News Releases

Stony Brook University PhD student Arleigh Rodgers will research the relationship between Eudora Welty’s work and local stage adaptations

Arleigh Rodgers, a doctoral student at Stony Brook University in New York, has been selected as the Mississippi Department of Archives and History’s 2026 Eudora Welty Research Fellow. This summer, Rodgers will explore the Eudora Welty Collection, the world’s finest collection of materials related to the Pulitzer Prize-winning author, and stage adaptations of Welty’s novella, “The Ponder Heart.” 

The annual fellowship, which provides a $5,000 stipend, is offered at MDAH in partnership with the Eudora Welty Foundation. 

Rodgers plans to use this opportunity to investigate Welty’s perspective on adaptation and the theatre community in Jackson. The archival collection at MDAH holds manuscripts, ephemera, and correspondence between Welty and local stage adaptors, and will provide Rodgers with unique insight into text-to-stage adaptation. Rodgers said she intends to contribute to the greater conversation around Welty and story mediums. 

“I'm curious to explore Welty's relationship to the adaptations of her works and to consider how adaptations of ‘The Ponder Heart’ appeared in a performance medium, specifically localized through stage productions in the Jackson community,” Rodgers said. “This close contemplation of Welty's work in the theatre space speaks to the intertextual approach to adaptation studies to which I hope to contribute, specifically through publication, presentation, and/or teaching of my findings after my time in Jackson this summer."

Rodgers is currently working toward her doctoral degree in English from Stony Brook University. She received a Bachelor of Arts in English from Ithaca College and a Master of Arts in English from the University of Southern Mississippi.

The fellowship stipend is used to cover travel, housing, and other expenses incurred while conducting primary research at the archives.

Elisabeth Cambonga, MDAH manuscripts archivist and curator for the Eudora Welty Collection, coordinates the Eudora Welty Research Fellowship. She credits the partnership with the Eudora Welty Foundation for enabling this fellowship opportunity. 

“Rodgers will have the opportunity to research in one of the most varied literary collections in the country, “said Cambonga. “With access to such a large and diverse collection of manuscripts, letters, photographs, artwork, and audio-visual materials, the annual fellowship seeks to increase scholarly interest in and help promote continued appreciation of Eudora Welty’s life and works.” 

The Eudora Welty Collection may be accessed at the William F. Winter Archives and History Building in Jackson. For more information on the fellowship or about the collection, contact Elisabeth Cambonga at 601-576-6868, or by email at fellowships@mdah.ms.gov.