The Caroline and Erwin Swann Foundation for Caricature and Cartoon, administered by the Library of Congress, announces the selection of Chloe S. Carroll-Burke, a Ph.D. candidate in history from the University of Michigan, to receive its 2000-2001 Swann Foundation Fellowship. Ms. Carroll-Burke's dissertation, Germs, Genes and Dissent: Images of Radicalism and Disease in the Construction of American National Identity, 1886-1927 explores images of illness and health in the United States between the 1880s and the 1920s, focusing on political cartoons and motion pictures. She examines the role they played in the movement to restrict immigration, limit political dissent and improve public health.
Under the terms of the fellowship, Ms. Carroll-Burke is required to make use of the Library's collections, be in residence for at least two weeks during the award period and deliver a public lecture on her work-in-progress.
The overall quality of submissions so impressed the Swann Foundation Board's Fellowship Committee that they decided to award an additional stipend to Amelia Rauser, an assistant professor at Skidmore College, to complete her monograph, Liberty and Identity in British Political Prints, 1763-1793.
The Caroline and Erwin Swann Foundation for Caricature and Cartoon is now accepting applications for its graduate fellowship for the 2001-2002 academic year. The Swann Foundation awards one fellowship annually (with a stipend of $15,000) to assist continuing scholarly research and writing projects in the field of caricature and cartoon. Completed applications are due Feb. 15, 2001, and notification will occur in spring 2001. The fellowship covers the 2001-2002 academic year.
To be eligible, one must be a candidate for an M.A. or Ph.D. degree in a university in the United States, Canada or Mexico and working toward the completion of a dissertation or thesis for that degree, or be engaged in postgraduate research within three years of receiving an M.A. or a Ph.D. from an institution in one of those countries.
Although research must be in the field of caricature and cartoon, there is no limit on the place or time period covered. Since the foundation encourages research in a variety of academic disciplines, there is no restriction upon the university department where this work is being done, provided the subject pertains to caricature or cartoon art.
New York advertising executive Erwin Swann (1906-1973) established the Swann Foundation for Caricature and Cartoon in 1967. An avid collector, Swann assembled a large group of original drawings by 400 artists, spanning two centuries, which his estate bequeathed to the Library of Congress in two installments in 1974 and 1977.
The foundation's support of research and academic publication is carried out in part through a program of fellowships. Applicants are invited to write to the foundation, with a statement of qualifications, needs and a budget. These grants are intended to assist ongoing research and writing projects in the specific areas of interest to the Foundation. The Caroline and Erwin Swann Foundation for Caricature and Cartoon, now administered by the Library, is overseen by an advisory board composed of scholars, collectors, cartoonists and Library of Congress staff members. Its activities support the study, interpretation, preservation and appreciation of original works of humorous and satiric art by graphic artists from around the world.
More information is available through the Foundation's Web site: www.loc.gov/rr/print/swann/swannhome.html, via e-mail: swann@loc.gov, or by calling the Prints and Photographs Division of the Library of Congress at (202) 707-9115.
