Grant-in-Aid Awards

The Immigration History Research Center Archives (IHRCA) offers Grant-in-Aid Awards to support a visit in order to conduct research in our collections. Awards are available through co-sponsorship from the Immigration History Research Center and the IHRCA through the ethnic and general funds. 

About the award

The Immigration History Research Center Archives at the University of Minnesota Libraries invites applications for the Grant-in-Aid Award. This award will prioritize applicants who identify as people of color, as well as those who identify as members of groups historically marginalized in academia and archives. This call for applications is open to all, through September 1, 2024.

The Immigration History Research Center Archives (IHRCA) offers Grant-in-Aid (GIA) Awards to support a visit to Andersen Library in order to conduct research in the IHRCA collections. Awards are available through co-sponsorship by the Immigration History Research Center and the IHRCA through the ethnic and general funds. The award is for travel and research-related expenses.

This award is open to researchers of all disciplines, backgrounds, and levels of training, and is intended to support a research visit of 5 days. Awards are for $2,000.00, and typically four such awards are given each year. Grant-in-Aid Awards are intended to help support the expenses of people who are based outside of the Minneapolis-St. Paul (Minnesota, USA) metropolitan area. Awards are made on a competitive basis, and for research specific to the IHRCA’s collections.

All applicants will receive their notification regarding the award in December, 2024. The award must be used during the next calendar year (2025).

Awards are made on a competitive basis, and for research specific to the IHRCA’s collections.

The Immigration History Research Center Archives collaborates with campus partner Immigration History Research Center (IHRC), and is an internationally-known archives focused on im/migration to the United States with strengths in material dating from the late 19th century to current refugee migrations. Key areas include European and Near Eastern immigrants (1880-1930) and 20th-century refugees, such as Displaced Persons after World War II and more recent Southeast Asian, African, and more. The IHRCA provides access to immigrant and refugee assistance organization records, ethnic identity and fraternal organization records, personal papers, and print collections of periodicals and rare books. The IHRCA is part of Archives and Special Collections of the University of Minnesota Libraries.

Also awarded through this competition cycle is the Michael G. Karni Scholarship. Funded by the IHRC, this award supports visiting scholar/s utilizing the Immigration History Research Center Archives, with preference on projects using the Finnish American collections, or the Baltic American collections. Please refer to the Karni Scholarship webpage for complete details.

The Immigration History Research Center Archives collaborates with campus partner Immigration History Research Center (IHRC), and is an internationally-known archives focused on im/migration to the United States with strengths in material dating from the late 19th century to current refugee migrations. Key areas include European and Near Eastern immigrants (1880-1930) and 20th-century refugees, such as Displaced Persons after World War II and more recent Southeast Asian, African, and more. The IHRCA provides access to immigrant and refugee assistance organization records, ethnic identity and fraternal organization records, personal papers, and print collections of periodicals and rare books. The IHRCA is part of Archives and Special Collections of the University of Minnesota Libraries.

Also awarded through this competition cycle is the Michael G. Karni Scholarship. Funded by the IHRC, this award supports visiting scholar/s utilizing the Immigration History Research Center Archives, with preference on projects using the Finnish American collections, or the Baltic American collections. Please refer to the Karni Scholarship webpage for complete details.

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Details, availability, and terms

Prior to submitting an application, consult the IHRCA website at https://www.lib.umn.edu/ihrca to learn about collections, and consult with an archivist via ihrca@umn.edu to confirm material availability and discuss relevance to proposed projects. As explained in the “Application materials” section below, information on your correspondence or conversation with an archivist is a required element of the application, as is providing details of the specific IHRCA material that you identify as pertinent to your research.

Researchers receiving an IHRCA Grant-in-Aid Award will be expected to:

  • be in residence for 5 working days or more
  • acknowledge the Archives and receipt of the award in all resulting presentations and publications
  • donate a copy of resulting print publications
  • allow publicity regarding the visit, unless privacy is requested
  • provide photo, brief biography, and project description to be used for publicity, upon acceptance of the award unless privacy is requested.

The award is open to international applicants. We are not able to provide visa assistance to our international awardees. Please note: depending on tax treaty benefits, non-US taxpayer recipients may be subject to reporting and withholding requirements. If pertinent, they must provide information about their visa status.

The award is payable in US funds only; funds are distributed after the visit, based upon receipt of all required forms. The Archives is not able to provide travel or accommodation recommendations; all such arrangements are to be made by the award recipient.

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Who may apply

Those who live outside the Minneapolis - St. Paul (Minnesota, USA) metropolitan area and who wish to make use of the IHRCA collections.

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Selection criteria and schedule

Applicants who choose in their application letter to identify as a person of color, and/or as a member of a group historically and presently marginalized in academia and archival research, will receive priority in consideration. Following that, selection will be based upon demonstrated connection between the research project and specific collections at the IHRCA, and reading language proficiency of the languages found in the identified collections (consult archivist for details on source languages).

Applicants will be notified in December 2024 regarding the results of the application.

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Application materials

  • A letter of 1-2 pages including the following:
    • Description of research project including goals, framework and preliminary thesis. If pertinent, include a sentence regarding identity as a person of color, and/or as a member of a group historically and presently marginalized in academia and archival research
    • Description of IHRCA consultation (see Details section above), providing name of the archivist consulted
    • Specific IHRCA archival collections, books, and/or serials to be consulted. If archival collection is larger than a few boxes, the series and/or specific box numbers for the selected material should be included
    • Estimated dates of residency
    • Estimated budget
  • Current curriculum vitae (CV), portfolio, résumé, or similar.

Applications must be received by September 1, 2024 to ihrca@umn.edu, Attn: Grant-in-Aid Committee OR received at the IHRCA office via postal mail by September 1, 2024 (mail to postal address: IHRCA Grant-in-Aid, Immigration History Research Center Archives, University of Minnesota, 311 Andersen Library, 222 - 21st Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA).

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