Fellowship Programs

The Morroe Berger – Benny Carter - Ed Berger Jazz Research Fund at the Institute of Jazz Studies

Berger-Carter-Berger Fellowships 2023-24

The Institute of Jazz Studies’ (IJS) Berger –Carter – Berger Research Fellowship provides awards of up to $1,000 for travel and accommodation in conjunction with research conducted at the IJS. The research funds are designed to foster, promote, and support research by scholars using IJS collections. To date, over 80 awards have been given to scholars and students worldwide working in a variety of disciplines that intersect at the Institute’s archival and library holdings.

Application Procedure

A committee will review applications based on their feasibility and completeness, the extent to which IJS holdings support the proposed research, how the stipend will support the applicant’s project, and the applicant’s research plan. Awards are made only to individuals; institutions are ineligible to apply. The stipend does not support research at other repositories or provide general tuition support. Application to the research stipend program is open to U.S. citizens and citizens of foreign countries. Certain U.S. Government requirements will apply to non-U.S. citizens.

Applications will be considered over the course of the fiscal year, with submission deadlines on the first day of the month until the funds have been allocated. Award recipients must complete their research by June 30, 2024. Stipend recipients are expected to submit a short report on their research at the Institute. Edited versions of, or excerpts from these reports, may be used in the Institute's publications and on its website. Recipients also are asked to provide the IJS with a copy of any publication resulting from research conducted with support from the stipend.

Rutgers University will make travel and lodging arrangements on behalf of the awardees per updated University travel policy.

Previous Berger-Carter-Berger award recipients are eligible to apply provided they are working on a new research project, and two years have elapsed since their last visit. No exceptions will be granted.

Please submit the following materials via email:

• CV/Resume of maximum 2 pages
• A 750-word long description of the research project. Please address why your research must be completed at IJS, how the award will help you complete the project, the expected outcome of your research, and outline your research plan/timeline.
• Include full contact information (email, phone number, and mailing addresses)

Background

The endowment was established in 1987 with a gift by composer/arranger/multi-instrumentalist Benny Carter (1907-2003) in memory of Morroe Berger (1917-1981), a close friend and Carter’s biographer. Berger was a professor of sociology at Princeton University until his death in 1981. Carter’s initial gift was matched by the Berger family, who asked that Carter’s name be added to the Fund’s title. Carter, his wife Hilma, the Berger family, and other donors have regularly added to the endowment over the years. In 2017 this named fellowship was expanded to honor Ed Berger (1949-2017), Carter’s road manager and longtime IJS associate director.

The resumé and one-page description may be emailed as Word/PDF attachments to:

Adriana P. Cuervo
Head of Archival Collections and Services
ac1167@libraries.rutgers.edu

See a list of previous Berger-Berger-Carter Awardees

IJS Archives Fellows

The Institute of Jazz Studies Archival Fellowship Program was established in 2011 to support archival career development, as well as to promote diversity in the archives profession. Each year, three Fellows are selected from among dozens of applicants, who are either currently enrolled in, or recent graduates of, an MLIS program, have a special interest in jazz and or African American culture, and aspire to careers as archivists. Fellows receive a stipend to cover travel, hotel, and miscellaneous expenses. The Fellowship Program is funded by longtime IJS supporter John Van Rens.

The Fellows spend two weeks on campus working closely with IJS archivists and staff. Participants gain hands-on experience processing one of the Institute’s multi-faceted collections and preparing a related digital project that can be shared with colleagues and prospective employers. There are also seminars with the Libraries as well as Newark campus administrators, who provide an overview of Rutgers-Newark as the nation’s most diverse university, as well as role of an archive within an urban university library. The Program also involves two days of visits to other area archives and institutions, which have included the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library Archival Processing Center, the Louis Armstrong House Museum and Archive, the Jazz Museum in Harlem, the Carnegie Hall Archive, and the New York Philharmonic Archive at Lincoln Center. There are also several social gatherings with IJS staff and area librarians and archivists.