The Rossell Hope Robbins Library at the University of Rochester is pleased to invite applications for the Helen Ann Mins Robbins Fellowship in Medieval Studies. The fellowship is open to women and gender minorities with dissertation projects in any field of medieval studies. Its intent is to provide fellows with a year of research supported by the resources of the Robbins Library. Past fellows have worked on animal studies, manuscript studies and reading practices, translation and textual transmission, medieval clothing, Jews in medieval England, the Arthurian legend, courtesy books and manners, female advice figures, and more. They have led reading groups, curated exhibits, and organized movie screenings, lectures and symposia, and other programming.
The recipient must be in residence in Rochester and make use of the Robbins Library for the academic year (up to twelve months). They must provide for their own living and travel expenses from the award, and provide their own health insurance. They are expected to engage in the academic life of the University, and to give a presentation on their research near the end of their residency. [NB: The residency requirement assumes that travel and relocation will be possible in 2022-23, but we will carefully monitor the COVID-19 pandemic and accompanying public health restrictions and make adjustments accordingly.]
The Robbins Library has outstanding holdings across medieval studies, with particular strengths in manuscript studies, the history of the book, high and late medieval history, literary studies, and medievalism, particularly Arthuriana. Our focus is on building and maintaining a global medieval studies collection and community. We sponsor and support a wide range of scholarly projects: the Middle English Text Series, the Camelot Project, and other digital projects. Together, the Robbins Library and the Department of Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation boast a growing collection of medieval and early modern manuscripts and print. The Sibley Library at the Eastman School of Music maintains an excellent manuscript collection, and the Miner Library offers an outstanding special collection dedicated to the history of medicine.
The University of Rochester boasts a vibrant community of medievalists and early modernists across disciplines and departments, including History, English, Art History, Music, Modern Languages, and Religion and Classics, alongside a variety of working and reading groups, lectures, workshops, and other events. Rochester offers numerous resources and opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration and research, including the Digital Scholarship Lab, the Lazarus Project, Eastman School of Music, the Memorial Art Gallery, the Cary Graphic Arts Collection at RIT, R-CHIVE, and the Central New York Humanities Corridor, to name only a few.
Eligibility: The Fellow must be an advanced graduate student (ABD) in good standing, who is engaged full-time in researching and writing the dissertation. Ideally, they should have no more than one full year of dissertation work remaining at the start of the fellowship year.
Stipend: $30,000
Applications for the 2022-2023 Fellow are open.
Application Procedure: Applicants should submit in one PDF the following: a cover sheet including the information below, a current CV, and a project proposal of 750-1000 words describing their dissertation and the appropriateness of the Robbins Library to the project. Please send the application to the library director, Anna Siebach-Larsen <annasiebachlarsen@rochester.edu>, and arrange for two letters of recommendation to be sent to the same by January 15, 2022.
Name:
Institutional Affiliation:
Address:
Phone No.:
Email address:
Dissertation Title:
Dissertation Director:
Expected date of completion of dissertation:
Names of Recommenders:
Desired period of residence in Rochester - Arrival (mo./yr.); Departure (mo./yr.)
Helen Ann Mins Robbins Fellows:
2020-2021 Margaret Sheble (Purdue University)
2018-2019 Julie K. Chamberlin (Indiana University, Bloomington)
2016-2017 Marjorie Harrington (University of Notre Dame)
2014-2015 Lindsay Irvin (University of Toronto)
2012-2013 Cynthia Rogers (Indiana University, Bloomington)
2010-2011 Jess Fenn (Columbia University)
2008-2009 Andrea Lankin (University of California, Berkeley)
2006-2007 Misty Schieberle (University of Notre Dame)
2004-2005 Cathryn Meyer (University of Texas, Austin)
2002-2003 Juliet Sloger (University of Rochester)
2000-2001 Miriamne Krummel (Lehigh University)
1999-2000 Nicole Dentzien (Christian-Albrechts University of Kiel)
1997-1998 Suzanne Craymer (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill)
