NEH Summer Institute - Deadline March 4, 2014

America’s East Central Europeans: Migration and Memory 

National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute for College & University Teachers 

Columbia University, East Central European Center June 8-29, 2014

This NEH Summer Institute looks at 20th century Baltic, Western Slavic, South Slavic, Hungarian, as well as Jewish immigration to the United States from East Central Europe. Twenty-five NEH Summer Scholars will come together on the campus of Columbia University with some fifty master teachers and community representatives to address three core questions: First, what are some of the methodological and conceptual issues we should consider in the study of the East Central European emigrations? Second, how can we define the particular characteristics, motivations, and experiences of these immigrants? Finally, can we create a narrative synthesis of the “East Central European Experience” in America that could be integrated into broader courses on politics and immigration, sociology, and ethnic studies?

 College teachers, independent scholars, museum curators, librarians and advanced graduate students are encouraged to apply for this competitive program. The application deadline is March 4, 2014, and successful applicants are notified March 31. Application information is available at NEHsummerinst.Columbia.edu or contact Co-Director Robert Davis (rhd2106@Columbia.edu) 212 854-4701.

 STIPEND, TENURE, AND CONDITIONS OF AWARD 

Individuals selected to participate will receive $2,700. Stipends are intended to help cover travel expenses to and from the project location, books and other research expenses, and ordinary living expenses. Stipends are taxable. Applicants to all projects, especially those held abroad, should note that supplements will not be given in cases where the stipend is insufficient to cover all expenses. Seminar and institute participants are required to attend all meetings and to engage fully as professionals in the work of the project. During the project’s tenure, they may not undertake teaching assignments or any other professional activities unrelated to their participation in the project. Participants who, for any reason, do not complete the full tenure of the project must refund a pro-rata portion of the stipend.

 At the end of the project’s residential period, NEH Summer Scholars will be asked to submit online evaluations in which they review their work during the summer and assess its value to their personal and professional development. These evaluations will become part of the project’s grant file. 

Above, “Czecho-Slovaks and Rumanians celebrating their independence in front of Independence Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,” originally appearing in Robert Keating Smith’s The Czecho-Slovaks (New York: Board of Missions, n.d.), transcribed for Project Canterbury (http:// anglicanhistory.org) in 2008 by Wayne Kempton, Archivist and Historiographer of the Episcopal Diocese of New York. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this Web resource do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

JANUARY 27, 2014 - INTERNATIONAL DAY OF COMMEMORATION 

IN MEMORY OF THE VICTIMS OF THE HOLOCAUST

On January 27, 1945, Soviet troops came into the largely empty death and concentration camps at Auschwitz-Birkenau. Its prisoners were sent on the death march towards Germany. Only few were left behind. The United Nations selected this day to establish the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust. The more time passes since the war, the more people want to forget or deny that it happened. It is important to remember.

Two Board members of PAHA published poetry blogs for this occasion:

 John Guzlowski: International Holocaust Remembrance Day, on his Open Salon Blog

 Maja Trochimczyk: Day of Remembrance at the United Nations and in Family History, on her Poetry Laurels Blog.