Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry

The Chemical Heritage Foundation (CHF) and the Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry (SHAC) are pleased to invite applications for the 2013-2014 Rumford Scholarship. This annual award established in 2011 will enable a Northern American scholar to travel to Europe in order to undertake original research in the history of chemistry or alchemy in libraries/archives/museum collections using their particular resources. The award may be held in any European country. The value of the award is £2300. Applications are due April 7, 2013. For more information or an application, please go to the CHF site.

The 2012 Rumford Scholar was Evan Helper-Smith, a graduate student at Princeton, who is working on Nomenclature and the Culture of Organic Chemistry, 1889-1930.

The 2011 Rumford Scholar was Juan-Andres Leon, a graduate student at Harvard, whose project was ‘Chemist-industrialists and the development of private scientific philanthropy in Germany, 1870-1933.’

Eligibility: Applicants must be either doctoral students or have been awarded a doctorate within three years of January 1 of the year in which the application is submitted. In addition, independent scholars and part-time or adjunct faculty at any point in their academic career are eligible to apply. Individuals currently holding other research grants supporting travel to Europe are not eligible. Applicants must be normally resident in North America.

Outcomes: The scholar will give a talk at CHF about their work shortly after their return. Support to allow the scholar to travel to Philadelphia to do this will be available outside the funding of the scholarship. The scholar must submit a report of not less than 750 or more than 1500 words to CHF and SHAC within three months of carrying out the research, and a statement of account together with receipts. The report will be published in an appropriate form by the two organizations. The support of CHF and SHAC must be acknowledged in any publication arising from the research. The Scholar must take up the award within nine months of the date of its announcement.

SHAC will use its best endeavours to facilitate access to collections, to assist in finding accommodation and to put the scholar in touch with other historians.