< TITLE>Using the Newberry
How to Go to the Newberry Research Library
If you are interested in using the Newberry Library's extensive and interesting resources for Jane Austen studies, or for that matter, for 18th-century studies in general, the person you'll want to get in touch with is Fred Hoxie, who is the director of Research and Education. He administers the grants. Ours was an ASECS/Newberry grant, good for short-term, and only for the use of those who are that organization's members. You can get information from ASECS on the program -- and by the way, they have grants available at many other research libraries across the country. Most English departments at research universities post notices about grants; this is the way Ruthe and I found out about the Newberry. The award is, we understand, highly competitive.
What you need is a project the library you're applying to can aid. To do research on The Loiterer, Ruthe and I needed a library with older materials, and maps (though when we applied, we didn't know the latter). The Newberry provided us with plenty of both.
We also needed time set aside just to do research, away from the press to earn money at a summer job, or from the dirty dishes. The Newberry gave us this, too. We had three weeks in Chicago, set aside just to work. The stipend, at $200 per week, was insufficient to cover all costs, but we found asking our departments for travel funds ameliorated most of the expense. Not only did we have time and the facilities to work, we got to see Chicago, meet some intelligent, interesting colleagues, and meet each other (we had written email and talked over the phone, never in person). Part of working as a Fellow at the library is having a carrel and access to the lounge. The carrels were lovely -- new, clean, more spacious than ANY office on any campus I had worked at -- and the conversations in the lounge really, at times, helpful.
To write for a grant, address your request for information to: Fred Hoxie, Newberry Research Library, 60 West Walton, Chicago, IL 60610. If you are in Chicago and would like to become a reader at the library, you will need to have a project, then go by and fill out an application, I think; after that, it's simply showing up at the open times, and showing your card to Ed or Bob (literally their names) at the front desk. The Newberry is non-circulating, so you may want a carrel, which I believe you can apply for when you get a reader's card. They are in high demand, I understand, so you may not get one straight off.
I stayed in the suburbs with my brother's family, but if you can, you ought to stay at the dorms the Newberry offers during the summer months. Ruthe stayed there for $500 for the three weeks. She had a private bath and a view -- a splendid, exhilarating view -- of Lake Michigan. Don't rent the AC unless you're a polar bear or it's a summer like the 1995 one; you spend most of the day in the library and nights are plenty cool. I would recommend staying in town if you can. Traffic is (to this small town girl) horrific; taxis are expensive; the Metra is nice but it took me literally two hours of riding the train, walking to the subway, riding the subway, and walking to the library to get from Palatine every morning. I got Camilla and Cecilia and part of The Wanderer read, but was exhausted by the time I got home.
We learned a great deal from our using the Newberry; if you go, get the cranberry scones for sure at Expressions behind the library and tell Lynn and Fred hello. Be sure to let them know when you get there that you learned about the grant program from ASJAS. They'll be pleased, I'm sure.
Emily Hipchen
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