Date: June 30th 2009

The Curran Fellowship for Research on the Victorian Press

The Research Society for Victorian Periodicals (RSVP) is pleased to
announce the competition for the second annual Curran Fellowship, a
travel and research grant intended to aid scholars studying
19th-century British magazines and newspapers in making use of primary
print and archival sources. Made possible through the generosity of
Eileen Curran, Professor Emerita of English, Colby College, and
inspired by her pioneering research on Victorian periodicals, the
Curran Fellowship is awarded annually in the form of two grants of
$2,500 each.

The Curran Fellowship is open to researchers of any age from any of a
wide range of disciplinary perspectives—literary scholars, historians,
biographers, economists, sociologists, art historians, and others—who
are exploring the 19th-century British press as an object of study in
its own right, and not only as a source of material for other
historical topics. Applicants' projected research may involve study of
any aspects of that 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).

Applicants should send a c.v., the names and contact information of
two scholars who are familiar with the applicant and his or her
research goals, and a description of the project to which these funds
would be applied. The project description (approx. 500-800 words) is
the key element of the application. That description should concisely
indicate the rationale of the larger project to which this research
will contribute, and indicate how the funds would assist in that
research. The applicant should have done enough preparatory work with
finding aids, catalogs, and queries to archivists and librarians to be
able to explain why the project's goals require that one or more
particular collections of primary sources (manuscripts, printed texts,
or digital facsimiles) be closely examined.

Applications for the Curran Fellowship for research to be undertaken
in 2010 must be submitted in electronic form and sent to
curranfellowship@rs4vp.org by October 1, 2009. Any queries about the
application may be sent to the same address. Applicants will be
notified by December 1, 2009. Successful applicants will be asked to
submit a brief report to RSVP at the conclusion of the funded portion
of their project, describing the results of their research.

For more information about the Research Society for Victorian
Periodicals, please visit the Society's website at
http://www.rs4vp.org