Mellon-Schlesinger Summer Research Grants on Gender and Suffrage

A major grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has allowed the Schlesinger Library to launch the Long 19th Amendment Project interrogating the centennial of American women’s suffrage.

The grant will fund up to three eight-week residencies each June–July in 2019, 2020, and 2021 for researchers doing advanced work on the gender and suffrage, voting rights, citizenship, or other related topics. Successful projects will draw in meaningful ways on Schlesinger Library collections.

The stipend for each award is $15,000.

We will consider applications from clusters of two or three researchers as well as from individuals. Such collaborations could produce a range of materials, from co-authored books and articles, to course syllabi, to datasets or interview transcripts, to podcasts and video modules. College and university faculty, secondary school teachers, and other advanced researchers in any relevant discipline are invited to apply for Mellon-Schlesinger Summer Research grants. Currently enrolled graduate students are not eligible for these awards and should apply instead for Schlesinger Library’s Dissertation Support Grants

Deadline

Applications must be received by Thursday, November 15, 2018. Awards will be announced in late January 2019 to be used for an eight-week residency June–July 2019.

Application Components

Applicants must apply online. Applicants can save and return to any part of the application to make changes. Once the application is submitted, changes will no longer be accepted. The applicant must submit the application by selecting the “Submit” button no later than the November 15, 2018 deadline. Late submissions will not be considered.

The application is composed of nine parts:

• Personal information & affiliations
• Addresses
• Project title
• Abstract (200 words)
• Description of how applicant’s research connects to The Long 19th Amendment Project (250 words)
• Project proposal (1200 words; uploaded as a .pdf)
• Writing sample (5000 words max, including footnotes; uploaded as a .pdf)
• Resume/C.V. (uploaded as a .pdf)
• Two letters of recommendation are required. At least one of these should be from a writer outside the applicant's home institution.

Note: Applicants applying as part of a two- or three-person research cluster are also required to provide:

• Cluster project title
• List of other members of the cluster
• Cluster project statement (500 words)

Each member of a research cluster will also be considered as an individual applicant. Applicants may opt out of individual consideration.

Research Proposal

The proposal (1200 words) should describe the significance of the applicant’s project and the applicant’s plans for research during the grant period in clear, concise terms accessible to non-specialists. The proposal must engage the specific purposes of the Schlesinger Library's Long 19th Amendment Project, and also explain in detail the ways in which the applicant’s work will draw on the Library's collections. Applicants applying as part of a two- or three-person research cluster, are also required to provide a cluster project statement describing the nature of the collaboration (500 words).

Letters of Recommendation

Applicants must submit the names and e-mail addresses of two references who will provide letters of recommendation. At least one of these should be from a writer outside the applicant's home institution. Letters of recommendation are due November 30, 2018. The most persuasive letters of recommendation will engage not just with the applicants’ overall career and achievements, but specifically with the proposed project.