Submit this Workshop application by Wednesday June 18th at 12pm.
Submit this Fellowship application by Monday May 19th at 12pm.
Applications for the 2025 CART Program are now open.
We're hiring graduate students for TWO funded programs this year: 5 graduate students will participate in an intensive, week-long archives workshop in September 2025, and 1 graduate student will receive an in-person fellowship for the 2025-2026 academic year.
Learn more and apply for the CART Archives Workshop - due June 18
Learn more and apply for the CART 2025-2026 Fellowship - due May 19
September 15-19, 2025
5 positions
This September, CART will be offering a new week-long workshop open to all graduate students who are interested in learning more about archives. We'll select a cohort of 5 students who will be trained in archival processing and research techniques at Special Collections & Archives in McHenry Library, and each student will earn a $1500 stipend for their time.
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Monday, September 15 through Friday, September 19, 2025
9am - 5pm
McHenry Library, UC Santa Cruz
The main components of the workshop will include readings and discussions, presentations from staff on topics surrounding archives and libraries, hands-on time with processed and unprocessed collections, and training in archival processing techniques, including arrangement, description, preservation, and creating a collection guide for researcher access.
There will be two collections available to process that cohort members can choose from: one with records from a local Santa Cruz organization, and one from a UCSC faculty member documenting the first few decades of a campus department.
Members of the workshop cohort will be expected to devote the hours of 9:00am to 5:00pm on-site at McHenry Library to the workshop, as well as 20 hours of pre-workshop reading and other training (remote). Participants will receive a $1500 stipend in recognition of their archival training and processing work.
CART Workshop participants will accomplish the following over the course of the week:
Workshop application consists of:
Completed CART Workshop Application (Google Form)
Letter of interest (1-2 pages) outlining your interests in the CART workshop, and how participating in CART and working with archival materials will support your research, teaching, and/or career.
Résumé (maximum 3 pages)
Note: If you are also applying for the CART 2025-2026 Fellowship, you may indicate on that application that you are interested in being considered for the CART Workshop without completing a separate workshop application.
Application deadline: Wednesday, June 18, 2025 at 12pm Pacific
Amount: $1500 stipend
Number of positions: 5
Eligibility: Enrolled in a graduate program at UCSC in Fall 2025.
Fall 2025 - Spring 2026
1 position
The University Library’s Center for Archival Research and Training (CART) invites applications for one year-long graduate fellowship for the 2025-2026 academic year. The Fellow will be trained in archival theory and practice, make the collection of Cowell College Records available for research through archival processing, conduct research with Special Collections & Archives collections, curate a public exhibition, and co-organize programming around archives topics for the UCSC community. The Fellow will be expected to devote 20 hours per week to CART during Fall, Winter, and Spring quarters (September 2025 to June 2026), and not to hold teaching assistantships or other employment. Partial-year fellowships will not be awarded.
Application deadline: Monday, May 19, 2025 at 12pm Pacific
Amount: $33,999 stipend ($11,333 per academic quarter) plus in-state tuition, fees, and health insurance for the 2025-2026 academic year. This amount is subject to adjustment based on the forthcoming 2025-2026 academic salary scales and graduate student cost to attend for California residents, in order to match current teaching assistantship funding.
Number of fellowships: 1
Eligibility: Currently enrolled in a graduate program at UCSC at least through June 2026 (at least five credits, not on leave or filing fee, in good academic standing, within normative time).
CART welcomes fellowship applications from currently enrolled UCSC graduate students with academic and research interests in arts, humanities, and/or social and natural sciences; interest in learning about and being mentored in the fields of archives and academic libraries; and interest in curating exhibitions and public programming. Applicants should be interested in expanding their research practice using primary source materials in archives and libraries.
Applications will be evaluated for academic excellence, written communication skills, alignment with the mission, vision, and goals of the Center for Archival Research and Training and the University Library, and expression of how the applicant’s work in Special Collections & Archives will benefit the public.
The main components of the fellowship during the academic year will include archival processing, exhibition curation, public programming, participating in the UCSC Graduate Research Symposium, and ongoing collection research to support the above. The Fellow will be trained in archival theory and practice during Fall quarter, with ongoing training, discussion, and immersion in the University Library’s Special Collections & Archives department throughout the year.
The CART Fellow will accomplish the following over the course of their fellowship:
Process and complete a collection guide for the Cowell College Records archival collection
Curate an exhibition in the Third Floor Gallery space of McHenry Library
Develop and facilitate an event or public program
Participate in UCSC Graduate Research Symposium in Spring 2026
Complete a brief final report on CART fellowship experience
Archival Processing
One main component of the CART fellowship is receiving training in foundational and contemporary archival theory and practices, and putting those skills into hands-on practice by conducting archival processing on collections. Getting trained in processing work with CART builds a foundational understanding of how archival collections are created, organized, and presented, which graduate Fellows can use to improve their own archival research skills.
Archival processing includes surveying, arranging, describing, preserving, and providing access to collections in the UCSC Special Collections & Archives. Fellows are trained by a professional archivist in established standards of the profession.
The 2025-2026 CART Fellow will process the records of Cowell College, to make the materials available for research via a collection guide:
“The Pursuit of Truth in the Company of Friends”
-- Cowell College motto
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Cowell College was the first residential college established at UC Santa Cruz in 1965. Its founding provost, Page Smith, was integral in shaping the college and UCSC's entire system of colleges during his time at Santa Cruz. The College was named after landowner Henry Cowell, whose family owned the land known as Cowell Ranch in the 19th and 20th centuries, where the UC Santa Cruz campus now sits. Just as the campus is celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2025, so is Cowell College!
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Cowell College is also home to the Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery, named after the artist and wife of Page Smith; the Cowell Press, where students have been learning about letterpress printing and book arts since 1969; and the Page Smith Library. Cowell’s other affiliated programs include the Center for Public Philosophy, Miriam Ellis International Playhouse, and the Smith Society.
To learn more about Cowell College and its history, read the oral history of Page Smith, Cowell’s founding provost; Seeds of Something Different: An Oral History of the University of California, Santa Cruz; and visit Cowell College’s website.
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The collection of the Cowell College Records spans over 75 boxes and shows the core functions, administration, and daily life of students over the last 60 years. It includes welcome letters for the first students from Page Smith, planning documents, early course files, journals from the Cowell Poetry and Fiction Workshops, many photographs and scrapbooks, posters from student events, documentation from advisory committees and assemblies, and some audiovisual recordings. The records show the more formal governance and organization of the college as well as the day-to-day life of students over the decades. Many of Cowell’s affiliated programs, publications, and projects are also documented in the collection.
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To view photographs from other collections in Special Collections & Archives about life at Cowell College over the years, visit our Digital Collections site.
Exhibition Curation
The Fellow will curate a public exhibition in the Third Floor Gallery of McHenry Library during Spring 2026. This exhibition can highlight collection materials from the University Archives, including materials the Fellow has processed in the Cowell College Records. The Fellow will have time throughout the year to research the collections stewarded by the library, and work with staff to develop themes, modules, and exhibition text for display in Spring.
Public Programming
In collaboration with archives staff, the CART Fellow will develop and facilitate at least one event or public program during the academic year to celebrate the 60 years of the history of Cowell College. This could be a guest lecture, reading discussion, workshop, film screening, performance, colloquium, etc.
Some examples of past programs include:
"Tripping on Utopia” and Locavore Research with UCSC Professor Ben Breen - Hands-on archival encounters and book talk for Tripping on Utopia: Margaret Mead, the Cold War, and the Troubled Birth of Psychedelic Science
Echoes of Seema Weatherwax: History, Sound, and Creative Practice in the Archive - Hosted by Brock Stuessi, CART Fellow, with guest Michael J. Kramer, SUNY Brockport
Reading and discussion of "Of Things Said and Unsaid: Power, Archival Silences, and Power in Silence" by Rodney G.S. Carter.
Digital Project
Optionally, the Fellow can also create a digital project inspired by and utilizing the archival materials in the Cowell College Records. Examples of past digital exhibits and projects created by CART Fellows include:
Echoes of Seema: A creative rearrangement of the Sara Halprin interviews of Seema Weatherwax collection by Brock Stuessi
"See you when I see you...": Black Student Life at UCSC 1965-present by Jazmin Benton
Reading Nature, Observing Science: Examining Material Practices in the Lick Observatory Archives and Kenneth S. Norris Papers by Alex Moore, Christine Turk, and Danielle Crawford
UCSC Research Symposium
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The CART Fellow will participate in the annual UCSC Graduate Research Symposium in Spring 2026. They will present on the research they’ve done with CART in McHenry Library, either in a short talk, research poster presentation, or alternative media presentation.
The CART fellowship award includes a $33,999 stipend ($11,333 per academic quarter) and in-state tuition, fees, and health insurance. This amount is subject to increase based on the 2025-2026 graduate student cost to attend for California residents, in order to match current teaching assistantship funding. We will award one graduate student at UCSC over the 2025-2026 academic year.
We will be conducting interviews in late May, and make decisions about offers by mid-June 2025. Please contact alix.norton@ucsc.edu if you have any questions about your application.
Funding for Summer is not included in the CART fellowship award. The fellowship, including orientation and training, will start in Fall quarter.
If you are interested in summer funding, consider applying for the CART Summer Archives Workshop, a 5-day paid opportunity during the week of September 15-19, 2025.
Do I have to be an expert or have specific research interests in the subject area of the collection?
While it can be helpful, there is no subject expertise required to participate. We ask that you have some sort of interest and/or experience in working in archives or libraries, curating exhibitions, or doing primary source research.
The CART fellowship is designed to be done in lieu of a teaching assistantship. Fellowship recipients are expected to devote 20 hours per week to CART, and not to hold teaching assistantships or other employment. During academic sessions, graduate students may not be employed in any capacity by the University beyond a maximum of fifty percent service time. The purpose of the University-wide policy is to limit the amount of time graduate students spend on University activities that do not lead directly to the successful completion of their academic programs.
We expect a commitment of 20 hours per week to CART projects and research during the fellowship.
There’s no minimum or maximum word count or page length for the letter of interest. Applicants usually write 1-2 pages, but you should write enough to express your interest in the fellowship program and how participating in CART will help you in your research, your teaching, and/or your future career plans. Your research focus can but does not need to align with the specific collections to be processed.
No. In the past we've had first year students all the way to ABD candidates who participate successfully in CART. We recommend applicants to keep their schedules in mind when applying, and make sure they have the bandwidth to participate for 20 hours per week during the full academic year. Other responsibilities such as qualifying exams tend to take up a lot of time and work; it may be best to wait a year to apply for CART if you plan to have significant commitments this upcoming year.
Not at this time. The CART Fellowship is offered as a full academic year commitment. Please consider applying for the CART Summer Archival Workshop if you're available and interested in a one-week intensive opportunity.
Most CART fellows have no prior exhibition curation experience. We look for applicants who are interested in curating an exhibition for a public audience. The fellow will be working closely with Special Collections & Archives staff throughout the year and especially during the Spring, and staff will facilitate the curation process.
Yes, starting in 2025-2026 the CART fellowship will cover in-state tuition, fees, and health insurance, as well as a $33,999 annual stipend ($11,333 per academic quarter) for the fellow. The fellowship award is funded similar to that of a teaching assistantship for the academic year and is subject to increase to match current TA rates.
Yes. You need to be currently enrolled in at least five units as a graduate student at UCSC in order to participate in the CART fellowship, be in good academic standing, and in normative time to your degree progress.
The CART fellowship offers in-state tuition, fees, and health insurance and a quarterly stipend, and is similar to other fellowships and teaching assistantships on campus. If you are selected and agree to participate as a fellow, and you are not a California resident at that time, you will be responsible for all other non-resident fees. If you haven’t yet established residency in California, consider waiting to apply until you are a resident.
The CART Fellowship award does not require work authorization, and you should be eligible for the in-state tuition included in the fellowship award if you are a California resident. Please check with the financial aid office and your division's graduate advisor to inquire about the kinds of financial aid you are eligible to receive, since individual situations may vary.
The CART fellowship is currently open only to graduate students, but we often employ undergraduate students in Special Collections & Archives to assist with public services, retrieving archival materials for researchers, and other archives-related projects. Contact us if you’re interested in learning more.
The land on which we gather is the unceded territory of the Awaswas-speaking Uypi Tribe. The Amah Mutsun Tribal Band, comprised of the descendants of indigenous people taken to missions Santa Cruz and San Juan Bautista during Spanish colonization of the Central Coast, is today working hard to restore traditional stewardship practices on these lands and heal from historical trauma.
The land acknowledgement used at UC Santa Cruz was developed in partnership with the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band Chairman and the Amah Mutsun Relearning Program at the UCSC Arboretum.
Santa Cruz, CA