The Center for Humanities & History of Modern Biology at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory invites applications to its ongoing fellowship program. The center offers two types of award intended to foster research on the history of biology and related fields:
- Sydney Brenner Research Fellowships of up to $5000 recognize and support historians, writers, and artists who are engaged in ambitious and significant work on the history of the life sciences. The Brenner Fellowship committee seeks proposals that are sophisticated, detailed, and original. Relevance of CSHL collections to the project will be one factor in evaluating proposals, but the committee's primary consideration will be the overall quality and significance of a project. Multiple fellowships will be awarded each year, and past recipients have ranged in career stage from advanced graduate students to senior scholars and established professionals. (Deadline: 31 March 2023)
- Research Travel Grants of up to $1000 defray travel and lodging costs for individuals planning to travel to the Archives for research purposes. We seek original, ambitious proposals that demonstrate the likely relevance of CSHL collections to the project. Potential applicants are encouraged to learn more about the collections by contacting CSHL archivists before applying. (No deadline; proposals accepted on an ongoing basis)
To learn more about the archives' contents, visit the online Guide to the CSHL Historical Collections or contact a CSHL archivist.
To apply or learn more about the fellowship program, please visit https://www.cshl.edu/education/center-for-humanities/grants-fellowships/ or contact Dr. Alistair Sponsel by email at sponsel@cshl.edu .
CSHL’s Center for Humanities & History of Modern Biology hosts conferences and other events related to history of science, conducts an extensive oral history program, and awards a range of fellowships and internships.
The CSHL archives are a major repository of primary material on the life sciences and medical research in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. In addition to institutional records from CSHL and many related organizations, funding bodies, and precursor institutions, the archives contain documentary evidence of nearly a century of scientific meetings held at the laboratory and personal collections of several dozen significant contributors to biology from around the world (see examples below).
Institutional collections at CSHL include:
- Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences (1890-1924)
- Carnegie Institution of Washington (1904-1971)
- Eugenics Record Office (in CIW collection)
- Department of Genetics (in CIW collection)
- Long Island Biological Association (1924-1962)
- Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (1962-present)
- CSHL Symposia Collection (1933-present)
- Oral History Collection
- Rare Book Collection
Personal collections at CSHL include:
- Sydney Brenner
- Francis Crick
- Hugo Fricke
- Walter Gilbert
- Carol Greider
- Barbara McClintock
- Matthew Meselson
- Hermann J. Muller
- Robert Olby
- James D. Watson
- Charles Weissmann
- Evelyn Witkin
- Norton Zinder
- ...and many more