A.C. Elias, Jr. Irish-American Research Travel Fellowship

ASECS’ A. C. Elias Irish-American Research Travel Fellowship, with $2500 in annual funding, supports “documentary scholarship on Ireland in the period between the Treaty of Limerick (1691) and the Act of Union (1800), by enabling North American-based scholars to travel to Ireland and Irish-based scholars to travel to North America for furthering their research.” Projects conducting original research on any aspect of 18C Ireland qualify for consideration, but recipients must be members of ASECS who have permanent residence in the United States or Canada or be members of its Irish sister organization, The Eighteenth-Century Ireland Society, residing on the island of Ireland. Prize winners are chosen by an independent jury of three scholars from different disciplines, after each is seen by readers in the applicant’s field.

The Elias Irish-American Research Fellowship was established in 1993-1994 by the late A. C. Elias, Jr., an independent scholar, long a member of EC/ASECS–it was renamed in 2013 to honor Elias’s scholarship and assistance to the community of scholars.

Applications for the next Elias fellowship are due on 15 November 2023 to Dr. Jason McElligott, The Keeper, Marsh’s Library, St. Patrick’s Close, Dublin 8, Ireland (jason.mcelligott@marshlibrary.ie) and Dr. James May (jem4@psu.edu; 1423 Hillcrest Road / Lancaster, PA  17603 / USA).

Applications consist of a cover letter, providing contact information, research destination, and qualifying society membership, a short C.V. (1-3 pp.), a description of the project (3 pp. or less, treating its contribution to the field and work done and to be done during the proposed research period), a one-page bibliography of related books and articles, a short budget, and two signed letters of recommendation. Please submit all the materials but the letters as one Word file or PDF. If the two letters of support cannot be supplied as PDFs of signed letters, the original copies should be mailed to one of the trustees.

Restrictions:  None by academic discipline or sub-period of specialization within 18th-century Ireland. The fellowship is restricted to documentary scholars, whose research centers on primary sources from the eighteenth century (printed matter, manuscripts, buildings, works of art, or other artifacts), rather than on the secondary literature already extant.  There are no restrictions by age, sex, race, religion, or academic rank.  Applicants need be members of ASECS who have permanent residence in the United States or Canada or be members of The Eighteenth-Century Ireland Society who reside in Ireland or Northern Ireland.

No applicant may accept more than one ASECS grant or fellowship in any given year.

Winners of ASECS Travel Awards and Fellowships are required to mention the award in the notes or acknowledgements section of any publication supported by the award.