7 May 2003
A lifetime collection of academic papers from the estate of one of the most eminent Italian Renaissance history scholars has been presented to Monash's Prato Centre.
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Professor Kent looks through the academic papers on Renaissance Florence.
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The 43 boxes of working notes and papers relating to the history of Renaissance Florence under the Medici belonged to Professor Nicolai Rubinstein, who had been a history lecturer, reader and professor at London University.
Prato Centre director Professor Bill Kent said the papers would be an invaluable resource in his work as general editor of a 19-volume edition of Lorenzo de' Medici's letters.
Professor Kent took over editorship of this major international project after the death last year of the 91-year-old professor, who had already edited nine volumes of the letters.
Professor Kent's association with Professor Rubinstein goes back more than 30 years.
"I first met him in London in 1967 when his reputation was being established as the greatest scholar of his generation on Renaissance Florence," said Professor Kent.
"He was the last of the great emigré Jewish scholars and he inspired generations of younger scholars, including myself.
"It was an honour and delight to accept the offer from the executors of Professor Rubinstein's estate to care for his academic papers. The collection includes correspondence and appointment diaries going back more than 50 years, and it was a very moving experience to examine some of them."
Professor Kent said the papers would be a great resource for scholars of Renaissance Florence history and that he would consult them while editing further volumes of Lorenzo de' Medici's letters.
International collaborators on the letters project include London University's Warburg Institute, Harvard University's Centre for Italian Renaissance Studies in Florence and the Renaissance Society of America. | 
