Research Travel Grant, Special Collections, Michigan State University Libraries

Leslie McRoberts Announcement
Location
Michigan, United States
Subject Fields
African History / Studies, Cultural History / Studies, Humanities, Popular Culture Studies, Women's & Gender History / Studies

Michigan State University Libraries invites applications for research grants for the summer of 2020. The grants are intended to help scholars who live more than 100 miles from East Lansing whose research would benefit from on-site access to the rich primary source collections housed in MSU Libraries’ Special Collections. The 2020 grants are made possible through the generous support of Char Mollison and MSU Libraries Special Collections Endowment.

Five grants of $3,000 will be awarded based on the overall promise of the research project and the significance of MSU’s Special Collections to the work. The on-site research period must run for at least one week between May 1 and September 30 of the year awarded.

Research strengths of MSU Special Collections are deep and varied, including an outstanding comic art collection; American radicalism on the extreme right and left; extensive holdings on Latino and Chicano activism and artists; popular culture; zines, Africana; exceptional rare book holdings in cookery, the history of science, veterinary medicine, Italian unification, conduct books; one of the country’s oldest LGBTQ+ collections; a peerless collection documenting the contemporary men’s movements; and the papers of numerous Michigan writers including Richard Ford, Diane Wakoski, and Thomas McGuane. Please consult our collections page for more information on MSU’s unique holdings.

HOW TO APPLY

Any researcher, including undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, artists, activists, or independent researchers, residing more than 100 miles from East Lansing, is eligible to apply. International scholars are responsible for obtaining the appropriate visa, which may have travel limits. Current or incoming MSU students are not eligible.

Please submit the following documents, preferably as a single PDF, to SPC Summer Research Grant Applications (lib.dl.spcgrants@msu.edu) by January 31, 2020.

  • Cover letter
  • Curriculum vitae of no more than six pages
  • Description of research topic, its significance, and specific materials within MSU Special Collections to be used (two pages maximum)
  • First and second choice of dates in residence. On-site research period must run for at least one week between May 1 and September 30. Please note: our summer reading room hours are Monday-Friday 10am-5pm.
  • One letter of recommendation from a professional and/or academic reference speaking to the value of your project and the quality of your work. Recommendation letters can be submitted with the application or separately to the same email address.

A travel guide has been prepared to assist all recipients, once they have been notified of acceptance: https://libguides.lib.msu.edu/spc-research-grant-local-info

All grant recipients will give a presentation about their research at the library during their visit. Recipients are also asked to acknowledge the grant in any publications resulting from funded research in MSU Special Collections and to provide a copy of the final publication. Grant recipients may be subject to tax implications, depending on how the awarded funds are spent. For international award recipients, this may include tax implications in the United States and in their country of origin.

The grants committee will begin reviewing applications promptly after the deadline and grant recipients will be notified by March 16, 2020.

Contact Information

Leslie McRoberts, on behalf of the Special Collections Travel Grant Advisory Committee, MSU Libraries

Contact Email
lib.dl.spcgrants@msu.edu