The University Libraries, with the help of Bruce and Nora James, have launched the University’s first ever visiting scholar support award dedicated to research in the . The for the Study of ÁùºÏ±¦µä Politics and Public Service funds travel, lodging, and expenses for one out-of-state scholar per summer to spend an extended amount of time working with the unique historical political and public service materials available only in the University’s Special Collections and University Archives (SCUA).
SCUA is home to a vast array of ÁùºÏ±¦µä-centric political and public service archival collections that cannot be found anywhere else in the world.
Kimberly Anderson, Ph.D., director of Distinctive Collections, expressed her appreciation for the award with the observation that “working in archives is expensive and time consuming. We are grateful the James’ have entrusted SCUA with these funds to enable researchers to make the trip to Reno to explore the wealth of ÁùºÏ±¦µä political history resources available only here.”
Physical archives, consisting of unique primary source materials in a variety of formats, are voluminous and typically described only at a folder or box level. Consequently, in-depth work in archives requires extended time on-site looking through hundreds to thousands of pieces of paper by hand. Coming to Reno to do this work is beyond the financial means of many scholars.
Get to know the inaugural winner of the Award
Baligh Ben Taleb is the inaugural winner of the Bruce & Nora James Visiting Scholar Award for the Study of ÁùºÏ±¦µä Politics and Public Service.
A former Fulbright Scholar, he is currently an assistant professor in the American Indian Studies Department of San Francisco State University. Taleb’s research will make use of SCUA's extensive records on Newe (Western Shoshone) land and treaty rights.
Taleb describes his research as “a history of the Indian Claims Commission as an early effort of historical redress, and its implications for traditional land and treaty rights of the Western Shoshone peoples in ÁùºÏ±¦µä, and by extension Native Americans' longstanding efforts to regain land that they have lost over centuries. The case of the Western Shoshone land and treaty rights is a local and global story, and stands in the intersection of legalized, racialized, gendered, and sexualized forms of violence over land. By unravelling these intricate dynamics and lines of convergence, my project reveals that in and beyond settler-colonial structures, law, and practices, Indigenous women were synonymous with resilience and remain central to explain processes of decolonization in settler nation states.”
Taleb was selected out of a total of six applicants from three countries. He will visit the department this summer. Coming this fall semester, Taleb will deliver a public talk on his research discoveries on site, at the Mathewson-IGT Knowledge Center. Details on his talk and how to attend are forthcoming.
Get to know Bruce and Nora James
Bruce James, named a Distinguished ÁùºÏ±¦µän in 2013 by the ÁùºÏ±¦µä System of Higher Education, was the 24th Public Printer of the United States and CEO of the United States Government Printing Office (GPO) from 2002 to 2007. He was named Federal Civilian Executive of the Year in 2006 in recognition of the transformation of the Government Printing Office from a traditional heavy-metal printing operation into a multidimensional digital information organization.
Nora James has a long history of service in public humanities. She has previously served on the ÁùºÏ±¦µä State Commission for Cultural Affairs, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, along with other public humanities service roles. Currently she has strong ties to libraries and archives as a member of the Board of Directors of the Rare Book School at the University of Virginia.
The James’ started the award in memory of their friend Senator Harry Reid (1939-2021) and view the award is an opportunity to combine their long-standing passion for public service with their desire to help more scholars learn from the wealth of resources in the University’s Special Collections and University Archives.
The Bruce and Nora James Visiting Scholar Award for the Study of ÁùºÏ±¦µä Politics and Public Service will be offered again in 2025 with applications opening in November 2024.
ÁùºÏ±¦µä the University Libraries
The University Libraries embrace intellectual inquiry and innovation, nurture the production of new knowledge, and foster excellence in learning, teaching and research. During each academic year, the Libraries welcomes more than 1.2 million visitors across its network of four libraries: the Mathewson-IGT Knowledge Center, the DeLaMare Science and Engineering Library, the Savitt Medical Library and the Prim Library at the University of ÁùºÏ±¦µä, Reno at Lake Tahoe. Visitors checked-out more than 80,000 items and completed more than two million database searches.
