PLEASE NOTE: The application period for the 2008 Mellon fellowships is now closed and applications are no longer being accepted. We expect to post application instructions for the 2009 Mellon fellowships in September 2008.
TO CHECK THE STATUS OF A SUBMITTED APPLICATION: You may check the status of your previously submitted application at any time by accessing the online application form. As your supporting materials are received, the date each is processed will be noted next to each item. When all supporting materials have been received and processed by our office, your application's status will change from "submitted" to "complete". Please note that processing time may be 6-8 weeks, due to the volume of materials we receive. We cannot comment on the status of individual applications during the processing period, but your account will be updated as your materials are processed.
The information below contains instructions used during the 2008 fellowship application period and is for reference only.
Contents:
Information for Applicants
The Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) is
pleased to offer fellowships funded by The Andrew W. Mellon
Foundation for dissertation research in the humanities in original
sources. The purposes of this fellowship program are to—
- help junior scholars in the humanities and related social-science
fields gain skill and creativity in developing knowledge
from original sources
- enable dissertation writers to do research wherever relevant
sources may be, rather than just where financial support
is available
- encourage more extensive and innovative uses of original
sources in libraries, archives, museums, historical societies,
and related repositories in the U.S. and abroad, and
- provide insight from the viewpoint of doctoral candidates
into how scholarly resources can be developed for access
most helpfully in the future.
The Fellowships
The program offers about ten competitively awarded fellowships
for 2008. Each provides a stipend of $1,600 per month for 9–12
months. Each fellow will receive an additional $800 upon participating
in a symposium on research in original sources and submitting
an acceptable report to CLIR on the research experience. Thus
the maximum award will be $20,000.
Fellowship stipends will support research beginning between
June 1 and September 1, 2008, and ending within 12 months of
commencing. Fellowships will not be renewed or extended. Fellows
are expected to devote full time to their dissertation research
without holding teaching or research assistantships or undertaking
other paid work. Applicants may apply simultaneously for other
fellowships, including Mellon awards, but fellows may not hold
other fellowships simultaneously with CLIR's. Fellows may use
stipends to meet living expenses, travel costs, and other expenses
that enable dissertation research to be carried out, but not
to defray tuition.
Deadlines
- Complete applications must be submitted using CLIR's online application form by November 23,
2007.
- Those materials which must be submitted in hard copy (including transcripts and references) must be postmarked to CLIR by November 23, 2007.
- Fellowship awards will be announced by April 1, 2008.
- Fellowship tenure will begin between June 1 and September 1, 2008, and end within 12 months of commencing.
Eligibility Requirements
To be eligible, an applicant will—
- be enrolled in a doctoral program in a graduate school
in the United States (master's thesis research is not eligible)
- complete all doctoral requirements except the dissertation
and be ready to start research for it as early as June
1 and no later than September 1, 2008, with approval of
the dissertation proposal no later than April 1, 2008
- plan to do dissertation research primarily in original
source material in the holdings of archives, libraries,
historical societies, museums, related repositories, or
a combination
- write the dissertation and receive the Ph.D. degree in
a field of the humanities or in a related element of the
social sciences (candidates for the Ed.D, J.D., or D.D.
degrees are not eligible).
An applicant may be of any nationality but must be enrolled
in a U.S. graduate school and be studying here, not on a campus
abroad even if operated by a U.S. institution. The proposed
research, however, may be conducted at a single or multiple
sites abroad, in the U.S., or both. Any relevant repository
may be used, including government archives and private collections
accessible to the applicant. Students may apply even if they
have started dissertation research or done some writing, but
CLIR's awards may be used only for original source research
that applicants still need to do.
Original source material means primary sources such as the
following—
- records, documents, manuscripts, and other written material
- photographs, films, sound recordings, oral histories,
and other audiovisual material
- maps, blueprints, drawings, and other graphic material
- library special collections, including books used as
primary, not secondary, sources
- original artwork, artifacts, and museum objects.
For purposes of this program, eligible fields of the humanities
and related elements of the social sciences will include—
- area studies
- art history
- classics
- comparative literature
- critical theory
- cultural anthropology
- cultural studies
- economic history
- ethnic studies
- ethnomusicology
- history
- history and philosophy of mathematics
- history and philosophy of science and medicine
- language and cultural linguistics
- literature in any language
- music history
- philosophy
- political theory
- religion (exclusive of theological training for the ministry)
- rhetoric
- women's studies
- interdisciplinary studies involving fields above.
The fellowship is not meant to support the creation of
primary source material, such as oral histories.
Special Provisions
Because part of the purpose of the fellowships is to help
junior scholars gain experience with primary sources and with
the institutions that provide access to them, and to help institutions
gain understanding of the needs of junior scholars in the humanities,
successful applicants will agree to three special provisions
of the fellowship opportunity.
First, just before or early in the fellowship period, all
fellows will participate in a one-day introductory workshop
about using original sources and the institutions that hold
them. Fellows will have opportunities to discuss the sources
they propose to use, identify gaps in their research inquiries,
and confer with reference librarians about locating the best
and most convenient source materials for their dissertations.
Fellows will make their own arrangements for lodging at and
transportation to the repository or repositories in which they
need to work. CLIR will not provide assistance in obtaining
visas.
Second, within one month of the end of the fellowship period,
each fellow will send to CLIR an acceptable written analysis
of the fellowship experience, covering such questions as these:
- What aspects of the repository were most helpful to the
fellow in accomplishing research, and what obstacles or
complications most hindered it?
- What additional measures might facilitate original source
research in the fellow's field?
- How could graduate study best prepare scholars for such
research?
- How could libraries and archives best make decisions
about materials to acquire, preserve, publicize, and even
digitize for meeting scholars' needs?
Third, when fellows selected to begin work in 2008 complete
their fellowship periods, they will participate in a one-day
symposium about their experiences. From such feedback, CLIR
hopes to help archives and libraries increase their understanding
of the needs of today's new scholars.
The fellowship program will reimburse fellows for expenses
of travel, lodging, and meals incurred to participate in the
workshop and symposium.
Selection Policies
A special committee of senior scholars in the humanities,
archivists, and special-collections librarians will select
fellowship recipients.
The committee will aim to select representatives from different
fields of the humanities and related social sciences consistent
with quality in the research proposals. The committee will
assess quality with reference to the following criteria:
- originality and creativity of the research proposal
- importance of the proposed dissertation to the applicant's
field
- appropriateness of the primary-source collection(s) and
institutions in which the applicant proposes to do research
- competence of the applicant for proposed research as
indicated by references, transcripts, language skills,
research experience, and other academic achievements
- prospects for completing specified research within the
time projected and funds awarded (not all dissertation
work need necessarily be done within the fellowship period).
Traditional proposals for original source research in such
fields as history will be welcome. But the committee will give
preference to sound non-traditional projects in all eligible
fields such as those that—
- use newly available or little studied sources
- make interdisciplinary use of sources
- use sources in innovative, creative ways
- use sources in repositories that cannot, themselves,
provide financial assistance to researchers.
Fellows may propose to work in more than one repository during
the fellowship period, including repositories abroad. The selection
committee will assess the applicant's need for working in multiple
repositories, working abroad, or both.
In the administration and awarding of fellowships, neither
CLIR nor the selection committee discriminates on the basis
of age, gender, race, ethnicity, physical disability, marital
status, sexual orientation, religion, or political affiliation.
Application Contents
A complete application will consist of the following items:
- a completed and submitted online application form
- official transcripts covering all of the applicant's
graduate study, showing courses taken, dates of courses,
and grades received, with an explanation of the grading
systems and of symbols in the transcripts that the committee
may not understand
- a letter from the appropriate dean, department head,
or dissertation advisor certifying that the candidate has
completed or will complete all doctoral work except the
dissertation by the proposed starting time for the fellowship
- three letters of reference
- it is helpful, but not mandatory, to include written
confirmation from repositories that collections proposed
for use are open to the applicant and processed for research.
All supporting documentation must be sent to CLIR by mail and postmarked no later than November 23, 2007. These documents must be submitted in triplicate by mail to be eligible for consideration. Faxed or e-mailed copies will not be accepted. To meet the deadline, the applicant may need to make arrangements for transcripts, certification letters, and references well in advance.
Applicants must supply their reference providers with instructions
in the document entitled "Request to Reference Providers," which may be downloaded through the online application form. CLIR
recommends that references include the applicant's dissertation
advisor or major professor and one librarian or archivist who
can evaluate the applicant's research agenda and experience.
Reference providers may provide for CLIR the same letter they
have sent to others on behalf of the applicant so long as the
letter speaks to the points noted in "Request to Reference
Providers." All reference letters must be received by CLIR as signed, sealed originals.
For transcripts, one official sealed copy and two photocopies or Web printouts are acceptable.
Do not send resumes and bibliographies.
Supporting documentation should be sent to:
Mellon Fellowships
Council on Library and Information Resources
1755 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Suite 500
Washington, DC 20036-2124 USA
Questions
If you have any questions, please contact us by e-mail at mellon@clir.org. We regret that we cannot answer questions by telephone. |
