The Research Society for Victorian Periodicals (RSVP) intends to grant one Patrick Leary Field Development Grant each year to a single researcher or a team of researchers pursuing a project that would facilitate research by other scholars. Two smaller awards may be given if the right projects present themselves. The amount of the award will be up to $27,500. Please note that the award will be paid out in U.S. dollars.
Please also note that you do not need to apply for the maximum award amount. Smaller awards have been made by adjudication panels that see wider field development potential in smaller scale proposals.
Officers and Directors of RSVP are prohibited from applying for RSVP grants and fellowships. Please contact RSVP with any questions not addressed below.
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Eligible projects must articulate how the proposed resource will enhance the ability of other scholars to conduct significant research in the history of British newspapers and periodicals in the long nineteenth-century. Examples of eligible projects include, but are not limited to:
- Collaborative projects to produce print or digital publications
- Demonstration projects that make use of new technologies
- Research tools such as indices and bibliographies
- Digitization efforts
- Workshops or seminars that address research methods for the study of periodicals
Regardless of method or type, projects supported by the Patrick Leary Field Development Grants must advance the study of the nineteenth-century British periodical press from the long nineteenth-century in any of its manifold forms, and may range from within Britain itself to the many countries, within and outside of the Empire, where British magazines and newspapers were bought, sold, and read during the long nineteenth-century. “long nineteenth century” (ca. 1780-1914).
The Patrick Leary Field Development Grant is intended to provide researchers with the opportunity to form meaningful collaborations that will advance the field of periodical studies. Thus, awards can be divided among participants and be used for salary replacement; travel; research or technical assistants; the purchase of necessary hardware or software; securing permissions or rights; or other research expenses directly related to the project. Indirect costs are not permitted; cost sharing is not required. Award money is disbursed to the project’s principal investigator, or their his/her institutional representative, who assumes responsibility for its accounting and reporting.
Grant funding must begin during the present calendar year or the year following. Grant funds must be expended within one year of the start of the award. (Individuals seeking individual fellowship support should consider the Linda H. Peterson Fellowship or the Curran Fellowships program.)
The Patrick Leary Field Development Grant program is funded by a generous bequest from the estate of Eileen Curran (1927-2013). An Associate Editor of The Wellesley Index and the founder of The Curran Index, Eileen committed her life to deepening and broadening our understanding of British periodicals from the long nineteenth-century. Her vision of the importance of primary research and research tools to accomplish such research animates this grant competition.