Carol June Bradley Award for Historical Research in Music Librarianship Grant

Carol June Bradley Award for Historical Research in Music Librarianship Grant

Status: ACTIVE
Funder: The Music Library Association
Amount: Up to US $500
Last Updated: July 26, 2025

Summary

The Carol June Bradley Award for Historical Research in Music Librarianship, established by the Music Library Association in 2003, honors Dr. Bradley's legacy by funding research into the history of music libraries and librarianship. Open to all, this award encourages merit-based proposals, particularly from those in the later stages of research. With an annual funding of up to $500, it celebrates significant contributions to the field and continues to support scholars and librarians in their endeavors.

Overview

About MLA The Music Library Association is the professional association for music libraries and librarianship in the United States. Founded in 1931, it has an international membership of librarians, musicians, scholars, educators, and members of the book and music trades. Complementing the Association’s national and international activities are eleven regional chapters that carry out its programs on the local level. Carol June Bradley Award for Historical Research in Music Librarianship The Carol June Bradley Award for Historical Research in Music Librarianship was created by the Music Library Association in 2003 through the generous financial support of its namesake. Since Dr. Bradley's death in 2009, MLA has continued to fund the award in her honor. The award exists to support research into the history of music libraries and music librarianship. The decision of the Bradley Award Committee and the MLA Board of Directors is announced at MLA's annual meeting. Carol June Bradley (1934–2009) was the associate director of the University of Buffalo Music Library from 1967 until she retired in 1999. In addition, she was an adjunct professor of information and library studies (an activity that included co-directing the university's double master's degree program in music librarianship) and she founded the UB Libraries' Music Librarianship Archive. Bradley’s undergraduate degree was from Lebanon Valley College in Annville, Pa. She also received a master's degree from Western Reserve University and a Ph.D. in Library Science from Florida State University. Throughout her stellar career, Bradley held several other library positions in addition to those at the University of Buffalo. She was the librarian of the Drinker Library of Choral Music at the Free Library of Philadelphia (1957-59), the music librarian of the U.S. Military Academy (1959-60), and music cataloger at Vassar College (1960-67). Bradley made her mark as an author with an important series of scholarly publications that chronicled the history of music librarianship and the lives and careers of music librarians throughout the country. Among these much-praised publications are American Music Librarianship: A Research and Information Guide (Routledge), Music Collections in American Libraries: A Chronology (Information Coordinators), Reader in Music Librarianship (Greenwood Press) and Index to Poetry in Music (Routledge). Bradley was an active member of the Music Library Association (MLA), which awarded her the MLA Citation, its highest award, in 2001. In 2003, MLA established the Carol June Bradley Award for Historical Research in Music Librarianship, an annual award to support the kinds of studies for which Bradley was recognized. The first award was made in 2004. Funding An award of up to $500 is available this year.

Eligibility

You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website. There are no restrictions as to an applicant's age, nationality, profession, or institutional affiliation. All proposals are reviewed entirely on the basis of merit.