The New York Public Library is pleased to announce the creation of the LGBT Visiting Scholars Program thanks to the generous support of LGBT Committee Ambassador Martin Duberman and his partner Eli Zal. Each year the Library will provide stipends for up to three Martin Duberman Visiting Scholars. The stipends will support travel to New York City and related expenses to do LGBT studies research in the Library’s collections. The travel grants awarded will range from $1,000 to $8,500. The awards will be limited to emerging scholars—those without permanent academic appointments—or those who are unaffiliated with an academic institution. Martin Duberman Visiting Scholars will also be provided with temporary workspace at the Library to pursue their research. Recipients must supply a written summary of their findings upon completion of their work.

The LGBT collections of the New York Public Library are among the greatest in the country. The collections include the archives of pioneering LGBT activists such as Morty Manford, Barbara Gittings and Kay Tobin Lahusen; the papers of scholars such as Martin Duberman, Jonathan Ned Katz, and Karla Jay; organizational archives of pivotal civil rights groups such as the Mattachine Society of New York and Gay Activist Alliance; and the papers of LGBT writers such as W. H. Auden, Virginia Woolf, and Joseph Beam. The Library is also home to major archives in the history of the AIDS crisis, such as ACT UP New York and GMHC. The Library has extensive holdings in the history of LGBT theatre, such as the archives of Charles Ludlam. It is also home to the Black Gay and Lesbian Archive, a project to document the history of LGBT African Americans. This is supported by extensive book and periodical holdings in LGBT studies.

Interested applicants should send a 3-5 page research proposal specifying the collections at the Library relevant to their project, a draft budget and itinerary for their trip, a CV, and an appropriate letter of recommendation. Applications should be sent to Jason Baumann, The New York Public Library, 11 West 40th Street, South Court 3, New York NY 10018. Applications must be received by January 31, 2009. Notice of awards will be sent beginning March 1, 2009. Recipients must make their trip within the year of 2009.

If you have any questions about the program or the Library’s collections, please email Jason Baumann, Coordinator of Collection Assessment and LGBT Collections, jbaumann@nypl.org.

Throughout the month of October, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts will be presenting the films of gay, British director Derek Jarman. Jarman, who began his career as a designer and artist, became famous as a director of experimental films that spanned punk, queer, activist and pop sensibilities. He was also a great memoirist and poet. Jarman’s profound and multifacted career was cut short by AIDS in 1994.

The series will feature Jarman’s best known films, as well as Isaac Julien’s recent documentary on Jarman. The schedule is as follows:

10/10/08 FRI 2:30 PM Derek Jarman Derek (Directed by Issac Julien, 2008), 76 minutes. Written and narrated by Tilda Swinton. A portrait of filmmaker Derek Jarman

10/17/08 FRI 2:30 PM Derek Jarman Caravaggio, 90 minutes (Directed by Derek Jarman, 1986). With Nigel Terry, Tilda Swinton, Sean Bean, Robbie Coltrane, and Michael Gough. The life and art of the great Renaissance painter.

10/24/08 FRI 2:30 PM Derek Jarman The Last of Englad, 87 minutes, (Directed by Derek Jarman, 1987). With Tilda Swinton and Spencer Leigh. In the form of collage, this film offers a consideration of England in the age of Thatcher.

10/31/08 FRI 2:30 PM Derek Jarman Wittgenstein, 69 minutes, (Directed by Derek Jarman, 1993). With Karl Johnson, Michael Gough, Tilda Swinton, and John Quentin. Jarman infuses this story of the noted 20th-century Austrian philosopher with a contemporary sensibility.

11/07/08 FRI 2:30 PM Derek Jarman Blue, 76 minutes, (Directed by Derek Jarman, 1993). An audio composition of voices, music, and sound effects, played out against an unchanging screen of blue.

All of the films will be screened in the Bruno Walter Auditorium of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center at 111 Amsterdam Avenue at 65th Street. For more information call (212) 870-1700, or see the LPA Cinema Series website.