The William L. Clements Library has partnered with the American Trust for the British Library (ATBL) to become part of a unique set of fellowship opportunities, beginning with the 2022-2023 fellowship cycle. The newly-established ATBL-Clements Library Transatlantic Fellowship will support research projects promising to place the collections of both institutions in dialogue. By examining a topic through the lens of multiple, trans-Atlantic collections, researchers can illuminate less-examined aspects of their field. The Clements is delighted to be part of a slate of fellowship offerings under this program that includes Johns Hopkins University and Houghton Library at Harvard University.
This year’s awardee, Helena Yoo Roth, was selected from an extremely competitive pool of exciting projects. As an ATBL-Clements Transatlantic Fellow, she will spend time in residence at both libraries in support of her dissertation project, “American Timelines: Imperial Communications, Colonial Time-Consciousness, and the Coming of the American Revolution.” Roth examines how the rhythms and structures of eighteenth-century transatlantic communications shaped political consciousness and action in the decades before the American Revolution.
ATBL-Clements Transatlantic Fellow Helena Yoo Roth.
During her time at the Clements, she will spend time with the library’s manuscript collections, including the Charles Townshend Papers, the Henry Clinton Papers, the Charles Garth Letterbook, the William Knox Papers, and more. In addition to her experiences connecting with staff and researchers at both the Clements and the British Library, Roth will join the other 2022-2023 ATBL Transatlantic Fellows in presenting her research at the 2023 Modern Language Association annual conference, to be held in San Francisco, California.
Roth is currently a PhD Candidate at the Graduate Center of City University of New York, where she also received her M.A. in History in 2019. She received her BA in American Studies from Columbia University and completed a thesis titled “The Irish-American Volunteer Militias of New York City, 1796-1815.”
The joint Transatlantic Fellowship offers scholars the rare chance to consider archives in conversation and reveal fresh perspectives in historical knowledge, but with the simplicity of a single application and funding source. Adding this opportunity to the Clements Library’s slate of offerings enriches our support for innovative global, and even trans-disciplinary, scholarship. The Clements Library is grateful to James P. Spica and a generous gift in memory of Professor E. Donald Shapiro for making this year’s fellowship possible.
—Maggie Vanderford
Librarian for Instruction and Engagement