American Literature

Funding for the study of American Literature

Specific funding opportunities and awards are available to prospective or current graduate students focusing in American literature. These include the J. Albert Robbins Award, for an outstanding graduate student in American Literature, and the Dickason Prize, for an outstanding essay on any topic in American Literature, each awarded annually.

The Lilly Library & American Literature

Researchers have easy access to the rich resources of the Lilly Rare Book and Manuscript Library, home of the principal archives of Sylvia Plath, Galway Kinnell, Max Eastman, Clifford Odets, and Orson Welles, among others, and significant collections of rare editions of the work of Whitman, Poe, Stowe, Melville, and others.

The Lilly Library also has important collections of manuscripts and other materials related to the Beats, Amiri Baraka, and nineteenth-century American drama; and one of the best collections of popular and pulp fiction, sheet music, and film scores.