Rare Book School Awards 15 Fellowships for Diversity, Inclusion & Cultural Heritage
Charlottesville, VA — Rare Book School has selected an inaugural cohort of 15 fellows to join the Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship for Diversity, Inclusion & Cultural Heritage (RBS-Mellon CH Fellowship). Fellows will participate in a three-year program that includes an orientation, Rare Book School coursework, community symposia, and other activities relating to multicultural collections and trainings.
This program builds on the success of earlier RBS fellowship initiatives, including the Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship of Scholars in Critical Bibliography, the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)-RBS Fellowships for Early-Career Librarians, and the RBS-RBMS Diversity Fellowship Program. The RBS-Mellon CH Fellowship has been formed to: develop skills for documenting and interpreting visual and textual materials in special collections and archives; raise awareness within professional communities about the significance of inclusive, multicultural collections, including their promotion, development, and stewardship; build connections with diverse communities and publics through strategic programming, outreach, and advocacy; advance careers by establishing new pathways and skills for professional growth.
The 15 RBS-Mellon CH Fellows were chosen from a highly competitive field of more than 60 applicants by a selection committee comprising leading cultural heritage professionals. The selected fellows work closely with a broad spectrum of multicultural collections, ranging from Cuban heritage collections and Black diaspora archives, to Los Angeles community-centered archives to HBCU library collections, and from post-custodial human rights archives representing Latin America and Africa, to digital collections of cultural heritage items from tribal archives, libraries, and museums. Geographically, the fellows represent states across the country from coast to coast (and Hawaii).
“We very much look forward to welcoming this remarkably accomplished group of Cultural Heritage Fellows to Rare Book School, where we hope they will find much to learn and we know they will have much to contribute,” said RBS Executive Director Michael F. Suarez, S.J. “We are profoundly thankful to The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for their support of the diversity initiative and its mission.”
