• grants

The Mercurians, a Special Interest Group of the Society for the History of Technology (SHOT), is offering a travel grant of US$1,000 to defray the cost of travel and housing involved in the use of research collections.

The travel grant is awarded in alternating years with the first grant being presented during the SHOT annual meeting in Cleveland 3-6 November 2011. The Mercurians began meeting in 1986 for the purpose of generating networks between people who share work and interests in the history of communication technologies, defining the field broadly. Our activities include publishing a semi-annual newsletter, Antenna, meeting during annual SHOT conferences, organizing paper sessions for SHOT meetings, and pursuing contacts between meetings via our Google Groups list. The newsletter serves both as a clearing house for readers and an informal forum for their ideas.

Eligibility: The grant is intended for and limited to junior scholars-meaning either current graduate students or recent postgraduates (no more than three years beyond the terminal degree in their field).

Requirements and Application: Only travel to an appropriate archival collection to carry out research on an aspect of the history of communication technology, broadly defined, will be supported. The archive can be open to the public, private, or even closed, provided that necessary permissions have been obtained from the archive.

Complete the application form (available at: http://www.mercurians.org/grant-form.doc) and e-mail it and a curriculum vitae (no longer than 3 pages) as attachments to the Mercurians c/oabutrica@earthlink.net Your curriculum vitae should include pertinent publications, fellowships, or accomplishments relevant to your proposed research, and professional societies and affiliations.

The deadline for submitting an application for the inaugural grant is 31 August 2011. For further information see www.mercurians.org or please contact Andrew Butrica atabutrica@earthlink.net.

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