The
Smithsonian Institution Libraries currently offers two Resident
Scholar Programs:
The
Dibner Library of the History of Science and Technology Resident
Scholar Program
Due
to the closure of the National
Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center for extensive
renovations, we regret that the Dibner Library Resident Scholar
Program will be suspended in 2008.
The
Program will resume in 2009.
The
Dibner Library of the History of Science and Technology Resident
Scholar Program, supported by The Dibner Fund, awards stipends of
$3,000.00 per month for up to six months for individuals working
on a topic relating to the history of science and technology who
can make substantial use of collections in the Dibner Library. Historians,
librarians, doctoral students, and post-doctoral scholars are welcome
to apply. Scholars must be in residence at the Dibner Library during
the award period. Scholars wanting to do research in other areas
of SIL Special Collections should apply for the Baird Society Resident
Scholar Program.
The
core of the holdings of the Dibner Library of the History of Science
and Technology consists of approximately 10,000 rare books and manuscripts
that were generously donated to the nation by the Burndy Library
(founder, Bern Dibner) on the occasion of the nation's Bicentennial
(1976). The strengths of the Dibner Library collection are in the
fields of mathematics, astronomy, classical natural philosophy,
theoretical physics (up to the early twentieth century), experimental
physics (especially electricity and magnetism), engineering technology
(from the Renaissance to the late nineteenth century), and scientific
apparatus and instruments. The rare books, which date from the fifteenth
to the twentieth centuries, include significant holdings of works
by Galileo Galilei, Johannes Kepler, Euclid, Carl Friedrich Gauss,
Leonhard Euler, René Descartes, and Pierre Simon, marquis
de Laplace, and Aristotle. Scientists represented by significant
manuscript papers include Dominique François Arago, Humphry
Davy, John William Lubbock, Isaac Newton, Henri Milne-Edwards, Hans
Christian Øersted, Henry Hureau de Sénarmont, Benjamin
Silliman, Jr., and Silvanus P. Thompson. The Dibner Library collections
support the research interests of Smithsonian staff in the National
Museum of American History, and provide valuable resources for the
other Smithsonian museums and research units.
To
be competitive, the application should describe in detail how the
applicant intends to use the collections of the Dibner Library.
HOW
TO APPLY
To
apply, download the application in Adobe Acrobat format (.pdf) from
the link below, and return the completed application to the address
below. If your browser does not automatically open the .pdf file
when you click on the link in the previous sentence, please download
Adobe Acrobat Reader for free.
Download
the Dibner Library Resident Scholar application
To
have an application form mailed to you or for further information,
call 202-633-3872, or email SILResidentScholars@si.edu.
Applications
should be postmarked by March 1, 2008.
We
strongly encourage candidates to send their applications via Federal
Express or comparable courier to avoid any delays.
for
standard USPS deliveries and correspondence:
SIL
Resident Scholar Programs
Attn: Selection Committee
P.O. Box 37012
NMAH 1041 MRC 672
Washington, DC 20013-7012
for
Federal Express shipments and other carriers requiring a street
address:
SIL
Resident Scholar Programs
Attn: Selection Committee
12th St. & Constitution Ave., NW
NMAH 1041 MRC 672
Washington, DC 20013-7012
Current
and former Dibner Library Resident Scholars
Baird
Society Resident Scholar Program
The
Baird Society Resident Scholar Program awards stipends of $3,000
per month for up to six months for individuals working on a topic
relating to the holdings of SIL's special collections. Historians,
librarians, doctoral students, and post-doctoral scholars are welcome
to apply. Scholars must be in residence at the Smithsonian during
the award period. Scholars wanting to do research primarily in the
collections of the Dibner Library of the History of Science and
Technology should apply for the Dibner Library Resident Scholar
Program.
Baird
Society Resident Scholars will do research in SIL's special collections
located in Washington, DC and New York City. These special collections
include printed materials on world's fairs in the Dibner Library
(19th and early 20th centuries); manufacturer's commercial trade
catalogs in the National Museum of American History Library (285,000
pieces representing 30,000 companies dating from the 19th and 20th
centuries) used to study American industrialization, mass production,
and consumerism; natural history rare books in the Cullman Library
(pre-1840 works on topics such as botany, zoology, travel & exploration,
museums & collecting, geology, and anthropology); air and space
history in the National Air and Space Museum Library's Ramsey Room
(ballooning, rocketry, and aviation, late 18th to early 20th centuries);
James Smithson's library in the Cullman Library; and European and
American decorative arts, architecture, and design in the Cooper-Hewitt
National Design Museum Library's Bradley Room (18th to 20th centuries).
More details about the collections can be found in the application.
This
award is supported by the Spencer Baird Society of the Smithsonian
Institution Libraries.
To
be competitive, the application should describe in detail how the
applicant intends to use SIL's special collections.
HOW TO APPLY
To
apply, download the application in Adobe Acrobat format (.pdf) from
the link below, and return the completed application to the address
below. If your browser does not automatically open the .pdf file
when you click on the link in the previous sentence, please download
Adobe Acrobat Reader for free.
Download the Baird Society Resident
Scholar application
To
have an application form mailed to you or for further information,
call 202-633-3872, or email SILResidentScholars@si.edu.
Applications
should be postmarked by March 1, 2007.
We
strongly encourage candidates to send their applications via Federal
Express or comparable courier to avoid any delays.
for
standard USPS deliveries and correspondence:
SIL
Resident Scholar Programs
Attn: Selection Committee
P.O. Box 37012
NMAH 1041 MRC 672
Washington, DC 20013-7012
for
Federal Express shipments and other carriers requiring a street
address:
SIL
Resident Scholar Programs
Attn: Selection Committee
12th St. & Constitution Ave., NW
NMAH 1041 MRC 672
Washington, DC 20560-0672
Current
and former Baird Society Resident Scholars
INFORMATION
ON HOUSING IN THE DC AREA
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