Announcements

Pha business secretary

The Pennsylvania Historical Association will conduct a search for a new Business Secretary in 2019. The Business Secretary maintains the membership list, collects dues, and is an officer of the PHA as a member of its Executive Committee. Details about the position will be posted on the PHA website. Early inquiries should be sent to Rachel Batch at: rabatch@widener.edu

Profile: 2018 scholars in residence

PHA is proud to profile its 2018 Scholar in Residence recipients:

Ian Gavigan is a second-year graduate student in the Department of History at Rutgers University, New Brunswick. Gavigan has worked as a policy researcher and communications staffer at the Education Law Center of Pennsylvania with a special focus on school funding inequities. Ian spent his summer in the Pennsylvania State Archives, delving into the story of the socialists of Reading, Pennsylvania, in their Great Depression heyday. He used a variety of collections to explore the Reading movement in its statewide, national, and global contexts. Gavigan's research considers the ways the Reading socialists' story shows the limits of municipally based radical politics within the context of US political structure.

Dr. Mark l. Thompson is Senior Lecturer of American Studies at the University of Groningen, Netherlands. His first book, The Contest for the Delaware Valley, won the 2012–14 PHA Philip Klein Prize for the best book illuminating Pennsylvania history. He is also a member of the Pennsylvania History Editorial Board. Mark spent his SIR residency at the State Archives researching early Pennsylvania land surveyors, part of a larger cultural history that he is writing about land surveyors in colonial British North America. The study intends to show that surveyors helped to produce and to reproduce the contradictions of liberty in colonial British North America. Colonial Pennsylvania had a central part in this story. He made great use of the Records of the Bureau of Land Records and the John Lukens Papers at the State Archives.

Pennsylvania state archives and the pennsylvania historical association announce the 2019 scholars in residence program

The Pennsylvania State Archives and the Pennsylvania Historical Association invite applications for the 2019 Scholars in Residence Program (SIR). The program provides support for up to four weeks of full-time research and study in manuscript and state record collections maintained by the Pennsylvania State Archives. Residency programs are open to all who are conducting research on Pennsylvania history, including academic scholars, public sector professionals, independent scholars, graduate students, educators, writers, filmmakers, and others. Residencies may be scheduled for up to four weeks at any time during the period June 17, 2019–August 16, 2019; stipends are awarded at the rate of up to $800 per week.

Applicants are encouraged to conceive of research topics related to Pennsylvania history. They are further encouraged to identify relevant archival collections, assess their availability and accessibility, and discuss their research agenda with appropriate staff prior to submitting a proposal. Because the State Archives is interested in making history meaningful and accessible to diverse audiences, research that is likely to result in widespread dissemination through nonspecialized publications, films, exhibitions, or other means is particularly welcome. Research topics that may have an impact on public policy are also most welcomed.

Applications will be evaluated by the following criteria: the significance of the research proposed; the clarity of the proposal; the quality of the work anticipated and the likelihood that the proposed project will be successfully completed; the relevance of the research topic to State Archives programs; the value of State Archives resources to the proposed topic, including the imaginative use of nontraditional sources; and plans for dissemination of the results of the research.

For a full description of the residency program and application materials, as well as information about State Archives research collections, go to the PHMC Web site: https://www.phmc.pa.gov/Archives/News-Programs/Pages/Scholars-in-Residence-.aspx. You may also email: RA-PHMCScholars@state.pa.us or call: (717) 705-5785, or write:

Scholars in Residence Program, Pennsylvania State Archives, 350 North Street, Harrisburg, PA 17120-0090. Deadline for application is February 15, 2019. Notification of awards will be made in early...