Reese Fellowships

The Reese Fellowships in the Print Culture of the Americas were established by William Reese Company in 1998. Since then over 150 have been funded, supporting research in eighteen different institutions. These fellowships seek to encourage research in the history of the book and other print formats, bibliography, and all other aspects of print culture in the Americas including publishing and marketing from the 16th century to the present. They support individuals pursuing research in these areas at the institutions regularly participating in the fellowship program, and on occasion in other collections as well.

1. Scope of Eligible Projects. The program will support any research work relating to print culture in any part of the Western Hemisphere, or any investigation of the history of the book in the Americas. Projects may investigate any printed genre (e.g. books, prints, newspapers, magazines, pamphlets, photographs intended for publication, broadsides, etc.). They may address any issues of ownership, readership, or use of printed materials, or be purely bibliographical. For example, subject areas might include religion, popular culture, political life, science, music, or specialized forms of printing such as books for the blind. Support for work in manuscript collections will be limited to projects related to printed materials (e.g. annotations in books, publishers’ business archives, etc.). They are not intended to support the editing of an author’s papers.

The fellowship offered via the Book Arts Press at the University of Virginia differs in scope. It will support a graduate student or beginning antiquarian bookseller during four weeks at the Rare Book School summer session in a position combining staff duties with the opportunity to take an RBS course focusing on Americana themes.

The fellowship offered by Crystal Bridges Museum also differs. It supports a high school teacher enhancing their knowledge of the printed visual arts and print culture to support and broaden their teaching.

2. Eligibility for Awards. The program is designed to support qualified researchers regardless of academic degree. Some participating institutions, however, may have degree restrictions.

3. Applying for Awards. All awards are made by the fellowship committees of participating institutions or organizations, within the framework of their existing fellowship programs. No awards are made directly by William Reese Company, and applicants should contact directly the institution where they seek a fellowship. Each award-giving institution must be applied to separately for a research topic at that institution. If applying for a Reese fellowship at more than one institution in one year, this should be clearly stated in the application. The size of available awards varies, but is generally equivalent to what each institution typically awards for a month of study. Awards may be used to defray travel expenses, living expenses, or research costs.

4. Report. All recipients will be asked to write a brief report for William Reese Company on their research. This may be a copy of any report written for the awarding institution.

Participating Institutions:

American Antiquarian Society
185 Salisbury Street
Worcester, MA 01609-1634
http://www.americanantiquarian.org/acafellowship.htm

The Bancroft Library
University of California
Berkeley, CA 94720-6000
Attn: Peter E. Hanff, Deputy Director
e-mail: phanff@berkeley.edu

James Ford Bell Library
University of Minnesota
222-21st Avenue South, Suite 15
Minneapolis, MN 55455
(612) 62406895; (612) 624-1528
e-mail: jfbell@umn.edu
www.lib.umn.edu/bell

The Bibliographical Society of America
P.O. Box 1537, Lenox Hill Station
New York, NY 10021
(212) 734-2500
e-mail: bsa@bibsocamer.org
www.bibsocamer.org

William L. Clements Library
University of Michigan
909 South University Avenue
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1190
(734) 764-2347
e-mail: jptolemy@umich.edu

or jkgraff@umich.edu www.clements.umich.edu

Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art
600 Museum Way
Bentonville, AR 72712
Attn: Rod Bigelow, Director
(479) 418-5737
ReeseFellowship@crystalbridges.org

The Huntington Library
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
Attn: Committee on Fellowships
(626) 405-2194
e-mail: cwehrey@huntington.org

John Carter Brown Library
Box 1894
Providence RI 02912
Attn: Assistant Director for Academic Programming and Fellowships
(401) 863-2725
e-mail: jcb-fellowships@brown.edu

Library Company of Philadelphia
1314 Locust Street
Philadelphia, PA 19107
Attn: James N. Green, Librarian
(215) 546-3181
e-mail: jgreen@librarycompany.org
website & catalog: www.librarycompany.org

George Washington's Mount Vernon
P.O. Box 3600
Mount Vernon, VA 22121
Attn: Dr. Kevin Butterfield
e-mail: kbutterfield@mountvernon.org

Rare Book School
114 Alderman Library
University of Virginia
Charlottesville, VA 22904-4103
(434) 924-8851
e-mail: oldbooks@virginia.edu
www.rarebookschool.org

Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library
Yale University
P.O. Box 208330
New Haven, CT 06520-8330
Attn: Fellowship Program
e-mail: beinecke.fellowships@yale.edu

Cushing Memorial Library & Archives
Texas A&M University
5000 TAMU
College Station, TX 77843-5000
Attn: Kevin M. O’Sullivan, Curator of Rare Books & Manuscripts
(979) 458-7875
e-mail: kmosullivan@tamu.edu
www.library.tamu.edu/book-history