The James T. King Prize for 2022 Awarded to French Major Phoebe Campbell

Photo of 2022 French Major and recipient of the James T. King Prize, Phoebe Campbell
May 24, 2022

For the first time in three years the faculty, students, staff, and family of the Yale Department of French had the opportunity to celebrate the recipients of the French Undergraduate Prizes in-person, including  The James T. King Prize for Distinction in the Senior Essay, which was awarded to French Major, Phoebe Campbell for her Senior Essay “Remembering and Forgetting : The Villa Kérylos and the Erasure of the Reinachs.”

The essay was judged by the Director of Undergraduate Studies, Professor Thomas C. Connolly.

In the words of Ms. Campbell’s Senior Essay Advisor, Sterling Professor Alice Kaplan, “Her essay elegantly combines personal narrative of her research with deep reflection on the persecution of French Jews during the second world war.”  

Ms. Campell’s Senior Essay Reader, Professor James McAuley, who is the author of the book on this topic, The House of Fragile Things: Jewish Art Collectors and the Fall of France writes this of her Essay: “I was so taken with this thesis that I read it twice. On my second read, I lingered over this line: “As someone who is neither a Reinach nor Jewish, I have felt hesitant to insert myself in their history when I am, and always will be, an outsider.” But it is precisely this perspective, that of the outsider, that has allowed Campbell to do such a fine job with her topic. She treats her subject with empathy, precision, and compassion, and we are all the richer for it.”

Congratulations Phoebe on this outstanding acheivement!

The James T. King Prize Award Recipient, Phoebe Campbell, with her father, and French DUS, Professor Thomas C. Connolly

Photo of The James T. King Prize Award Recipient, Phoebe Campbell (left), her father (center), and French DUS, Professor Thomas C. Connolly (right).