Mercurians' Pam Laird Research Grant
Deadline: May 1, 2013.
The Mercurians, a Special Interest Group of the Society
for the History of Technology (SHOT), is offering its unique Pam Laird Research
Grant: US$1,000 to defray the cost of travel and housing to use a research
collection.
The Mercurians began meeting in 1986 for the purpose of
generating networks between people who share work and interests in the history
of communication technologies, defining the field broadly. Our activities
include publishing a semi-annual newsletter, Antenna, meeting during annual
SHOT conferences, organizing paper sessions for SHOT meetings, and pursuing
contacts between meetings via our Google Groups list. The newsletter serves
both as a clearing house for readers and an informal forum for their ideas. New
members are always welcome.
We added this new initiative to encourage and reward
high-caliber research in the history of communication technologies. One of the
Mercurians' missions is to encourage scholarship in the history of
communication technologies. There is no travel grant program (either within or
outside SHOT) that we are aware of dedicated to supporting scholarship on the
history of communication technologies. While the history of communication
technology literature is vast and always growing, the quality of the research
effort or resulting publication too often falls short of scholarly
expectations.
In general, the research grant is awarded in alternating
years. We awarded two such grants during
the 2011 SHOT meeting in Cleveland. The
next grant (or grants) will be announced during the
2013 SHOT meeting in Portland, Maine.
Eligibility
The grant is intended for and limited to junior scholars,
meaning either current graduate students or recent postgraduates (no more than
three years beyond the terminal degree in their field).
Requirements and Application
Only travel to an appropriate archival collection to
carry out research on an aspect of the history of communication technology,
broadly defined, will be supported. The archive can be open to the public,
private, or even closed, provided that necessary permissions have been obtained
from the archive.
Complete the application form (available at:
http://www.mercurians.org/grant-form.doc)
and e-mail it and a curriculum vitae (no longer than 3 pages) as attachments to
the Mercurians c/o abutrica@earthlink.net
Your curriculum vitae should include pertinent publications, fellowships, or
accomplishments relevant to your proposed research, and professional societies
and affiliations.
The deadline for submitting applications is May 1, 2013.
For further information or questions, please contact
Andrew Butrica at abutrica@earthlink.net
or visit our website:
Andrew J. Butrica
MERCURIANS
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