UW American Heritage Center Establishes New Research Fellowships

The University of Wyoming’s American Heritage Center (AHC) has established new fellowships for the study of Western political history, the American West and women in the public sector.

The fellowships reflect the AHC’s array of materials on these subject areas. Academic scholars at any level -- from graduate students to tenured faculty -- may apply. They are:

-- The Alan K. Simpson Fellowship on Western Political History honors the U.S. senator from Wyoming who served for 18 years (1979-1997). He also served in the Wyoming Legislature from 1965-1977.

-- The George A. Rentschler Fellowship on the Study of the American West highlights Rentschler’s career as an industrialist who assisted the United States’ World War II efforts. He had a passion for the landscapes and legends of the American West. His late wife, Rita Rentschler Cushman, and his late son, Frederick Rentschler, made the fellowship possible.

-- The Women in Public Life Fellowship honors contributions women have made in the public sector.

A $3,000 stipend will be awarded for each fellowship for a one-month -- 20 business days -- residence at the AHC during a 15-month period after notification.

The new fellowships are in addition to current AHC offerings: the Bernard L. Majewski Research Fellowship to study the history of economic geology; and the Peter K. Simpson Fellowship on the American West -- a collaboration by the AHC and the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody.

Application materials for all of the AHC’s fellowships should be submitted electronically by March 30 to AHC Archivist Leslie Waggener at lwaggen2@uwyo.edu.

For more information about the fellowships, visit the AHC website at www.uwyo.edu/ahc/.

About UW’s American Heritage Center

The AHC is a public research institution and serves as UW’s manuscripts repository, rare books library and university archives. With more than 90,000 cubic feet of material and 3,500 collections, the AHC is among the largest nongovernmental repositories in the nation.