Huntington Highlight: Library Announces 2011-12 Research Grants

For most of us, research isn’t a long, arduous process. As a member of the millennial generation, it’s rare that I need to log off of my laptop when researching a topic. Others choose to do their research at the by browsing the catalog and checking out a few books.

However, for a select few, research has taken on an entirely new--and exclusive--meaning. announced Thursday that it has awarded approximately $1.5 million in research grants to 158 humanities scholars. The prime scholars, selected through peer review by leading scholars in their selected fields, will conduct both long- and short-term research at the organization during the upcoming 2011-12 academic school year.

The Huntington, which is one of the largest institutions granting research in the humanities, awarded 20 fellowships to scholars who will spend a complete year in residence. The scholars will research a variety of subjects, including history, literature, art, and the history of science. 

“What’s particularly exciting is the broad range of topics that these scholars are exploring: politics, social history, early botany, theater, the history of science, literature, economic history, medicine. The list goes on and on,” said Lisa Blackburn, Communications Coordinator at the Huntington. “The Huntington’s collections have an extraordinary depth and breadth that attracts scholars from around the world who are mining this material to produce cutting-edge research.”

Peter Stallybrass, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania who was awarded the Stanton Avery Distinguished fellow, will spend the academic year researching, “What is a book?” While William West, an associate professor at Northwestern University and one of three recipients of National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship, will study “Understanding and Confusion in the Elizabethan Theaters.”

Other topics represented range from "Religion, War and the Meaning of America" to "'Dumb Eloquence': Deafness, Muteness and Gesture in Early Modern England,” and “Marriage and Intimacy in Late Imperial China.”

According to Blackburn, a majority of the grant recipients are either university faculty members or PhD candidates working on their dissertations. Several recipients will need to take sabbaticals for their home institutions during the duration of their fellowship.

“At a time when we’re seeing massive budget cuts to humanities departments across the nation, we are delighted to be able to provide this level of support for top-notch scholarship," Robert C. Ritchie, W.M. Keck Director of Research at the The Huntington said in a statement released Thursday.

The W.M. Keck Foundation for National Endowment and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation are two of the organizations funding the awards. 

As part of my Multicultural Undergraduate Internship with the Getty Foundation this past summer, I had the honor of getting a behind-the-scenes look at the Huntington’s impressive research catalogue. I watched from behind a glass window, as scholars examined rare books, historical prints and manuscripts in the reference reading room.

For those of us without a PhD or university title, the Huntington’s permanent collection includes the Ellesmere manuscript of Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales and Henry David Thoreau’s autographed manuscript of Walden.

For more information or to view the complete list of scholars, click HERE.