Columbia University Libraries is pleased to announce the ten recipients of the Libraries Research Awards. The Libraries Research Awards program, established in 2011, provides $2,500 grants to facilitate access to Columbia's special and unique collections.
Grants were awarded on a competitive basis to scholars whose research proposals demonstrated a compelling need to consult CUL holdings for their work. Participating libraries and special collections include: the Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, The Burke Library at Union Theological Seminary, the Rare Book & Manuscript Library (RBML), and the C. V. Starr East Asian Library.
This year’s awardees, projects, and collections of interest are:
John Bak, Professor, Universite’ de Lorraine
Project: Gathering Up the ‘Pieces of [His] Youth’: A Study of Tennessee Williams’ Non-Fiction
Collections: RBML, Tennessee Williams Papers
Douglas Duckworth, Assistant Professor, East Tennessee State University
Project: Redactions from India in Modern Tibet
Collections: Starr, Tibetan collections
Reto Geiser, Assistant Professor, Rice University
Project: Giedion In Between
Collections: Avery, Serge Chermayeff Papers
Kirin Makker, Assistant Professor, Hobart & William Smith College
Project: Mail Order Main Street: Storefronts, Streetscaping, Goods
Collections: Avery, Trade catalogue collection
Anna Marshall Shields, Associate Professor, University of Maryland, Baltimore
Project: Mapping the Social: A Reexamination of the Mid-Tang Yuefu (Music Bureau Poetry
Collections: Starr, Collections on medieval Chinese literature
Amy R. M. O’Keefe, Graduate Student, University of California San Diego
Project: In the War but Not of the War: The Protestant Public Sphere in WW-II-era China
Collections: Burke, Missionary Research Library Archive
Kelly R. O’Reilly, Graduate Student, Vanderbilt University
Project: ‘The Most Important Cause There Is’: Mary and Albert Lasker and the Birth Control Federation of America
Collections: RBML, Mary Lasker Papers and oral history
Zachary Smith, Graduate Student, University of North Carolina
Project: Reading Citizens: Popular Literacy Programs and the Construction of the Chinese Political Subject, 1898-1937
Collections: RBML, International Institute for Rural Reconstruction Records
Helsea Stripe, Graduate Student, Purdue University
Project: (Im)mobility in a Culture of Containment: Rebellion and the Women of the Beat Generation
Collections: RBML, Beat Collections (Kerouac, Jones, Ginsberg, Orlovsky, Corso, et al.)
Matthew Unangst, Graduate Student, Temple University
Project: Making East Africa: Colonialism, Race, and Islam
Collections: Burke, “Missionssammler” and “Berliner Missionsberichte”
Columbia University Libraries/Information Services is one of the top five academic research library systems in North America. The collections include over 11 million volumes, over 150,000 journals and serials, as well as extensive electronic resources, manuscripts, rare books, microforms, maps, and graphic and audio-visual materials. The services and collections are organized into 22 libraries and various academic technology centers. The Libraries employs more than 500 professional and support staff. The website of the Libraries is the gateway to its services and resources: library.columbia.edu.