Competition offers aid to Illinois history scholars

Deadline to apply for prestigious King V. Hostick scholarship is March 15

[February 28, 2013]  SPRINGFIELD – Graduate students researching Illinois history have a chance to win a scholarship through the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency and the Illinois State Historical Society, but the deadline is approaching quickly.

The King V. Hostick Award provides stipends of up to $3,000 for graduate students in history or library science who are writing dissertations on any aspect of Prairie State history or politics.

All applications must be received by March 15, 2014, either digitally or by U.S. mail. The awards will be announced by May and distributed no later than July 1.

Applications should include current vitae; a description of the project and how the applicant will use Illinois libraries, archives or museums for their research; at least two references; and an itemized budget. Preference may be given to research conducted at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum (formerly the Illinois State Historical Library).

The scholarship was established by the late manuscript dealer King V. Hostick.

Past awards have gone to research on treatment of female prisoners, Chicago poverty, sectional politics in early Illinois, the Ku Klux Klan and the fate of Native Americans.

Send applications to William Furry, executive director of the Illinois State Historical Society, at [e-mail].

They can also be mailed to Furry at

Illinois State Historical Society
P.O. Box 1800
Springfield, Illinois 62705-1800.

For more information, call the historical society at 217-525-2781.

[Text received; Preston Hardge Jr, Illinois Historic Preservation Agency]