The Elmer L. Andersen Research Scholars Program supports scholarly research projects using materials from the Libraries' rare and special collections. Named for former governor and University of Minnesota regent Elmer L. Andersen, the new program honors the Governor's passion for collecting and for expanding the use of the collections. The Research Scholars program is available to scholars including faculty, graduate, postgraduate, and independent researchers using the collections in the Department of Archives and Special Collections. This program is not available to currently enrolled University of Minnesota graduate or undergraduate students.

The program will provide annual support for up to two research projects that require use of one or more of the collections. Awards range from $500 to $2,000 and provide funds for travel, housing and other research related costs. The final research product (e.g., journal article, documentary film) must acknowledge the Libraries' support and be deposited with the University Libraries.

Applications should include the following:

• Cover letter that provides a detailed project description, placing the project in the context of its larger field of study and describing the anticipated result of the project (e.g. journal article, book, edited volume, etc.). The narrative should articulate the anticipated use of the University Libraries collections with reference to specific collections to be used and their relevance to the project.
• The applicant's curriculum vitae.
• Two letters of recommendation.
• A budget with estimates of related costs.

Application deadline: September 30, 2011
Award announcement: November 14, 2011
Research must be completed: December 30, 2012

Send application to:
Director of Archives and Special Collections
University of Minnesota Libraries
305 Elmer L. Andersen Library
222 21st Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55455

About the collections:
The University of Minnesota Libraries Archives and Special Collections contain diverse holdings from clay tablets to documentation of the history of information technology, from children's literature to University records, from the literary and performing arts to gay and lesbian culture. Complete description of the collecting areas at special.lib.umn.edu.

Download a printable flier (PDF)

Posted by Marlo Welshons at 8:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Legacy funds support project to catalog and digitize rare agriculture records

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (08/12/2011) -- If Norman Borlaug was the father of the Green Revolution, its grandfather was E.C. Stakman of the University of Minnesota's Plant Pathology Department.

Created in 1907 to combat the devastating cycles of crop-destroying wheat stem rust that periodically threatened the state's economy, plant pathology became the premier program of its kind, attracting generations of brilliant young scientists whose work saved millions from starvation worldwide.

The University Archives documented this story in a new exhibit called "Minnesota Roots of the Green Revolution: A Legacy of Greatness." The university's rich historical collections have recently been cataloged and selectively digitized through projects supported by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund of the Minnesota Clean Water, Land and Legacy amendment.

The U Libraries are celebrating the completion of these projects with a reception that showcases these rare and unique agriculture records.

"The Green Revolution was an unprecedented human achievement in world history, but was little known in affluent countries. In the developing and underdeveloped countries it literally changed their world, lifting hundreds of millions from poverty, malnutrition and misery," said Richard Zeyen, professor emeritus of plant pathology. "The Minnesota roots of the Green Revolution is the University of Minnesota's greatest story never told--it was and remains our highest impact moment, but is unknown to most."

The reception, sponsored by the University of Minnesota Archives, Friends of the University Libraries, and the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences, will be held 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 30, in Elmer L. Andersen Library, 222 21st Ave. S., Minneapolis. A short program, featuring a preview of the TPT/Department of Plant Pathology documentary film "Saving Wheat: Rusts Never Sleep," will begin at 5:30 p.m.

The "Minnesota Roots of the Green Revolution: A Legacy of Greatness" exhibit is open now through Friday, October 21, 2011; exhibit hours and directions to Andersen Library are available at special.lib.umn.edu/hoursdir.phtml. Learn more about the University Archives at special.lib.umn.edu/uarchives.

Posted by Marlo Welshons at 10:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The new issue of continuum, the magazine of the University Libraries, is now available online. "The Lifecycle of Knowledge" (issue 9), as well as all past issues, are at http://www.lib.umn.edu/continuum/.

Posted by Marlo Welshons at 8:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)