The names of the third class of fifteen fellows appointed to The New York Public Library's Center for Scholars and Writers, for the academic year 2001-2002, were announced today by Library President Paul LeClerc and Peter Gay, the Center's Director and Sterling Professor of History Emeritus at Yale University. The group will take up residence on September 10 in the Center's beautifully renovated quarters in the landmark Humanities and Social Sciences Library, at 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue. The Center for Scholars and Writers offers a nine-month fellowship that allows novelists, poets, historians, scientists and others doing research in a variety of fields to draw on the vast resources in the Library's collections.
Fellows receive a stipend and office space, and are encouraged to share ideas.
Since it opened in 1999, the Center has established itself as a lively hub of intellectual discourse that sponsors a popular lecture series with each class of scholars as speakers. During their stint at the Center, fellows publish articles, stories and poetry. Several members of the class of 1999-2000 published books based on research conducted at the Center. A selection committee comprised of academics, creative writers and independent researchers chose the other 12 fellows. The 293 applicants from 25 countries reflected a broad spectrum of interests and projects.