Lesbian Legacies Travel Grants

For background information, please see the following pages:

  • Herstory, for the history and exploits of Purple
  • Lesbian Legacies Endowment Fund, for the origin and rationale of the endowment
  • Lesbian legacies in the MSU Special Collections, for an intro to the extensive holdings
  • Ways to Contribute, both to the fund financially and to the collections themselves

    TRAVEL GRANTS under the Lesbian Legacies Endowment became available beginning in Fiscal Year 2023, when gifts to the endowment had exceeded the operational minimum of $50,000. The endowment’s expendable sister fund is also available to cover such grants. The grants are administered under the MSU Libraries’ relatively new Visiting Scholars Program; this is where interested candidates should apply; candidates whose projects accord with ours should mention the Lesbian Legacies Endowment in queries to the Visiting Scholars Program. The window for grant applications during a fiscal year generally opens on November 1 of the preceding calendar year and closes on February 1. For example, the schedule for Fiscal 2026 is as follows:
  • Applications open on November 1, 2025.
  • Applications are due by February 1, 2026.
  • Notifications will be sent by March 15, 2026.
  • Residency period and award may be used between Monday, May 4, 2026 and Friday, August 14, 2026.

VISITING THE SPECIAL COLLECTIONS

Here is general information on simply visiting the MSU Libraries.

These guides to using Special Collections, whether as a casual visitor or as a researcher, will give you a sense of how one goes about it: