Four visiting scholars will spend the 1997-98 academic year at Radcliffe's Schlesinger Library exploring a variety of topics, such as American consumerism, orphanages, and the benefits of marriage.

The scholars will utilize the holdings of the Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America. In the spring, each one will present a paper in the Schlesinger Library Visiting Scholar Colloquium Series. Scholars participate in College and Library programming and have the opportunity to work with Harvard and Radcliffe undergraduate research partners.

The scholars will join three current library scholars who are continuing their research in the following areas: the history of marriage in U.S. public policy, an examination of Betty Friedan and modern American feminism, and the controversial issues of sex in 19th-century America.

The newly appointed scholars and their projects are:

* Jacqueline Dirks, Reed College, "Righteous Goods: Women's Production, Reform Publicity, and the National Consumers League, 1891-1919"

* Carolyn Goldstein, National Building Museum, "Mediating Consumption: Home Economics and American Consumers, 1900-1970"

* E.J. Graff, independent scholar, "What Is Marriage For?"

* Susan Porter, Simmons College, "Gendered Benevolence: Orphan Asylums in Antebellum America."

The scholars who are continuing as affiliates are:

* Nancy Cott, Yale University, "A History of Marriage as/in U.S. Public Policy"

* Daniel Horowitz, Smith College, "Betty Friedan and the Origins of Modern American Feminism"

* Helen Lefkowitz Horowitz, Smith College, "Culture War: The Battle Over Sex in Nineteenth-century America."

The application deadline for 1998-99 appointments as visiting scholars at the Library is Feb. 2, 1998.