The Cather Project (based in the Department of English, University of Nebraska-Lincoln) announces the availability of two new visiting Fellowships. These fellowships are designed to provide financial support for travel to and residence in Lincoln to conduct research on Willa Cather, drawing on materials and resources at UNL. The creation of these fellowships was enabled by the Roberta and James Woodress Fund (James Woodress is an eminent Cather biographer and emeritus professor of English at University of California-Davis). Applications are invited from early career scholars, namely advanced graduate students, recently completed PhDs, and faculty not yet tenured. Each Woodress Fellowship stipend will be $3000. Each fellow is expected to be in residence in Lincoln for four consecutive weeks during the period from January 1 through August 31, 2011. The Cather Project will assist with advice about travel and lodging arrangements. We will also help the Fellows to make a research trip to the Willa Cather Foundation in Red Cloud, Nebraska, to conduct research in materials held there.
The Cather Project produces the Willa Cather Scholarly Edition and Cather Studies, both published by the University of Nebraska Press. The Archives and Special Collections of the UNL Libraries holds the largest collection of Cather letters of any library, as well as many letters to Cather, edited typescripts and multiple editions of her works, and many other Cather-associated materials. Consult the finding aids on their web site (http://libraries.unl.edu/spec — look under subject guides, Great Plains history and literature). The Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, Archives and Special Collections, and the Cather Project jointly sponsor the Willa Cather Archive, a digital resource for the study of Cather's life and writings (http://cather.unl.edu).
Please send a c.v., a statement of no more than 3 pages describing the proposed research research project and the importance of materials and resources at UNL to the project, and a sample of scholarly writing (20-25pp: preferably focusing on Cather, though not necessarily exclusively) to Beth Burke, Cather Project, 202 Andrews Hall, Lincoln, NE 68588-0333. Two letters of recommendation should also be sent to this address. E-mail submission of materials is preferred (please place 'Woodress Fellowship' in the subject line and send to ).These letters should be specific to the fellowship and proposed project rather than general letters of recommendation from your job placement dossier.
The deadline is October 31st, and we will inform successful applicants by December 18th, 2010.
