plague.  So I wrote to Shona asking her if anything was mentioned in the wills from the time of the Black Death that she was working on.  I closed my query, "If this is a crazy question, just say so."  

Well, sure enough, Shona had both the "archival goods" and the generosity to offer a rich answer my question:  "I can't think of any reason why a 14th-century testament would include such explicit and precise medical info [as you're inquiring about]. I certainly have never seen anything like it. No testament even mentions the plague! However, I don't think your question is crazy at all, because it got me wondering how you could find such info."  And so it went.  

My first thought when I heard of Shona's passing was of her children.  I have not met them but I heard of them whenever Shona and I talked.  I want them to know how truly wonderful their mother was, and that so much of her wonderfulness was captured in her humility, her pride in her work, and her joy in life.  She has given you an amazing inheritance.

Monica Green
Professor of History
Arizona State University

From Lino Pertile and Anna Bensted

A tribute to Shona from Lino Pertile and Anna Bensted

Shona, like other Fellows at I Tatti, was chosen to come to the Harvard Center because of her  remarkable academic achievements, and because of her sure grasp of what she could accomplish with a year here at the Villa.  From the moment she arrived, Shona immediately set to work on her research making the very most of her Fellowship.

But during her time here Shona showed herself to possess another remarkable set of qualities beyond the scholarly – qualities that are as important in an I Tatti Fellow as the ability to bring to completion any academic project. Bernard Berenson wanted this to be a place of peace and tranquility, a place where scholars could exchange ideas and share the excitement of research and intellectual discovery. This is what Shona showed herself ready to do every day here. At the lunch table we could hear how she revelled in connections made with all scholars from both her own and other disciplines. But there was something else we heard from her at the table: her occasional, lovely bursts of laughter that made all conversations with her, scholarly and not, a pleasure for everyone. She was in every way a wonderful I Tatti Fellow.

One day at lunch, after she had attended one of the cooking lessons that occasionally take place in the I Tatti kitchen, she said to Anna how very much she had enjoyed the lesson, and she went on to suggest other such sessions. “Let’s go out with Margrit one afternoon – she said - and learn more about the I Tatti flowers and gardens.” Anna’s last email exchange with Shona was about planning such a visit through the garden in full spring. Shona explained that she wanted to do this because, “after all, we are not just academics here, but fully rounded human beings.” That is indeed what Shona was, a superb scholar and a caring, curious, generous, fully rounded human being. 

We deeply mourn her loss but we celebrate her life and cherish her memory.

On Thursday 14 June 2012  Early Music at I Tatti , a concert in the Limonaia of the Villa, will be dedicated to the memory of Shona, esteemed scholar and beloved colleague.