RSVP Linda H. Peterson Fellowship for Research on 19th-century British Press

The Linda H. Peterson Fellowship, named after the widely influential Yale professor and longtime RSVP Board member and Vice President, was created with funds from a generous bequest to RSVP by the late Eileen Curran, pioneering researcher and Emerita Professor of English at Colby College. The purpose of the Peterson Fellowship is to support one scholar for four full-time months to enable him or her to conduct a research project on the 19th-century British periodical and newspaper press.

Please note: in order to comply with US tax regulations related to our new status as a private foundation, RSVP has unfortunately had to cancel the 2018 Peterson Fellowship. In 2019, RSVP intends to make up to two Peterson Fellowship awards, which can be used for a four-month period in either calendar year 2019 or 2020.

General Information

In 2019, the Research Society for Victorian Periodicals (RSVP) will grant up to two Linda H. Peterson Fellowships (henceforth, the Peterson Fellowship). Each Peterson Fellowship is granted to a single researcher for a period equivalent to four, full-time months in calendar years 2019 and/or 2020.  The amount of the award will be $17,500.

The Peterson Fellowship supports the study of any aspects of the periodical press in any of its manifold forms, and may range from within Britain itself to the many countries, within and outside of the Empire, where British magazines and newspapers were bought, sold, and read during the “long nineteenth century” (ca. 1780-1914).

Funds could be used to supplement sabbatical or other grant income, provide course “buy outs,” and/or conduct travel related to the project.  During the award period, a grantee could conduct secondary research, write, or pursue other scholarly activities related to a proposed project.  However, eligible projects must include substantial research in nineteenth-century primary sources, whether those sources appear in print, manuscript, or digital facsimile.

The Peterson Fellowship is intended to provide a researcher with the most valuable scholarly resource—time. Thus, an awardee is expected to hold the fellowship for a continuous period for the equivalent of four, full-time months. In the event that a full-time tenure is not possible, a part-time (or combination part-time/full-time) tenure can be requested. (Those who are seeking less than four months should consider RSVP’s Curran Fellowships Program.)

The fellowship is named for the late Linda H. Peterson (1948-2015), Niel Gray, Jr. Professor of English at Yale University. Linda was a pioneering scholar and mentor in periodical studies who served as RSVP vice president from 2009-2013 and whose spirit of collegiality and scholarly rigor remains a hallmark of the Society. The fellowship is funded by a generous bequest from the estate of Eileen Curran (1927-2013).

Eligibility

The Peterson Fellowship is intended to support, first and foremost, primary research on the nineteenth-century newspaper and periodical press. Therefore, eligible projects must engage primary sources, whether those sources appear in print, manuscript, or digital facsimile.

Only one application may be submitted by an individual per deadline.

Only one applicant is permitted per application. Awards cannot be shared or split among collaborators. (Those seeking support for collaborative projects should consider the RSVP Field-Development Grants.)

The fellowship period must begin during the 2019 or 2020 calendar year.

Those holding academic appointments as well as independent or retired scholars are equally welcome to apply. An academic degree is not required; however, those enrolled in a degree program at the deadline are not eligible.

Applicants are strongly encouraged, but not required, to become RSVP members.

Applicants may hold grants or fellowships from other organizations concurrent with the Peterson Fellowship. However, the Peterson Fellowship winner may not hold other RSVP awards in the same calendar year.

The Application

All applications must be submitted through the online application portal at https://rs4vp.fluidreview.com/ not later than 11:59 PM US Pacific time (PDT/UTC-7) on March 31, 2019. The application portal will open on March 4, 2019, at which time applicants may create an account and begin preparing and submitting their proposals. At the application portal you may start your application and finish submitting it at a later date.

As a courtesy to evaluators, RSVP strongly recommends that applicants prepare their proposals using a readable font, not smaller than 11 point, with margins of at least one inch.  Documents may be single spaced.

An application includes the following components:

• An online application form, which collects the following information:
  • Full name
  • Postal address
  • Email address
  • Telephone number
  • Proposed period of the fellowship (a four month period beginning in 2019 or 2020)
  • Affiliation (if applicable)
  • A brief project summary (75-100 words)
• A c.v. not to exceed two single-spaced pages. This document should include current and past employment; education; recent publications, awards, and honors; and other information relevant to the review of the proposed project.
• A narrative proposal not to exceed three single-spaced pages. This document must describe the project as well as the work you hope to accomplish with the award. A competitive application will articulate in clear prose how the project will illuminate some aspect of the nineteenth-century periodical press and indicate the audience(s) for the proposed publication(s) and/or other grant outcomes.  A competitive application will also include a brief yet detailed plan of work for the proposed, four-month award period as well as a timeline for completion of the entire project.ur-month award period as well as a timeline for completion of the entire project.
• A summary not to exceed two pages of primary source materials, archives to be consulted during the project, and selected secondary sources that bear directly on the project.
• The names and email addresses for two recommenders familiar with the proposed project. Once the applicant enters these into the application portal, each recommender will receive an email with a link to upload a recommendation letter directly into the application system. Recommendation letters are due by April 14, 2019. Applicants are responsible for soliciting letters of recommendation.  Letters should address the evaluation criteria below.  While the absence of letters from an application will not make it ineligible, letters that arrive late (or not at all) may make an application less competitive.

No itemized budget is required.

How Applications will be Evaluated

A group of interdisciplinary evaluators with knowledge of periodicals in the long nineteenth century will use the following criteria to evaluate applications. Applications and letters of recommendation should be crafted with these criteria in mind.

• The importance of the project, including its use of materials relevant to deeper understanding of the periodical press in nineteenth-century Britain and its empire.
• The quality of the application, including its clarity of expression.
• The applicant’s preparation to pursue the project.
• The feasibility of the plan of work and the likelihood that the applicant will be bring the entire project to a successful completion in due course.

Please note that need is not a criterion.

Notification and Award Administration

RSVP will award up to two Fellowships and may name up to two alternates at the end of the competition.

Notification will take place by email. The winner will have two weeks to accept or decline the award.

All decisions are final.  Unsuccessful applicants may choose to revise and resubmit their applications at later deadlines.

Awardees must submit a narrative report at the end of the grant period.  All publications resulting from fellowship support must include the following acknowledgement:  “This publication received support of a Linda H. Peterson Fellowship awarded by the Research Society for Victorian Periodicals and funded from the bequest of the Eileen Curran estate.”