Grants to research Humboldt’s travels

The Berlin State Library – Prussian Cultural Heritage offers academics with a research focus on Alexander von Humboldt the opportunity for a one-to-three-month research stay in Berlin for the 2016 academic year through the Research Grant Program of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation.

As part of the Ministry of Education’s joint project of „Alexander von Humboldt’s American travel journals“, organised by the University of Potsdam and the Berlin State Library – Prussian Cultural Heritage, academics – especially those abroad – are to be given the opportunity to explore the portion of Alexander von Humboldt’s estate housed in the Berlin State Library for their research, to use the other facilities of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, and to make professional contacts in Germany.
With its unique holdings, the Berlin State Library is a research institution of international standing, offering academics first-rate facilities in which to work. The acquisition of Alexander von Humboldt’s American travel journals in 2013 enriched the already extensive collection of this polymath’s papers in the Berlin State Library. The conservation, scholarly presentation and digitisation of the American travel journals and of Alexander von Humboldt’s papers housed both in Berlin and in the Biblioteka Jagiellońska in Cracow, as part of the Ministry of Education joint project, will ensure comprehensive access to the material and facilitate new research projects worldwide.

Scientists with a research focus on Alexander von Humboldt who are interested in spending a research period in Berlin can apply by 30 September 2015 for the 2016 academic year. Selection of scholarship holders will be based on the documents submitted. The Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation’s general guidelines on its Research Grant Program will apply.

Further information