James and Lilian Pruett Graduate Research Fellowships
Established in 2007, the James and Lilian Pruett Graduate Research Fellowships offer graduate students the opportunity to spend up to two summer months in the Music Division of the Library of Congress or Wilson Special Collections Library, processing archival collections and conducting independent research. The Program is named after James W. Pruett (1932–2014), Professor of Music (specializing in renaissance music) and Director of the Music Library at UNC-Chapel Hill (1962-76), former chair of the UNC-Chapel Hill Music Department (1976–86), and Chief of the Music Division at the Library of Congress (1987–94).
These Fellowships are reserved for graduate students currently enrolled in the UNC graduate program in musicology (MA or Ph.D.) and in good standing. Fellows are expected to spend 16–20 hours per week processing collections identified by library staff. For the rest of their time, they are expected to pursue research projects in the Library of Congress or in the special collections of UNC Libraries.
2023 Fellows received an allowance of $6,000 (DC) or $3,000 (NC) to cover accommodation and subsistence expenses. Fellows preserve their customary rights to health insurance and similar benefits through UNC. Current music graduate students interested in this opportunity should be in touch with the Director of Graduate Studies. Applications, which ask students to outline a research project that utilizes one of these collections, are solicited in the spring semester.
- For a list of previous Fellows, the collections they processed, and their individual programs, click here.
- “Sleuthing in the Stacks”: The 2013 Pruett Fellows https://gradschool.unc.edu/fountain/spr_11/sleuthing.html
- For more on James W. Pruett, click here.
- To make a donation in support of the James and Lilian Pruett Graduate Research Fellowships, click here.