In recognition of a founding member, Carole Silver, the Northeast Victorian Studies Association welcomes contributions for an annual plenary session named in her honor. Donations are tax deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law and may be made by clicking here.

Carole Greta Silver (June 6, 1937-January 3, 2015), a Professor in the English Department at Stern College, Yeshiva University, was a vital member of NVSA for over four decades. She served as Vice President of the organization, and through the years gave papers at numerous NVSA conferences, hosted Program Committee meetings, and moderated panels. She was personally and solely responsible for getting NVSA tax exempt status.

Carole graduated from the High School of Music and Art in New York City and then earned her bachelors degree at Albert University. She received her Ph.D. from Columbia University. Carole met Norman Levy in 1986 and they married in 1991. After the end of apartheid, they divided their time between New York and South Africa with many stays in London, where her step-children and grandchildren live.

She is the author of numerous articles on Victorian artists and literature; her books include The Romance of William Morris and Strange and Secret People: Fairies and Victorian Consciousness, for which she received a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The book was awarded the Mythopoeic Scholarship Award for Myth and Fantasy Studies for 2000. Her recent work focused on nineteenth-century South African women writers, including her book Sarah Heckford: A Lady Traveler in the Transvaal.