Library of Congress Fellowship (Washington DC)

The John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress welcomes the opportunity for German scholars to work on specific research projects at the Library of Congress. At the postdoctoral as well as the Ph.D. level, interested scholars may apply for a Fellowship for 6-9 months beginning in fall 2012. The John W. Kluge Center will offer a workplace with in-kind benefits, as a basis for funding applications in Germany.

Collections of the Library of Congress

The purpose of this Fellowship is to enable young scholars from Germany to conduct independent research using the collections of the Library of Congress. The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world, with nearly 145 million items on approximately 745 miles of bookshelves. The collections include more than 33 million books and other print materials, 3 million recordings, 12.5 million photographs, 5.3 million maps, 6 million pieces of sheet music and 63 million manuscripts, which cover a broad range of subjects from Naval Science to Fine Arts. The scholars are based at the John W. Kluge Center, located within the Library. The Center offers high quality research accommodation for scholars from across the world with a shared interest in exploiting the extensive collections held by the Library. Potential applicants can access the collection catalogue by using the following link: catalog.loc.gov.

During the Fellowship term the library will provide a workspace, facilitated access to the collections, databases, and access to the curators of the Library. The German scholars will be supported with all services offered to Fellows at these levels in residence at the John W. Kluge Center. The Kluge Center will also provide organizational help for visa, housing etc.

Selection criteria

Candidates are welcomed especially from disciplines in the humanities and the social sciences, with the greatest strengths in the humanities. Research proposals that are relevant to the study of North America are significant in this context, but other proposals may be equally meaningful. The projects proposed should be of a kind to benefit from the Library of Congress collections. Selection criteria include not only the quality of the project proposal but also identification of specific Library collections materials that are useful for the project. Queries regarding the collections in advance of an application may be addressed to Mary Lou Reker, Special Assistant to the Director of the Office of Scholarly Programs at the Library (mrek@loc.gov). The proposed research will need to demonstrate how the scholarship would add value to a Fellow’s existing work.

Further information and consultation

Potential applicants may send an e-mail with their curriculum vitae to
Dr. Meike Zwingenberger
Executive Director
Bayerische Amerika-Akademie
Karolinenplatz 3
80333 München
(mzwingenberger@amerika-akademie.de)

They will then receive a proposal form. Applicants from Bavarian universities will be eligible for the John W. Kluge Center Fellowship of the Bavarian American Academy.

Next application deadline is December 1, 2011.