Society for American Music Taking Applications for Awards and Fellowships

The Society for American Music is now accepting submissions for awards and fellowships, including support for dissertation research, research at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Library of Congress, and on topics ranging from oral musical traditions to American popular music to folk music of the Americas. All opportunities are listed at: https://www.american-music.org/page/AwardOverview.

Anne Dhu McLucas Fellowship
This fellowship recognizes Anne Dhu McLucas’s contributions to American music studies and her selfless service to the Society, including her tenure as President. She was a brilliant polymath with wide-ranging interests in all things musical, a wonderful teacher, a gifted and supportive mentor, and a path-breaking scholar. The fellowship honors Prof. McLucas’s primary areas of scholarly interest by providing support to a graduate student conducting research (archival or fieldwork) on traditional music (music in the oral tradition) or Native American/First Nation music. The Fellowship may support research expenses, including but not limited to travel expenses, lodging, media resources, and duplication expenses. The maximum award for the 2018 application year is $2,000. The winner of the award is also granted one complimentary year of membership in the Society.
https://www.american-music.org/page/McLucasFWP DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION: November 1, 2021

Judith McCulloh Fellowship
This fellowship honors the achievements of Judith McCulloh as a scholar, folklorist, editor, and folk arts advocate. She created and championed the “Music in American Life” series renowned for its wide embrace of popular, folk, and concert musics and the “Folklore in Society” series during her prolific tenure at the University of Illinois Press. She received, among numerous honors, the Bess Lomax Hawes National Heritage Fellowship and the Society for American Music Distinguished Service Award. This fellowship is given annually to support research on a folk-based music culture of the Americas. Awarded competitively to scholars at any phase of their careers, the fellowship is designed to support expenses (such as travel, lodging, and duplication) associated with residency at a research center or archive, or with fieldwork. Potential research center sites include the Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, where McCulloh worked extensively, and other repositories that reflect her broad interests in folk music. The maximum award is $1,000. https://www.american-music.org/page/McCullohFWP DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION: July 1, 2021

Eileen Southern Fellowship
This Fellowship honors Eileen Southern, the pioneering historian of African-American music, whose book Music of Black Americans: A History (1971) and journal The Black Perspective in Music, which she edited with her husband Joseph Southern, helped to ground and propel the study of black music history. She received, among many other honors, the National Humanities Medal and our society’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
The Eileen Southern Fellowship is awarded competitively to scholars at any phase of their careers in support of research on music of the African diaspora in the Americas. The fellowship may support research expenses for archival or ethnographic research, including but not limited to travel expenses, lodging, books, and media resources. The maximum award is $1,000. https://www.american-music.org/page/SouthernFWP DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION: November 1, 2021

Charles Hamm Fellowship
This fellowship honors Charles Hamm and his profound contributions to the study of American music and popular music. He won the society’s inaugural Lowens Book Award for Music in the New World (1983) and also worked closely on 19th-century popular song, Irving Berlin, and George Gershwin. In 2002, he received the society’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
This fellowship is given annually to support a one-week research residency at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s Library and Archives facility on the campus of Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland, Ohio. The fellowship program is co-sponsored by SAM and the Center for Popular Music Studies at Case Western Reserve University. Awarded competitively to scholars at any phase of their careers, the fellowship is designed to support expenses (such as travel, lodging, and duplication) associated with the residency. The maximum award is $2,000. https://www.american-music.org/page/HammFWP DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION: November 1, 2021

Wayne Shirley Research Fellowship
This fellowship honors the career of Wayne Shirley, who spent thirty-seven years as a reference librarian and then music specialist in the Music Division at the Library of Congress, during which time he assisted and mentored generations of scholars. He is also a renowned music editor.
The fellowship is given annually to support a short-term research residency at the Library of Congress on any topic relating to musics of the Americas. Awarded competitively to scholars at any phase of their careers, the fellowship is designed to support expenses (such as travel, lodging, and duplication) associated with residency at the library. The maximum award is $1,000. https://americanmusic.site-ym.com/page/ShirleyFWP DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION: November 1, 2021