The Patrick Leary Resource Development Grant is named for long-time RSVP supporter, Board member and former President, Patrick Leary. It is intended to support one scholar or a team of researchers in creating resources that will facilitate the work of other scholars in their studies of British newspapers and periodicals from the long nineteenth century. The grant was created with funds from a generous bequest to RSVP by the late Eileen Curran, pioneering researcher and Emerita Professor of English at Colby College. See the list of previous awardees and their projects here.
Leary Grant winners are typically announced in May of the prize year. See our awards calendar for all application and recommendation letter deadlines. Please note that deadlines are subject to change and if needed, will be announced via our social media channels promptly.
Please note that Officers and Directors of RSVP are prohibited from applying for RSVP grants and fellowships. Please contact RSVP with any questions.
For most awards, grants, and prizes (with the exception of the Microgrants program), RSVP does not require applicants to be a member of RSVP, but we urge all who receive funding and recognition to join our community by becoming a member of the organization.
Most Recent Leary Grant Winner
Congratulations to the team of researchers co-led by Lorraine Kooistra and Constance Crompton for their project, “Yellow Nineties 3.0: A Model for Sustainable Victorian Periodicals Websites,” our 2026 Leary Development Grant winner!
This project has two linked objectives. The first is to ensure the ongoing accessibility and usability of the Yellow Nineties Online, an esteemed and widely used digital resource for scholars of fin-de-siècle print culture. The second is to develop and share an open-access primer that other digital periodical projects approaching end-of-life can adopt to secure their long-term sustainability. The committee particularly valued the project’s second objective: the production of a freely available toolkit for other aging digital projects. After a period of rapid digitization and development, it is vital that RSVP supports continued access to widely used open-access initiatives such as the Yellow Nineties Online, and this project offers a thoughtful and practical response to that need. The committee was also impressed by the substantial scholarly and practical experience of the team, the structured proposal, and the clear budget.
Please join us in congratulating Lorraine and Constance and the entire team — Reg Beatty (Toronto Metropolitan University), Jason Boyd (Toronto Metropolitan University), Kelly Demody (Toronto Metropolitan University), and Alice Defours (University of Ottawa) — on this award.