Libraries and archives.

The Carl Albert Congressional Research and Studies Center at the University of Oklahoma seeks applicants for its Visiting Scholars Program, which provides financial assistance to researchers working at the center's archives. Awards of $500 to $1,000 are normally granted as reimbursement for travel and lodging. The center's holdings include the papers of many former members of Congress, such as Robert S. Kerr, Fred Harris, and House Speaker Carl Albert of Oklahoma; Helen Gahagan Douglas and Jeffery Cohelan of California; Sidney Clarke of Kansas; and Neil Gallagher of New Jersey. Besides the history of Congress, congressional leadership, national and Oklahoma politics, and election campaigns, the collections also document government policy affecting agriculture, Native Americans, energy, foreign affairs, the environment, the economy, and other areas. The center's collections are described on the World Wide Web at http://www.ou.edu/special/ albertctr/archives/and in the publication A Guide to the Carl Albert Center Congressional Archives (Norman, Okla., 1995), by Judy Day et al., available at many U.S. academic libraries.

The Visiting Scholars Program is open to any applicant. Emphasis is given to those pursuing postdoctoral research in history, political science, and other fields. Graduate students, undergraduates, and lay researchers are also invited to apply. The center evaluates each research proposal based upon its merits, and funding for a variety of topics is expected. No standardized form is needed for application. Instead, a set of materials should be sent to the center, including: 1) a description of the research proposal in fewer than 1,000 words; 2) a personal vita; 3) an explanation of how the center's resources will assist the researcher; 4) a budget proposal; and 5) a letter of reference from an established scholar in the discipline attesting to the significance of the research. Applications are accepted at any time. For more information, please contact: Archivist, Carl Albert Center, 630 Parrington Oval, Room 101, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma 73019; phone: [phone]; fax: [phone]; e-mail: [e-mail].

The Gilder Lehrman Collection has recently completed the inventory of the Gustave Cook Collection, which consists of sixty-eight pieces of correspondence from Colonel Gustave Cook to his wife Eliza Jones Cook in Fort Bend, Texas, during the Civil War. Born in Alabama in 1835, Cook moved to Texas at the age of fifteen and studied law independently. He enlisted as a private in the 8th Texas Cavalry in 1861 and was promoted to colonel by July 1863. After the war he became a circuit court judge for Galveston, served in the Texas state legislature, and led an unsuccessful campaign for governor in 1890. He died in 1897 of complications from a wound suffered during his military service. The letters comment on many facets of his experiences and emotions; some of the most poignant touch on his brother's and daughter's deaths. The letters also reveal his dedication to the South during the Civil War.

Each month, a new collection will be featured on the Gilder Lehrman website, http://www.gilderlehrman.org/; subsequent installments will appear in the soldiers' letters online exhibition. The online exhibit explores various aspects of war from the perspective of soldiers through their correspondence with family and friends, spanning conflicts from the Revolutionary War to the current war in Iraq.

The Gilder Lehrman Collection, on deposit at the New York Historical Society, includes more than 60,000 letters, diaries, maps, pamphlets, printed books, newspapers, photographs, and ephemera that document the political, social, and economic history of the United States. An extensive resource for scholars, educators, and students, the collection ranges from 1493 through the twentieth century and is widely considered one of the nation's great archives in the revolutionary, early national, antebellum, and Civil War periods. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History offers fellowships for scholars to work in the Gilder Lehrman Collection and other archives. Interested researchers should contact the collection's reference librarian, Ana Ramirez-Luhrs, directly at [phone], ext. 209, or at [e-mail].