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State Historical Society of Iowa

Research Grant for Authors

Apply for a grant to support historical research on a topic related to Iowa history. Each year, up to 10 research stipends will be awarded to support research related to the history of Iowa or Iowa and the Midwest. Preference is given to proposals that pursue neglected topics or new approaches to more familiar topics.

Grant recipients will produce an annotated manuscript to be considered for publication in the Annals of Iowa, a scholarly journal published quarterly by the State Historical Society of Iowa.

Who: Eligible applications include academic and public historians, graduate students, and independent researchers and writers
What: $1,500
Application Deadline: April 15, 2024, for funding period of July 1, 2024 to September 1, 2025

How to Apply

  1. Read the guidelines.
  2. Apply by April 15, 2024.

Applications are welcomed from U.S. and international applicants. International applicants must possess either a valid Social Security Number or an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN).

Explore the Work of Past and Current Grant Recipients

Research Grants for Authors recipients have contributed more than 100 articles to the Annals of Iowa and are frequent contributors to programs throughout the State Historical Society of Iowa. Read articles by grant recipients or find upcoming or past programs that draw on research ranging from Indigenous Iowa to the 1980s Farm Crisis.

Grant Awards History

Displaying 1 - 20 of 113
Searches project title, applicant name, city, county, and fiscal year
Project Title Sort descending Applicant City County Fiscal year Grant Amount
"I Felt if Things Didn't Change, the World Would Come to an End": Black Iowa Women's Activism During the Civil Rights Era, 1945-1965 Emily Bronswick 2023 $1,500.00
"Red Organizer Held at Marion": The Industrial Works of the World, Criminal Syndicalism, and the Legal Aftermath of WWI in Iowa, 1919-1924 Nathan Tye 2023 $1,500.00
"Science with Practice": The Development of Agricultural Science and Education at Iowa State University, 1858-1939 Joshua Tonkel 2023 $1,500.00
A Soldier’s Story: Francis Webster and the Third Iowa Infantry during World War I Matthew J. Margis Ames Story 2016 $1,000.00
A Transnational History of Chinese Students in Iowa, 1910s–1930s Shu Wan Iowa City Johnson 2019 $1,000.00
America's Forgotten Vice President: The Life and Political Thought of Charles Curtis Jason Phillips 2022 $1,000.00
Americanizing the Heartland: The Quest for Immigrant Loyalty in Iowa during World War I Robert F. Zeidel Afton, MN 2015 $1,000.00
Annie Turner Wittenmyer and the Professionalization of Women’s Paid Labor Lisa G. Guinn Fayette Fayette 2014 $1,000.00
Bertha Shambaugh: Domestic Life as Artistic Practice Andrea M. Truitt Iowa City Johnson 2019 $1,000.00
Camp Hantesa, Boone, IA: Summer camp as formative to the lives of girls and women growing up in the 1940s-1970s Stacey Hockett Sherlock Iowa City Johnson 2022 $1,000.00
Campaigning for the Farm: Electoral Rhetoric and the Farm Crisis, 1975–1988 Rebecca Stoil Baltimore, MD 2015 $1,000.00
Churchwomen, Church Building, and Print Culture in the Construction of Black Citizenship in Iowa, 1868-1900 Mila W. Kaut 2021 $1,000.00
Class Identities and Working-Class Conservatism: A Community Study of Unions, Class, and Politics in Waterloo, Iowa, in 1968 Jason A. Whisler Iowa City Johnson 2014 $1,000.00
Community Identity, Rock & Roll, & Baby Boomer Nostalgia in Clear Lake, Iowa Anna Thompson Hajdik Madison, WI 2017 $1,000.00
Confronting the Tramp Nuisance: Hobo Life in Iowa, 1890–1930 Nathan Tye Urbana, IL 2017 $1,000.00
Constructing Nordic Cultural Heritage in Decorah, Iowa: From “Luther College Museum” to “Vesterheim: The National Norwegian-American Museum and Heritage Center Daniel R. Maher Fayetteville, AR 2018 $1,000.00
Coping with Drought in Iowa during the 1890s Depression Susan Curtis West Lafayette, IN 2015 $1,000.00
Creating a Patchwork Quilt of a Drainage System: Reclamation and the hanging Landscape of Western Iowa’s Little Sioux River Valley Maria E. Howe Ames Story 2016 $1,000.00
Czechs in Iowa: History, Places, and Opportunities for Further Research Martin Nekola 2022 $1,000.00
Dakota Prisoners, ABCFM Missionaries, and the Davenport Press Linda M. Clemmons Bloomington, IL 2016 $1,000.00