The Society of Architectural Historians is establishing the SAHARA Travel Fellowship to document the global built environment for teaching and research. Since 2008 SAH has developed the SAHARA image archive and we are positioning it to grow into an encyclopedic online image archive. To support this effort, SAH invites its current members to apply for the newly-established 2011 SAHARA Travel Fellowship. Awardees will take a suite of new digital photographs and/or digital videos of buildings, urban settings and cultural landscapes that the recipient will upload and share through SAHARA. The SAHARA Travel Fellowship will provide a reimbursement of up to $1,250 for travel anywhere in the world. Awardees will be expected to upload a minimum of 500 new, original digital images or 10 hours of digital video clips to SAHARA. Two fellowships will be awarded in 2011.
Application Procedure: Apply online by April 1, 2011. Travel may take place anytime between June 1 and December 31, 2011. To apply, fill out the web form at the address above and submit a current CV and a 250-500 word essay that explains how and why the image collection would advance research, teaching, or scholarship and a recommendation.
Requirements: The image collection must include a minimum of 500 high-quality digital photographs of at least 2,000 pixels on the long side or QTVRs, 10 hours of high definition video clips or a combination of all three. Images must be accompanied by accurate factual metadata such as name and address of building or site, architect, dates of construction, etc. In addition, key images must be accompanied by short narratives that explain the significance of the view, i.e., what does a detail illustrate that is important for teaching or research? The goal is to create a collection of images and narratives that address a research or pedagogical topic as thoroughly as possible.
Criteria for Reviewing Proposals: Priority will be given to proposals that focus on sites and locations that are underrepresented in SAHARA and provide the diverse views and plans needed for teaching and research by scholars, preservationists, architects and others. Priority also will be given to proposals that most clearly articulate the significance of the sites to be photographed for historians of the built environment, and their significance for building SAHARA as a shared scholarly resource. This Fellowship is open to all who are current SAH members, including undergraduates, graduate students, scholars, architects, historic preservationists, and all who share an interest in the built world.
Review Procedure: Applications will be reviewed by members of the SAHARA Executive Editorial Committee and awardees will be notified by May 15, 2011. The $1,250 award will be made upon submission of travel receipts to the SAH office and upon the submission of all images and associated metadata to SAHARA. Fellowship awardees are expected to upload their own images or to request assistance from their own visual resources librarians. Images must be submitted to SAHARA no later than February 1, 2012. SAH anticipates awarding two additional SAHARA Travel Fellowships of $1,250 each in 2012. Funding for the initial development of SAHARA has been provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Funding for the SAHARA Travel Fellowships has been provided by the SAH President’s Fund for Scholarly Innovation.
