FELLOWSHIP: National Sporting Library & Museum

The National Sporting Library & Museum seeks applications for the John H. Daniels Fellowship, which supports scholars doing research in the area of horse and field sports. Applications must be postmarked no later than February 1, 2011. The John H. Daniels Fellowship supports scholars at the NSL&M for periods of two weeks to one year. Applicants must submit a formal application demonstrating how they will utilize the NSL&M’s collections of books, periodicals, manuscripts, archival materials, and fine art. A special fellowship will be offered this year for topics relating to field sports and conservation.

Selected fellows receive complimentary housing in Middleburg and a stipend to cover living and travel costs. University faculty and graduate students; museum curators and librarians; and writers and journalists are encouraged to apply. Past fellows from the disciplines of history, literature, equine studies, journalism, art history, anthropology, area studies, and sport and environmental history have received fellowships.

The program began in 2007 in honor of sportsman and book collector, John H. Daniels (1921-2006), a longtime supporter of the NSL&M. Past topics have included a biography of champion show jumper, Snowman; American stable design; the history of riding dress; conservation and ethics in American fly fishing; and Early Modern horsemanship manuals. Since 2007, the NSL&M has hosted 23 fellows from throughout the United States and from five countries. A complete list of past projects is available on the fellowship webpage.

The NSL&M has 17,000 volumes on horse and field sports dating from 1523 to the present. Its collections comprise many areas of equestrian sports, including works on Thoroughbred racing, foxhunting, steeplechasing, dressage, and general horsemanship. Works also include treatises on veterinary medicine, animal husbandry, farriery, cavalry, and training of horses and sporting dogs. Also represented are the non-equestrian, traditionally-British sports of fly fishing, shooting, and fowling. The National Sporting Art Museum will open in 2011 on the Library campus, with 11 galleries featuring exhibits of American and European fine sporting art.

Further information, application criteria, and a brochure may be found at www.nsl.org/fellowship.html or by contacting Elizabeth Tobey, Director of Research & Publications, at fellowship@nsl.org or 540-687-6542 x 11.