Hypothetical Ways to Use the Fellowship
The American Antiquarian Society offers Creative and Performing Artists
and Writers Fellowships for people who are creating works of art or
non-fiction in any discipline designed for general, non-academic
audiences.
The deadline for this annual competition is October 5.
Listed
here are some hypothetical ways that people might make use of these
fellowships.
- Fellow A is writing a historical novel about life among the immigrant
Irish canal-diggers in antebellum America. She enriches the historical
texture of her novel by reading immigrants. diaries, contemporary novels
about Irish life in the United States, and the published annual reports of
key canal companies, and by studying contemporary lithographs and maps
depicting canals and canal routes.
- Fellow B is a freelance journalist who often writes about current
American
social problems. He believes that his analysis of contemporary trends
would be enhanced if he could gain a larger historical perspective on
today's issues. At home he has neither the time nor the library
collections to make a beginning. With a month at AAS free of other
distractions, he explores a wide variety of primary sources on such
subjects as racial and ethnic conflict, American federalism, historically
defined gender roles, American gun culture, and early American attitudes
toward gambling.
- Fellow C is a documentary filmmaker with several national public
television productions to his credit. He is embarking upon a new project
dealing with colonial American history, but has been concerned about
finding contemporary graphic images. He comes to AAS and, by using the AAS
computerized catalogue and other finding aids, locates more than he
imagined existed.
- Fellow D is a soprano with a background in both opera and song. For a
projected national recital tour, she wishes to enlarge and deepen her
repertory of American works. At AAS she finds many suitable songs and
arias for her program in the large collection of sheet music, as well as
nineteenth-century opera and recital programs, newspaper reviews, and
diary accounts by music lovers that help her understand past performance
practice and the cultural context of earlier American musical life.
In addition, all four fellows gain confidence in the historical accuracy
of their work by reading widely in recent secondary works and, especially,
through their conversations with academic fellows in residence and AAS
staff in formal colloquia and, informally, over lunch and dinner in the
Fellows' Residence at 9 Regent Street.
In short, successful applicants will be
individuals with a demonstrated
interest in undertaking research in important primary and secondary
collections in order to produce imaginative, high-quality work for the
general public. AAS is looking for applicants who would both benefit from
and contribute to a sharing of ideas and perspectives within the inclusive
and welcoming community of staff, visiting fellows from colleges and
universities around the world, Worcester-area faculty, elementary and
secondary school teachers and librarians, and AAS members and friends.
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The deadline for 2008 applications is October 5, 2007
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