Lehigh University
NOTE: All postdoctoral fellowship positions are contingent upon funding. Applications are accepted via CLIR's online application system. Review of applications is already underway, but applications will be accepted until all positions are filled.
CLIR Postdoctoral Fellowship
Lehigh University Library and Technology Services (LTS) offers a two-year CLIR postdoctoral Fellowship for a scholar in history or the social sciences. The Fellow will be a member of several collaborative teams, working with relevant faculty and LTS staff, and in some situations assume a leadership role. These projects have been developed to further current goals of the organization, while offering a rich and varied experience for the Fellow.
Government Publications
Significant numbers of federal publications that had been distributed in paper over the past decades are now being digitized and made available either commercially or through cooperative projects between libraries, government agencies and the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP). The CLIR Fellow will serve as a part of a team to analyze the opportunities presented by some of these digital projects to reduce our print holdings and rely on online digital materials for our clients. In one case, this would entail identifying those “Content Partnerships” between the FDLP and institutional partners that would allow appropriate reductions in print collections and free up space for 21st century library needs, as well as identifying possible content partnerships that are appropriate for Lehigh participation.
In a related project, the LU libraries have purchased a commercial archival digital collection of the United States Congressional Serial Set covering the 19th Century which replicates print holdings of this remarkable primary source collection. A significant number of the reports and documents included in this collection are rare and valuable materials. The Fellow will identify essential print materials for retention.
The Francis E. Walter Papers
Working as a project archivist, the CLIR Fellow will develop discovery tools to assist researchers with the Francis E. Walter Papers in Special Collections. Walter (1894-1963) was elected to his first of sixteen terms as Congressman in 1932 and served in the Naval Air Force. His Congressional tenure was distinguished by laws on immigration and investigations of un-American activities. Best known for the McCarran-Walter Act (1952), or Immigration and Nationality Act, Walter supported continuing the quota system based on the national origin of immigrants (1924) which allowed the United States government to deny entry to individuals identified as members of the Communist Party.
The collection includes correspondence, minutes, reports, and published material. It is consulted by scholars worldwide who would benefit from a detailed finding aid. This project may also serve as a test of a new method of encoding finding aids. Working closely with the Curator of Special Collections and the Archives and Special Collections Librarian, the Fellow will work with faculty and graduate students to develop instructional projects involving the Francis E. Walter Collection. Activities might include facilitating a course-related documentary project. As time permits, the Fellow will also investigate possibilities for digitization of portions of the collection, for programming around pertinent topics, and for an exhibition.
As time permits, the CLIR Fellow will also expose hidden content of collections relating to environmental and social issues, including the Lehigh-Pocono Committee of Concern (LEPOCO) and the Tocks Island Dam controversy. LEPOCO is a non-profit citizens group of approximately 1000 members, based in the Lehigh Valley. Founded in 1965 to oppose the war in Vietnam, LEPOCO's concerns have broadened to include a range of problems that endanger peace and our planet. The collection includes memorabilia preserved from different events, newsletters, meeting minutes, and publications. Special Collections was named the repository for the LEPOCO archives, which date from 1965-2005, in June 2010.
Tocks Island, located north of the Delaware Water Gap in the Delaware River, was the proposed site of a controversial dam which would have created a 37-mile long lake between Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Although the dam was never built, over 70,000 acres of land were acquired, establishing the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. Lehigh University’s Special Collections recently received an extensive archive assembled by a member of the Delaware Valley Conservation Association. This archive documents the group’s protest of the government’s acquisition of land that lay within the boundaries approved for the recreation area, including the protesters’ attendance at government hearings and meetings of the United States Army Corps of Engineers.
The Fellow will explore the availability of related resources nationally creating research guides and will also lead a project to plan digitization of qualifying portions of each of these collections.
Additional Experiences
Time allocation to projects will depend on the background and interests of the Fellow and evolving LTS and institutional priorities. For example, the CLIR Fellow will be able to contribute to digital projects originating within Special Collections and the Digital Library team related to preparations for the 150th anniversary of the University. Depending on the outcome of grant applications, there will also be additional opportunities to participate in and lead aspects of a digital project related to regional history of technology. The Fellow will attend relevant conferences, and will share his or her own research interests with the University community. Since 2004, Lehigh University has hosted four highly successful CLIR fellowships.
About Lehigh’s Libraries: The Lehigh University library collection comprises over one million volumes and subscriptions to more than 12,000 periodicals, most of them in electronic format. Lehigh's impressive collection of rare books includes Darwin's Origin of Species and James John Audubon's four-volume elephant folio edition of Birds of America. Digital library projects highlight various aspects of the collection, ranging from "Digital Bridges" (19th century bridge construction) to "The Vault at Pfaff’s" (celebrating Walt Whitman), with regional as well as Lehigh collections encompassed in “Beyond Steel: An Archive of Lehigh Valley Industry and Culture.”
There are two major library facilities, the Fairchild-Martindale Library and the Linderman Library. In 2007, the university reopened the renovated Linderman Library as a laboratory and showcase for humanities programs and collections, as well as an intellectual center for the campus at large.
A merged organization, Library and Technology Services (LTS), delivers computing, library, media, instructional technology, faculty development and distance education services. This collaborative environment affords a unique opportunity to combine extensive print and digital resources, sophisticated information technologies and pedagogical expertise to enhance teaching, learning and research.
In this team-based organization, the Fellow will have opportunities to interact with staff at all levels and in all LTS functional areas. The Fellow will also work with faculty engaged in exploring teaching technologies, employing special collections materials in teaching and research, creating digital libraries, and enhancing student information literacy.
About Lehigh University: Founded in 1865, Lehigh University (www.lehigh.edu) is a private research institution with over 4,500 undergraduates and 2,000 graduate students. Lehigh University’s picturesque 1600-acre wooded campus is located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania (pop. 75,000), in the center of the Lehigh Valley (pop. 600,000+), conveniently located near New York City (80 miles) and Philadelphia (50 miles).