By Natalia Gonzalez Blanco Serrano ’24
After over a year of planning, the Libraries’ debuted a research grant last summer designed to support undergraduates interested in Native American and Indigenous studies. The grant, which provides one student with $4,000 to spend eight weeks in the summer doing research on campus, is a combined effort between the Libraries and the Office of Undergraduate Research. The collaboration between the two departments opened the door for junior Elizabeth Vazquez to do a deep dive on colonial roots in Chicago.
In talking with the Office of Undergraduate Research, undergraduate engagement librarian Jason Kruse learned that many students had recently applied to do research around Native American and Indigenous issues. Seeing a need, Kruse thought “we can build off of that.”
He reached out to the Center for Native American and Indigenous Research on campus, and began roping them into this collaborative effort. “We felt like this might help add research opportunities for students who are underserved on campus,” Kruse said. And this is exactly what it did.
The grant, which is open for application until March 10, is solely focused on producing in-depth research in Native American and Indigenous studies. Vazquez spent her eight-week tenure doing a deep dive on William Jones, an anthropologist affiliated with the Field Museum. He was an activist for Indigenous rights, and was constantly battling with museum administration for better treatment of Native American people, culture, and artifacts.
Vazquez’s work to recontextualize long-overlooked historical figures and activists resulted in an online presentation of her work as a culmination of the summer’s efforts. Thanks to the grant provided by the Libraries and OUR, students following Vasquez will have the time and resources to sift through archives and provide their fields with a greater depth of information than was available before — while making the most of a unique opportunity for undergraduate research.
Natalia Gonzalez Blanco Serrano is a Medill School of Journalism junior