Strachey Trust Grants up to £500 are available to authors wishing to travel to a UK archive or collection to research manuscript material, for a specific full-length literary project which has a strong likelihood of publication.
By ‘manuscripts’ we mean any letter, diary or other unpublished matter appertaining to a person of note, including a photographic or digitized copy of such material.
About the Strachey Trust
The Strachey Trust (charity number 263845), which was founded by Michael Holroyd and Paul Levy, promotes access to, and availability of, manuscripts of use to historians, biographers, and other researchers, as well as assisting in the tracing of copyright holders. The Trust was launched in 1972 with a generous and imaginative donation from Alix Strachey of the rich and extensive literary archive of her brother-in-law Lytton Strachey. On Alix’s death in 1973 the Trust inherited her own literary copyrights together with those of Lytton and her husband James, the translator of Sigmund Freud. Since then, it has provided significant funding to the Location Register of English Literary Manuscripts and Letters and Writers, Artists and their Copyright Holders (WATCH). The Trust is providing annual funding for the grants, which are being managed by the Society of Authors.
Eligibility
This grant fund is open to all authors (as defined by the SoA criteria for Full Membership – though Membership is not a requirement) who are UK resident or British citizens, who wish to access UK-based archives/collections. The author must be working on a specific full-length literary project which has a strong likelihood of publication.
- Travel to archives/collections for research purposes including overnight accommodation and subsistence.
- Childcare and carer support while the author is away undergoing research.
- Travel, accommodation, and subsistence for a companion if one is necessary to assist the author.
- Other access needs such as materials translated into an accessible format.
- Engaging a freelance to help clear copyright permissions.
- Paying permission fees
- Retrospective access to archives/collections
- Buying time or other travel/research costs (this is the remit of the Authors’ Foundation)
- Undergraduate, Masters, or PhD research
- Projects that are self-published or where the author is contributing financially towards publication
- We would generally prefer applicants to fund at least 25% of the cost themselves but applications for up to 100% of costs can be made.
- Projects must be full-length books with a strong likelihood of publication.
- All travel and accommodation should be in line with the SoA Expenses Policy and we will need electronic copies of all invoices/receipts on completion of the research.
- Grants may be less than the amount requested.
- Grants are discretionary and there is no process for appeal.
- One application may be made per calendar year and priority will be given to those who have not previously applied.
- Successful applicants must wait four years before re-applying to the fund.
How to apply
You can submit your application by email or by post to:
Grants
The Society of Authors
24 Bedford Row
London WC1R 4EH
Please note: For grants to assist with substantial research or travel costs, or to ‘buy time’ to complete a work in progress, see the Authors’ Foundation.
Deadline for applications
All claims are assessed on a rolling basis (usually within two weeks).