Powell Inducted into American Philosophical Society

On Friday, November 14, 2025, Richard J. Powell, John Spencer Bassett Distinguished Professor of Art & Art History at Duke University, was inducted into the American Philosophical Society. The American Philosophical Society (APS), the oldest learned society in the United States, was founded in 1743 by Benjamin Franklin for the purpose of “promoting useful knowledge.” The Society is unusual among learned societies because its membership is comprised of top scholars from a wide variety of academic disciplines. The roster of past and present Society affiliates – such as Charles Darwin, Louis Pasteur, John Hope Franklin and, more recently, US Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan, Harvard University President Alan Garber, Duke Professor Emerita Caroline Bruzelius, and Richard Powell – indicates the scientific, humanistic, and public accomplishments of APS members.