We are pleased to share this call for applications for a fellowship that could interest some of our readers:
The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) Archives is accepting applications for its 2021 fellowship program.
Deadline for submission: January 26, 2021
In 2021 up to seven fellowships will be awarded to senior scholars, postdoctoral researchers, graduate students, and independent researchers to conduct research in the JDC Archives, either in New York or in Jerusalem.
Topics in the fields of twentieth century Jewish history, modern history, social welfare, migration, and humanitarian assistance will be considered, as well as other areas of academic research covered in the JDC archival collections.
The repository houses one of the most significant collections in the world for the study of modern Jewish history. Comprising the organizational records of JDC, the overseas rescue, relief, and rehabilitation arm of the American Jewish community, the archives includes over 3 miles of text documents, 100,000 photographs, 1100 audio recordings, 1300 video recordings, 95 oral histories, and 157 recorded historic speeches and broadcasts.
The fellowship awards are $2,500-$5,000.
Please visit http://archives.jdc.org/about-us/fellowships.html to apply and for further information.
We would like to point out that there is ample scope in the archives for people researching Jewish built heritage — there is considerable textural material as well as images.
As JDC has noted to us in the past:
Photographs in the online database of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) Archives tell stories of the history of structures that still stand today. Two examples from Krakow highlight JDC’s role in the reconstruction of Jewish communities in the interwar period.
The old Jewish mikvah, located at 6 Szeroka Street, dates to the seventeenth century. Although it was renovated in the second half of the nineteenth century, it was ruined during World War I. In 1921-1923, JDC supported the refurbishment of the building, which became known as the “American Public Bathhouse.” After World War II, it served as the local office of the Department of Cultural Property Preservation. In the 1990s it was converted into the Klezmer Hois hotel.