{ site_name:'The John W. Kluge Center', subscribe_url:'/share/sites/Bapu4ruC/kluge.php' }

Deadline: March 31, 2012
Application Form: MS Word - PDF (59kb)

  • Research related to the Alan Lomax Collection, housed at the American Folklife Center, Library of Congress
  • Open to scholars worldwide
  • Stipend: $4,200 per month (no more than eight months)

Further information:
John W. Kluge Center | email: scholarly@loc.gov | phone: (202) 707-3302 | fax: (202) 707-3595

About the Fellowship

The Library of Congress's Kluge Center invites qualified scholars to apply for a post-doctoral fellowship for advanced research based on the Alan Lomax Collection. The Lomax Collection is a major collection of ethnographic field audio recordings, motion pictures, photographs, manuscripts, correspondence and other materials that represent Lomax’s lifetime of work to document and analyze traditional music, dance, storytelling and other expressive genres that arise from cultural groups in many parts of the world, particularly the United States, England, Scotland, Ireland, Italy, Spain, and the Caribbean. Lomax (1915-2002) was one of the greatest documenters of traditional culture during the twentieth century.

The Alan Lomax Fellows Program, established for a period of five years, supports scholarly research that contributes significantly to a greater understanding of the work of Lomax and the cultural traditions he documented over the course of a vigorous and highly productive seventy-year career. It provides an opportunity, for a period of up to 8 months, for concentrated use of materials from the Lomax Collection and other collections of the Library of Congress, through full-time residency at the Library. The program supports research projects in the disciplines of anthropology, ethnomusicology, ethnography, ethno-history, dance, folklore and folklife, history, literature, linguistics, and movement analysis, with particular emphasis on the traditional music, dance, and narrative of the United States, England, Scotland, Ireland, Italy, Spain, and the Caribbean, as well as methodologies for their documentation and analysis. We encourage interdisciplinary projects that combine disciplines in novel and productive ways.

Eligibility

Applicants may be of any nationality and must possess a Ph.D. degree, or equivalent terminal degree, awarded by the application deadline date.

Tenure & Stipend

The Alan Lomax Fellowship in Folklife Studies is for a period of up to 8 months, at a stipend of $4,200 per month, for residential research at the Library of Congress. The Library of Congress will pay stipends monthly by means of electronic transfer to a U.S. bank account. Transportation arrangements, housing, and health care insurance and costs are the responsibility of the Fellow. The Library will provide Fellows with information on housing and can provide Fellows with contacts for commercial providers of health care insurance. The Library is required to ensure that nonresident alien visitors maintain minimum levels of medical insurance, and will provide information about insurers that offer qualifying policies to nonresident aliens.

How to Apply

Applicants must submit an application form, a two-page curriculum vitae which should indicate prior scholarship, a one-paragraph project summary, a bibliography of basic sources, a research proposal of no more than 1,500 words, and three letters of reference (in English) from people who have read the research proposal.

Successful proposals will clearly indicate the purpose and principal scholarly contribution of the project, and the benefit to the project of working in the Library of Congress using the Lomax materials and, if applicable, the Library's other collections.

Due Date

Application materials must be post-marked by the deadline date to be considered. Applicants are urged to consider submitting their application materials online at scholarly@loc.gov or by fax (202-707-3595) to avoid any problems caused by mail delivery.

Expectations

The Lomax Fellow is expected to develop research of a publishable quality. As a Library of Congress resident scholar, fellows are also expected to make at least one public presentation about their research and to participate actively in appropriate Library events and programs.

Submitting Your Application

Completed application packets, questions, and other requests for information should be sent to the following address. Please note that continuing mail delivery problems at the Library may require submitting the application packet by fax or email, to insure delivery by the deadline date:

The Alan Lomax Fellowship in Folklife Studies
Library of Congress, LJ-120
101 Independence Avenue, SE
Washington, DC 20540-4860
tel. 202 707-3302; fax 202 707-3595
email: scholarly@loc.gov

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