Research Funding Opportunities
The Iowa History Dissertation Fellowship and the Research Grant for Authors provide support for historical research on topics related to Iowa history.
Iowa History Dissertation Fellows
The Iowa History Dissertation Fellowship supports the next generation of Iowa historians by providing fellowships to advanced graduate students working on dissertations that engage with any aspect of Iowa history. Dissertations do not need to focus exclusively on Iowa history but should demonstrate substantial engagement with Iowa history. In addition to funding, fellows work closely with the Editor of the Annals of Iowa to hone their writing and research throughout the academic year, and at the conclusion of the fellowship, fellows meet in Des Moines to present their work for other fellows, State Historical Society of Iowa staff, and an invited commenter.
Michael Belding
Michael is a Ph.D. candidate in Rural, Agricultural, Technological, and Environmental History at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. He grew up in Story City and also earned his M.A. in History, B.A. in History and Political Science, and a graduate certificate in Preservation and Cultural Heritage from Iowa State University. His dissertation examines the agricultural and environmental dimensions of political ideology in Civil War-era Iowa and Illinois and explores the unique intellectual underpinnings of the region that, by the turn of the twentieth century, was recognized as the "Corn Belt."
He currently works as the Oral History Program Manager for the Department of Special Collections and University Archives at Iowa State's Parks Library, where he is responsible for planning, coordinating, and conducting oral history projects. He also works as a historic preservation research assistant for the City of Ames, conducting an intensive historic survey of the Chautauqua Park and Ridgewood subdivisions near the center of the city. He has previously worked as an architectural historian for the Historic Development Commission of Mobile, Alabama; as a teaching assistant, a discussion leader and independent instructor in the Department of History ; and as an archival intern with the Theodore Roosevelt Center and Iowa Department of Transportation.
Jesse Chariton
Jesse David Chariton is a Ph.D. student in the Rural, Agricultural, Technological & Environmental History program at Iowa State University. He earned a B.A. in History and Archaeological Studies from the University of Wisconsin La Crosse and an M.A. in History (Race, Ethnicity, Society) from Columbus State University. With a focus on nineteenth-century American history, Jesse examines the intersections between immigration and race/ethnicity through the lenses of religion and voluntary associations. His work has appeared in the Yearbook for German-American Studies and the Journal of the Lutheran Historical Conference. His dissertation research focuses on nineteenth-century Irish and German immigration to the American Midwest and has recently been supported by a Roswell and Elizabeth Garst Foundation Fellowship and the Albert Bernhardt Faust Research Award from the Society for German-American Studies.
Notable Work from Research Grant for Authors recipients
Each year, the State Historical Society of Iowa awards up to 12 grants to historians working on new projects in Iowa history. Over 100 grant recipients have published their projects in the Annals of Iowa, and many continue to be active participants in programs.
Upcoming Programs
Nathan Tye
Iowa History 101: Hopping Freights and Harvesting Grain with Hobos in Iowa, 1870s-1910s
January 12
Register
H. Roger Grant
Iowa History 101: Twilight cluster: A Western Iowa Railroad Phenomenon
February 9
Register
Megan Birk
Iowa History 101: "Protector of the Poor": Iowa's Poor Farms and Midwestern Social Welfare
February 23
Register
Patrick J. Jung
Iowa History 101: Fort Madison in Pre-Statehood Iowa: The U.S. Army as a Predecessor to Anglo-American Settlement
March 23
Register
Recent Programs
Brian Ingrassia
Iowa History 101: Sports for the Liberal Arts: Reimagining Iowa’s Small Colleges, 1921-1939
Read Ingrassia’s Annals article, “Sports for the Liberal Arts”
Emily Prifogle
Iowa History 101: The Myth and Realities of Country Lawyers in Iowa and the Midwest
Read Prifogle’s Annals article, “Winks, Whispers, and Prosecutorial Discretion in Rural Iowa, 1925-1928”
Kevin T. Mason
Winner of 2022 Throne/Aldrich Award
Iowa History 101: Inkpaduta in Iowa: Dakota Decline, Dispossession, and Erasure
Read Mason’s Annals article, “Inkpaduta in Iowa”
Sarah Johnson
Iowa History 101: Rural Free Delivery, Parcel Post and Responses to Mail Order Commerce in Iowa