Tag: history

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Historical Resources at Risk: The Case of the State Historical Society of Iowa

In recent weeks, the State Historical Society of Iowa has been faced with reorganization and funding cuts, which threaten to reduce access to its irreplaceable collections and to displace staff who have dedicated their careers to helping Iowans learn about their past. Plenty of folks have written about the specifics of the situation (the petition link includes links to many helpful sources to educate yourself), but what I want to focus on is my experience with SHSI, and why that experience makes me believe absolutely in the importance of keeping this organization funded and its records accessible [1].

I was lucky enough to work at SHSI at the start of my Master’s program, and it was one of the most valuable and enjoyable jobs I’ve had. I started volunteering there when I decided I would apply to the Library and Information Studies program, and later came on as a work-study employee after I was accepted. I bounced around to do a few different things at the Iowa City branch, including some cataloging, preservation/conservation, and special collections (one of my first assignments was working with Civil War and World War I diaries from Iowa veterans, which was challenging and lots of fun). I got to learn about some awesome Iowans through the records they left behind, and their stories are the ones I turn to again and again when I talk with others about the value of preserving history.

Continue reading “Historical Resources at Risk: The Case of the State Historical Society of Iowa”

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My 100th Post, and a Big Announcement!

In honor of my 100th post on this blog, I’d like to share the announcement I just made about the topic of my second book! I asked readers to vote on one of two topics (early modern English desserts or gardening practices), and I would work on modernizing the one they chose. Well, readers responded, and they chose…

Gardening!

Thanks to everyone who voted–I’m thrilled to start working on it! You can read the full announcement here.

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Funding Opportunities, Week of November 7th

Mathematics and Natural Sciences
Rocky Mountain Fellowships: To conduct research in the Rocky Mountains.
Georgia Ornithological Society: Graduate student grants.
Albert Schweitzer Fellowship: Fellowship in health-related community service and leadership.
Foundation of the American Society of Neuroradiology: Women in Neuroradiology Leadership Award.
Schultes Research Award: Society for Economic Botany.
Clay Mathematics Institute: Research Fellowships.

International Opportunities
Frank Knox Memorial Scholarships: For students from the UK to study at Harvard.
Butterfield Scholarships: For Bermudian students to study abroad.
Humanities Awards: British School at Rome.
Dunlop Asia Fellowships: For Australian students working to improve Australia-Asian relations.
Harrell Family Fellowship: For students to conduct archaeological research in Jordan.
IFK Fellowships: For Austrian students.
American Institute of Iranian Studies: Language training and fellowships.
Post-Doctoral Fellowships: Centre for Jewish Studies, University of Toronto.
Albright Fellowships: A variety of awards available for study in the Middle East. Includes awards for scholars from a variety of countries.
Bikai Fellowship: For archaeological research in Jordan. Open to graduate students of any nationality except Jordanian.
Gen Foundation Grants: In arts and sciences.
University of Cambridge grants and awards: For Scandinavian studies.
Alberta Innovates Graduate Scholarship: For Canadian students.
Modern Greek Language Scholarships: For international applicants to study in Greece.
American Institute of Pakistan Studies: Fellowships.
Scholarships: For Master’s students studying Finland or Finnish.
King Scholarship: For Canadian students.
Inlaks Grant: For Indian students to travel abroad for research.

Library & Information Studies, Museum Studies, Archives
Pinkett Minority Student Award: Society of American Archivists
Holmes Travel Award: For international archivists to attend the SAA annual meeting.
Fellowships: At the Lemelson Center (also for researchers outside LIS).

History
Loring Research Fellowship: For Civil War-related research.
Mining History Association: Limited travel funds for upcoming conference (deadline is 11/15), also publication awards.
Philadelphia Area Center for the History of Science: Fellowships.
Schmitt Research Grants: European, African, or Asian history.
Walpole Fellowships: To study in Yale’s Walpole library.
Postdoctoral Fellowships: For work at UCLA.
Virginia Historical Society: Research fellowships.
Michigan Tech Travel Grants: To use the archives for research.

Education
Thought and Excellence in the Academy Awards: For those teaching in higher education.
2012 Korea Fellowship for American Educators: Open to educators at all levels.

Social Science
Jerome Hall Postdoctoral Fellowship: In law, society, and culture.
Mathematical Sociology: Publication, graduate student paper, and dissertation-in-progress awards.

Other Opportunities
The Kosciuszko Foundation: Scholarships for American students of Polish descent.

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Funding: Week Of October 2nd

Another installment in this series of funding opportunities! I’ve organized them by field and tacked miscellaneous ones at the end. There are a lot of great funding opportunities I’ve found this week and, as always, if you know of one I didn’t include make sure to add it!

Library & Information Science/Museum Studies:
National Museum of the American Indian: 10 week internships.
Volunteer Internships and Research Assistantships (unpaid): National Gallery of Art
Gerd Muehsam Award: For graduate student papers/projects on art librarianship
YALSA/Frances Henne/VOYA  Grant: For small scale projects that promote research that responds to YALSA’s research agenda.

Art and Art History:
Wolfsonian Fellowships: For those with a Master’s or PhD who wish to study visual art & material culture, particularly from the Netherlands.
Yaddo Fellowships: For artists’ residency in Yaddo community. Deadline January 1st.
Infuse: For building collaborations in the arts in Australia.
Visiting Scholars: at the Yale Center for British Art; predoctoral and postdoc opportunities available

History:
Twentieth Century Japan Research Award: For those researching recent Japanese history.
John W. Hartman Center: Travel grants for using the collection of sales, marketing, and advertising history items.
Center for Jewish History: Fellowships
University of Kansas Medical Center: Fellowship for study of medical history.
Predoctoral Residencies: For those in Byzantine, pre-Columbian, or Garden and Landscape Studies
International Committee for the History of Technology: prize for a book or dissertation. Also have an article prize.
Marshall Foundation: Awards for 20th century military and diplomatic history.
Research Society for Victorian Periodicals: Curran Fellowship for research; also a book prize
American Antiquarian Society: short-term fellowships
Humanities and Social Sciences:
Newberry Library Short-Term Fellowships in the Humanities: Mostly for PhD candidates and post-doctoral scholars.
John Carter Brown Library Short-Term Fellowships: For a variety of research topics that utilize the library’s collections.
American Research Institute in Turkey: For those wishing to conduct Humanities and Social Science research in Turkey.
Summer Institute for Israel Studies: For faculty designing courses on Israel studies.
Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Program: Fellowships for humanities and social sciences–this year’s theme is “Media: Cuneiform to Digital and Beyond”
Associate Fellowship (non-stipendiary): University of Victoria Centre for Studies in Religion and Society
Artz Summer Program: For use of Oberlin’s special collections

Women’s/Gender Studies:
Centre for Women’s and Gender Studies: Visiting faculty opportunities

Publication Awards and Miscellaneous Other Awards:
Working Class Studies Association: Awards for publications and dissertations.
Hagley Prize: For a book on business history.
Samsung Ho-Am Prize: For achievement in science, engineering, medicine, arts, and community service; for people of Korean descent.
Hispanic Scholarship Fund: For graduate and undergraduate students
Five Colleges Fellowship: For students from underrepresented groups who are working on their dissertations.
American Association of University Women: Career development grants

Teaching Awards:
Bernath Lecture Prize: For exceptional teaching of foreign relations.
Jose Vasconcelos Award: For educators.

 

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Funding Opportunities-Week of September 25

It’s time for my third installment of this funding opportunities post. Last week’s post was updated a couple times during the week, and I hope to keep doing that each week as more information about funding trickles in. I’ve decided to try something different this week and divide things up by discipline (where applicable.) Some of the awards are across disciplines, so those I’m still going to categorize by professional position. I’d like input on how it’s most helpful to lay these things out, so if you have ideas please share! Happy hunting!

Library and Information Studies:
Melvil Dewey Medal: An award for leadership in LIS in the areas Dewey was most interested in.
Beatrice E. Griggs scholarship: For an MLS student pursuing a school library media certificate.
Zora Neale Hurston Award: For those who help promote African-American literature and serve diverse populations.
Charlie Robinson Award: Given to a public library director who, over a 7 year period, has taken risks and been an innovator.
Louis Shores award: For excellence in reviewing books and other media.
Baker & Taylor/YALSA Conference Grants: For first-time conference attendance for those who work directly with young adults.
Isadora Gilbert Mudge award: For distinguished contributions to reference librarianship.
Ken Haycock Award: For promoting appreciation of the field of librarianship.
Genealogical Publishing Company Award: For librarians who have worked to improve genealogical services.
Miriam Dudley Instruction Librarian Award: For someone who has made a significant contribution to instruction in a college/research library.
Routledge Distance Learning Librarianship Award: For those working in distance learning; helps cover costs to attend ALA Annual conference.
Paul Howard Award for Courage: For an LIS professional who displays great courage to further the interests of their institution or field.

Political Science:
CSDP Visiting Scholars: For a fellowship at the Center for the Study of Democratic Politics.

History/American Studies:
The Roosevelt Institute: Includes a list of awards, including grants-in-aid for those studying the Roosevelt years.
Anschutz Fellowship: For someone within or outside of academia to teach American Studies an participate in life at Princeton.
Venetian Research Program publication assistance: For those who have had a work accepted for publication on the subject of Venetian history and culture.
American School of Classical Studies at Athens: Funding opportunities for those studying Classics, History, and Greek Law to conduct research in Athens.
World War One Digital Content Prioritization (UK): In advance of the 100th anniversary of the conflict, this is for professionals and organizations involved in preserving WWI history in digital form.
Leo Baeck Institute DAAD Fellowship: To study the history and culture of German-speaking Jews.

Science and Technology:
ITEEA Academy of Fellows: For the International Technology and Engineering Educators Association.
F-Paris Computer Services Contract (France): Call for proposals to develop training in computer services.
Lancaster University Marie Curie Fellowships: For health services-related interfaces.

Internships/Fellowships:
JASWDC Internships: For Japan-America Society of Washington, D.C.
Postdoctoral Fellowships for Faculty Diversity: Offered through several partner schools.
The Society of the Cincinnati: Fellowships and internships for the library and museum.
Barra PostDoctoral Fellowship: For early (pre-1850) American studies. Includes stipend, insurance, and office space. Deadline November 1st.

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>The Next Phase of Library History Research

>For those who read my blog posts a few months ago, you might remember this post where I celebrated the completion of my manuscript on Iowa libraries during World War I. Recently, I heard from a publisher I sent a proposal and sample chapter to, and they made some great suggestions for improvements that they wanted to see before the manuscript was sent through peer review. I wanted to share some thoughts here, but more importantly I wanted to solicit some input from folks who have read my research (or listened to me talk about it). I want my manuscript to be as awesome as possible, and I bet there are some great suggestions out there!

Continue reading “>The Next Phase of Library History Research”

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>Thank you, Dr. Munsterberg

>Being a student of history is a lot of fun because you get to “meet” many interesting characters. Not only do you get to learn a lot about these folks, but sometimes I’ve found that I relate to them and this helps me better understand what it was like to live in the time period(s) I’m looking at. Relating to a historical figure also helps me look at current events differently by placing what happens now in the context of what happened then (and how that individual and the folks around them reacted).

Continue reading “>Thank you, Dr. Munsterberg”

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>My World War I Research is Finished!

>Tomorrow everyone on this side of the pond will be tucking in to large plates of food in celebration of Thanksgiving. That holiday came a day early for me when I (finally!) finished writing my paper on World War I-era Iowa libraries. The project evolved a lot from when I started about a year ago, and I ended up with a paper that is about 190 pages long (including tables, bibliography, etc.) I learned a lot about my writing style and about how I work best, and I think a few of those things might be good to jot down here for my fellow students (in LIS programs or otherwise) who are undertaking large writing projects:
Continue reading “>My World War I Research is Finished!”

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>ALA Talk available online

>Hello readers!
I had initially planned to publish my talk from the Library History Round Table symposium at the American Library Association’s Annual Conference in a peer-reviewed journal, but it occurred to me that my other talk (from Library History Seminar XII) is going to be on the same research, and most likely in the same journal. So, I added my conference talk to my Scribd account to share with everyone! While you’re there, you can follow me with your account too. Sometimes they get picky about downloading things if you haven’t uploaded your own work, so I can also e-mail the PDF of the talk to anyone who is interested. Otherwise, go here to read the document in full online.
The talk discusses three of the six libraries I researched (Burlington, Davenport, and Mt. Pleasant) more in-depth, whereas my talk from September discussed al 6 libraries, but with somewhat less detailed attention paid to each in order to keep within time constraints. The published version of that talk will be about 25 pages, so that will give me a chance to pay a little more attention to each of them.
If you have any questions or comments, let me know!

March 2011 update: Scribd accidentally deleted my account, meaning that you cannot read this paper on their site. Sorry folks!

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>The Library of Tomorrow…Yesterday!

I ran across this rather lengthy quote while adding to my chapter on libraries from 1914-1916, and was so pleased by it I couldn’t wait to share it with you! It’s from the 1914 annual report, written by Iowa City Public Library’s librarian, Helen McRaith. Unfortunately my Internet was down yesterday (and most of today), so I had to contain my excitement until now:

“The modern idea of the function of a library is this—to study the literary needs of its own community and then to endeavor to meet these needs to the fullest extent, even if tradition must be violated in so doing.
The old-fashioned library was a cloistral place appealing only to the scholar, who moved silently among dust-covered tomes. The modern library possesses a different atmosphere and one more akin to that of a business office; most of the readers have the appearance of seeking information which will be of assistance in their daily problems rather than abstract knowledge.
There is a similar change in the appearance and attitude of the librarians. Formerly they seemed to look on the library as an end in itself and as a collection of interesting curiosities, they were willing to let it remain a stagnant literary pool. Now they must be alert specialists, keen to keep a stream of vital, useful knowledge flowing from the library to all parts of the community.” (Iowa City Public Library 1914 annual report, pg 1).
This reminds me so much of some of the current discussion circulating around the changing field of librarianship, even though it was written almost 100 years ago. Her writing has the same tone of excitement that I feel in my own blog and in reading the posts of other LIS bloggers, about the library as a place of expanding opportunities and of librarians as being people who are redefining the field rather than just participating in it.
There are a couple places in particular where her writing sounds like it could have been lifted out of a modern blog (and then had the language antiquated a bit, of course): there is so much concern right now about justifying the value of libraries, and a lot of that justification comes through pointing out that the library is used for practical purposes, as McRaith says, “…seeking information which will be of assistance in their daily problems rather than abstract knowledge.”
Continue reading “>The Library of Tomorrow…Yesterday!”