History Commons Mini-Grants

Summary

The History Commons is pleased to be able to offer mini-grants to anyone interested in contributing material to the Commons. The basic idea is simple: we need to broaden the scope of material that is available on the Commons, and we are willing to pay a select few talented researchers and writers help us attain that goal. We want to expand and deepen the Common's coverage of events that are of current public interest, and we need your help to do it.

The mini-grants will be anywhere between $800 and $2500. Recipients will compile timelines of between 100 and 150 entries, and submit these entries to the Commons database online. All entries must conform to our style manual. The mini-grants will be awarded to individuals or organizations that demonstrate strong research and writing skills and a solid command of their proposed topic. Another criterion that will be considered is the relevance of the proposed timeline to an issue of current public interest. If you are interested in applying for a mini-grant, please complete the application form. You can also indicate your interest by posting a comment on the History Commons blog.

The deadline for applying for the mini-grants is November 15, 2008.

Fundraising for the Grants

With our current funding, we intend to award between 8 and 10 grants. If you'd like to see us award a larger number of grants, please help us fund this program. The more donations we receive, the more mini-grants we can fund. We would be more than grateful for your donations, and we guarantee they will be put to good use.

Requirements

Applicants can be individuals, ad-hoc groups, or formal organizations. If you are an organization, your organization must not be involved in efforts to support any political campaign or influence legislation in the United States.
Applicants must be 18 years or older.

New Topics for Investigation

Please consider one or more of the following:

Economic issues

Events leading up to and contributing to current financial crisis
Privatization of prisons
Privatization of water
Corporate tax evasion
Corporate tax subsidies

Executive Branch Power

Executive branch power
Continuity of Government Plan
US attorney firings
Bush administration's self-declared immunity to Congressional subpoenas
Prosecution of Don Siegelman
White House destruction of e-mails
The Bush administration and the Presidential Records Act

Civil Liberties

“Main Core”
Immigration detention camps
Use of non-lethal weapons by US law enforcement authorities

The US-led war in Afghanistan and Pakistan

Civilian casualties
The death of Pat Tillman
General post-911 US involvement
US military operations in Pakistan
Pakistan and the "War on Terror"

The US-led war in Iraq

Civilian casualties
Continuation of US Occupation of Iraq Timeline
Ayham al-Samaraie
Blackwater
US female soldiers being raped in high numbers
Private oil companies in Iraq
Missing weapons in Iraq
US Military recruitment practices

Energy Industry

Minerals Management Service scandal
Chevron and Ecuador
Chevron and Burma
Chevron and Nigeria
Congressional approval for offshore drilling
Attempts to drill in ANWR
History of nuclear power debate
Bush administration"s renewable energy policy

Environment

Continuation of the Bush administration"s environmental record timeline
Continuation of the Global Warming timeline
Continuation of the Genetic Engineering and the Privatization of Seeds timeline
Mountaintop mining

Electoral Politics

Election fraud and irregularities in 2000, 2004, and 2008
US policy and actions in Eurasia

Health and Well-being

Depleted uranium
Expansion of the food safety/security timeline
World water crisis
Continuation of US health care timeline

US Foreign Policy

Bolivia
Venezuela
Paraguay
Haiti
Any other country

US Domestic Issues

Continuation of the Hurricane Katrina timeline