Applications open for Spencer Library 2024 travel grants for visiting researchers

Researchers from across the United States and around the globe are encouraged to apply for a 2024 Spencer Research Library travel grant, which supports hands-on analysis of the library’s collections and in-person consultation with the institution’s curators and librarians. The online application is open through January 2, 2024. 

“By bringing together researchers with our collections and librarians and archivists, we are able to ensure researchers are getting the most out of our collections,” said Beth M. Whittaker, Director of Spencer Research Library and Associate Dean for Distinctive Collections. “Often there are other related resources in Spencer that we can point out and share based on our knowledge, and we may have background information to assist as well. All of that can be coupled with physical examination and other types of on-site work.” 

The three travel grants, each with a maximum of $1,500, can be used for airfare, accommodations, or other expenses incurred while traveling to Spencer Library. The awards are open to faculty, undergraduates, graduate students, or independent researchers living outside a 100-mile radius from Lawrence, Kan. 

“The wide range of travel awards are made possible through generosity of our supporters who believe in the importance of our resources to the research enterprise,” Whittaker said. “Researchers have come from all over the U.S. and from Europe, and results have included dissertations, a digital humanities project, book chapters, and a children’s book.” 

The travel awards provide a rich collaborative experience, valuable for both the researcher and the library. 

“A wonderful benefit of the travel awards program is that we at Spencer Research Library also get to learn from the expertise of the visiting scholars,” said Elspeth Healey, Spencer Special Collections Curator. 

Healey noted that visiting researchers can offer new insights into Spencer collections and that past travel grant recipients have provided information to help future researchers and suggested interesting teaching examples that Spencer Library uses in outreach efforts.  

“We love showing off our library and our campus,” Whittaker said. “And we like sending our visitors back home bragging about their experience in Lawrence.” 

Last year’s three categories of travel awards brought scholars from the University of Bristol in the U.K., and Harvard, Brandeis, and Vanderbilt universities, as well as the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.  

The Alyce Hunley Whayne Visting Scholars Award is available to visiting researchers focusing on the African American experience. The Spencer Library holds extensive collections of personal papers and the records of organizations, businesses, and churches as well as relevant materials in KU's University Archives and the Wilcox Collection of Contemporary Political Movements. 

The Alexander and Valentine Janta Endowment Travel Award supports visiting researchers focusing on the Polish 16th and 17th centuries. Manuscript holdings in Spencer Library include the Graziani-Commendone collection of 16th and 17th century correspondence and other papers about Catholic Church affairs and the Graziani and Commendone families, as well as many early and rare printed books.  

The Spencer Research Library Travel Awards are available to researchers working on a project that could benefit from using any of the collections at Spencer Research Library.