The Linda H. Peterson Fellowship was named after the widely influential Yale professor and longtime RSVP Board member and Vice President, Linda Peterson. The purpose of the Peterson Fellowship is to support one scholar for four full-time months to enable him or her to conduct a research project on the British periodical and newspaper press of the long nineteenth century. It was created with funds from a generous bequest to RSVP by the late Eileen Curran, pioneering researcher and Emerita Professor of English at Colby College.

The Peterson Fellowship supports the study of any aspects of the periodical press in any of its manifold forms, and may range from within Britain itself to the many countries, within and outside of the Empire, where British magazines and newspapers were bought, sold, and read during the long nineteenth-century.

Funds could be used to supplement sabbatical or other grant income, provide course “buy outs,” and/or conduct travel related to the project. During the award period, a grantee could conduct secondary research, write, or pursue other scholarly activities related to a proposed project. However, eligible projects must include substantial research in nineteenth-century primary sources, whether those sources appear in print, manuscript, or digital facsimile.

The Peterson Fellowship is intended to provide a researcher with the most valuable scholarly resource—time. Thus, an awardee is expected to hold the fellowship for a continuous period for the equivalent of four, full-time months. In the event that a full-time tenure is not possible, a part-time (or combination part-time/full-time) tenure can be requested. (Those who are seeking less than four months should consider RSVP’s Curran Fellowships Program.)

More information about the prize can be found here: https://rs4vp.org/awards/peterson-fellowship/guidelines/

Applications can be submitted here: https://rs4vp.smapply.io/prog/Peterson/