The purposes of this fellowship program are to:

– help junior scholars in the humanities and related social-science fields gain skill and creativity in developing knowledge from original sources;
– enable dissertation writers to do research wherever relevant sources may be, rather than just where financial support is available;
– encourage more extensive and innovative uses of original sources in libraries, archives, museums, historical societies, and related repositories in the U.S. and abroad; and
– provide insight from the viewpoint of doctoral candidates into how scholarly resources can be developed for access most helpfully in the future.

The program will be offering about fifteen competitively awarded fellowships for 2013. Each provides a stipend of $2,000 per month for 9–12 months. Each fellow will receive an additional $1,000 upon participating in a symposium on research in original sources and submitting an acceptable report to CLIR on the research experience. Thus the maximum award will be $25,000.

Fellowship stipends will support research beginning between June 1 and September 1, 2013, and ending within 12 months of commencing. Fellowships will not be renewed or extended. Fellows are expected to devote full time to their dissertation research without holding teaching or research assistantships or undertaking other paid work. Applicants may apply simultaneously for other fellowships, including Mellon awards, but fellows may not hold other fellowships simultaneously with CLIR’s. Fellows may use stipends to meet living expenses, travel costs, and other expenses that enable dissertation research to be carried out, but not to defray tuition.

Applicants do not have to be U.S. citizens, but must be enrolled in a doctoral program in a graduate school in the United States.

For further information on eligibility, requirements, and deadlines, please visit CLIR’s website at http://www.clir.org/fellowships/mellon/mellon.html.