The Fellowship Experience
The period of residence in Worcester provides an opportunity not only for
research in collections that are extraordinarily deep but also for
collegial discussion with staff and other fellows, faculty in area
colleges and universities, and other scholars visiting AAS from all over
the United States and abroad for research, academic programs, and
conferences. Among the gatherings of scholars are sessions of the
Society's seminars, activities of the Program
in the History
of the Book in American Culture, and public
lectures and concerts
sponsored by AAS. Long-term fellows in residence will include the Mellon
Distinguished Scholar-in-Residence and the Mellon Post-Dissertation
Fellow. A fellowship at AAS also provides an uncommon opportunity for
productive interchanges with artists such as playwrights, historical
novelists, musicians, and documentary film makers, some of whom are also
fellows in residence.
The Society is able to offer self-catering accommodations at a reasonable
price across the street from the library. Information about AAS housing
will be sent to successful candidates. Options include a rooms in the
Goddard-Daniels House, a large and
comfortable house
that came to the
library as a generous bequest several years ago and the adjacent furnished
two-bedroom Montvale Cottage. Many opportunities for collegiality are
centered at the Goddard-Daniels House, where the Society's seminars,
colloquia, dinners, and informal gatherings of members, fellows, and
visiting scholars take place. As one fellow recently wrote, "My fellowship
experience was made more meaningful by the opportunity of 'communal'
living in the Goddard-Daniels House. Here the resident fellows, along
with the resident of Montvale Cottage, had enhanced possibilities of
exchanging ideas on the world's problems as well as on our respective
projects, and the opportunity to forge lasting friendships. This was a
part of my experience that I found especially rewarding. Much of the time
in the House, there was a mix of senior and junior researchers, a
situation that I believe was beneficial to both. If I had to do it over
again, I certainly would not want to live anywhere else." Another fellow
wrote that, "Living at the Goddard-Daniels House greatly enhanced my
experience in Worcester. I spent a great deal of time with one of the
creative artist fellows and found this a particularly interesting
opportunity to reach across disciplinary boundaries." Fellows have
priority in renting AAS accommodations, but doing so is not a requirement
for holding a fellowship. When requested, the staff will do their best to
suggest alternative accommodations in Worcester and environs.
Judging from the reports they submit, most fellows--whether senior
scholars or Ph.D. candidates--have found their tenure at AAS to be an
uncommonly productive and invigorating experience, thanks to the rich
collections and the sense of common purpose shared by fellows and staff.
One associate professor reported, "When people ask me where I've been the
past month, I tell them `Research Heaven.'" One senior scholar, who came
with a working bibliography of items to research, observed that there were
"very few items that I could not find in the AAS library, and quite a few,
previously unknown to me, that I had to add." Summing up her experience,
a graduate student wrote, "In a sense I felt [the fellowship] was my
initiation into the scholarly community. My month's stay provided the
welcome reassurance that archival research is not necessarily a solitary
endeavor. I think the greatest resource at the AAS is the people--both
the staff and the scholars who frequent the library. The staff were all
very welcoming and helpful. The reading room and the shared living
quarters at the Goddard-Daniels House promoted a sense of collegiality and
community, providing occasion for both formal and informal interaction
with scholars from a wide range of fields."
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