The Center for Jewish History Expands International Program to Support Fellowships for Emigrating Scholars, Artists and Writers

NEW YORK, Oct. 26, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The Center for Jewish History, one of the world's foremost Jewish research and cultural institutions, is pleased to announce the expansion of its international fellowship program to include senior scholars, early career scholars and emerging artists and writers through a new five-year, $750,000 grant from The Vivian G. Prins Foundation.  The grant will support fellowships for those who seek permanent teaching and research positions in North America. The Center's Prins Program for Emigrating Scholars, Artists and Writers was established in 2010 with an initial grant of $225,000.

The program is designed to help those devoted to advanced study conduct original research in the vast collections of the Center's five distinguished partners: the American Jewish Historical Society, the American Sephardi Federation, the Leo Baeck Institute, Yeshiva University Museum, and the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research. The collections include more than 500,000 volumes and 100 million archival documents. This award allows the Center to serve as the gateway for the best and brightest scholars and artists seeking to begin a new professional life in the U.S.

"The generosity of The Vivian G. Prins Foundation, which has now awarded the Center almost $1 million in fellowship grants, will enable the Center to continue serving as a professional resource for scholars from around the globe," says Michael S. Glickman, COO of the Center. "The Prins award raises the level of supported research to new heights and will go a long way toward supporting our scholarly initiatives."

As the Center enters its second decade, the institution has increased its efforts at fostering a community of scholars and ideas by attracting diverse thinkers from a multitude of disciplinary backgrounds. In addition to the Prins Program for Emigrating Scholars, Artists and Writers, the Center supports scholars at various levels, including the only National Endowment for the Humanities Senior Scholar Fellowship granted to a Jewish studies institution; graduate and undergraduate research fellowships; a Visiting Scholars Program; and the Steinberg Emerging Jewish Filmmaker Fellowship.

The Center for Jewish History is located at 15 West 16th Street, New York, NY 10011. For information, call 212-294-8301 or log on to www.cjh.org or www.research.cjh.org.

SOURCE Center for Jewish History