Philip Lee Phillips Society Fellowship

The John W. Kluge Center and the Philip Lee Phillips Society at the Library of Congress invite qualified scholars to conduct research at the Kluge Center using the Geography and Map Division's collections and resources for a period of two months. Established in 2000 through an endowment of $60 million from John W. Kluge, the Center is located in the splendid Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress. Residents have easy access to the Library's specialized staff and to the intellectual community of Washington. The Philip Lee Phillips Map Society of the Library of Congress was established to further develop, enhance and promote the collections of the Geography and Map Division by encouraging financial donations to supplement appropriated funds for the acquisition of rare maps; stimulating interest among map collectors, map producers, geographers, cartographers, and historians in order to make the vast resources of the nation's premier cartographic and geographic collections more widely available; facilitating gifts and bequests of significant geographic and cartographic materials in order to further develop its collections; and advancing the Geography and Map Division's publication, education, and exhibition programs.

Application and Selection

The Philip Lee Phillips Map Society Fellowship has been established to promote scholarly study of the collections of the Geography and Map Division of the Library of the Congress. The fellowship is funded by the Society’s generous donors, who have strong interest in the history of cartography, geography, and maps generally. The fellowship grants two qualified scholars, working either in the history of cartography, or the application geospatial data, in either the digital humanities or Geographic Information Science, a residency of eight weeks, for the purpose of research in the history of cartography, GIS, digital humanities or a related field. The fellowship requires the investigation and utilization of materials from the collections of the Geography and Map Division. The amount of the fellowship is $11,500 with the possibility of an additional $2,000 as an honorarium for a lecture and publication.  The Geography and Map Division has custody of the largest and most comprehensive cartographic collection in the world with collections numbering over 5 million maps, 100,000 atlases, 8,000 reference works, over 5000 globes and globe gores, 3,000 raised relief models, and several terabytes of born digital geospatial data. Further information about the Library's collections can be found on the Library's website: http://www.loc.gov/rr/.
Applicants must submit:

• A completed application form, in English
• A curriculum vitae (maximum 2 pages; additional pages will be discarded)
• A single paragraph abstract
• A statement of proposed research (maximum 3 pages)
• An explanation of why the proposal requires the use of the Geography and Map Division’s map, manuscript or archival collections (maximum 250 words)
• A bibliography of works you have consulted for your proposal (maximum 3 pages)
• Three references with completed reference forms from people who have read the research proposal

Eligibility

There are no degree requirements for applicants.
Applicants must have a history of successful accomplishment in the field of geography, cartography, or history and have a record of publication commensurate with a senior fellowship of this kind. Applicants may be U.S. citizens or foreign nationals. Upon selection, and in accordance with relevant visa regulations, foreign nationals will be assisted in obtaining the appropriate visa.

Applications will open April 15, 2023 be accepted up to 11:59pm, September 15, 2023. Please click here to visit our application portal to begin your application!