The Curran Fellowships are a set of travel and research grants intended to aid scholars studying 19th-century British magazines and newspapers in making use of primary print and archival sources. Made possible through the generosity of the late Eileen Curran, Professor Emerita of English, Colby College, and inspired by her pioneering research on Victorian periodicals, the Fellowships are awarded annually.

The Curran Fellowships are open to researchers of any age from any of a wide range of disciplinary perspectives who are exploring the 19th-century British periodical press (including magazines, newspapers, and serial publications of all kinds) as an object of study in its own right, and not only as a source of material for other historical topics. Applicants’ projected research may involve 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” (ca. 1780-1914).

The Research Society for Victorian Periodicals (RSVP) intends to grant at least six Curran Fellowship awards each calendar year.  Applicants may request any amount of support up to $6000; the Curran Fellowships Committee may choose partial funding of successful applications. Please note that awards will be paid out in U.S. dollars.

The Curran Fellowships are intended to provide a researcher with funds to cover only those expenses directly related to research, such as transportation, lodging, photocopies, scanning, database subscriptions, and the like.  Indirect expenses are not covered.

More information can be found here: https://rs4vp.org/awards/curran-fellowship/

Application Portal can be found here: https://rs4vp.smapply.io/prog/Curran/