How Can I Help?

There are many ways that you can help to achieve a more balanced assessment of the life and reign of Richard III, and to advance the cause of fifteenth-century English studies. Here are a few of the ways you can help the American Branch. (Members of the Parent Society or of other branches should review the appeals in the Ricardian Bulletin or their own branch publications.)

Join the Society | Speak Up/Speak Out | Support Your Local Schools | Volunteer Your Time | Learn About Giving Opportunities

Join the Society -- Become Involved

Join the American branch: you will receive a number of benefits -- subscriptions to American Branch and parent society publications, use of Society libraries and other resources, automatic membership in the parent society based in the U.K., and of course the opportunity for fellowship with like-minded people. As a member, you'll be kept up to date on the latest research and publications in the field of late medieval English history and culture. (U.K. visitors to this site may wish to join the parent society directly.) Society members can participate in a chapter, branch or group if one exists in their area.

Speak Up/Speak Out!

• Letters to the editor when a columnist takes a crack at Richard III in passing, or when a production of Shakespeare's play is planned by a local theater.

• In-memoriam notices on the anniversary of Richard's death. (See Bosworth section for additional details.)

• Library exhibits are popular with many local chapters or individual members; many community libraries are happy to host an exhibit about Richard III.

• Gifts to your library -- books about Richard III, or a gift membership, which will bring the publications to a local college or university library, are often welcome budget-stretchers for financially-challenged libraries. Richard III: Crown and People (Alan Sutton, 1985), the volume of essays from The Ricardian edited by James Petre, is a particularly appropriate gift to a library. It showcases the range of scholarship available through the Society and serves as a good advertisement of the Society's capabilities.

• Public lectures in conjunction with a library exhibit, a performance of Shakespeare's play, or other related event have been quite successful for Society members who aren't afraid of public speaking. Many community organizations, such as Friends of the Library or regular social clubs, are always looking for entertaining speakers. The parent society has put together a useful set of speaker's notes and 35mm slides for those contemplating such a venture.

• Feature coverage in your newspaper. Society members have parlayed letters to the editor, in-memoriam notices, library exhibits, and other publicity into feature articles. These usually take the form of "local resident with unusual interest," but are quite effective at getting the Society's name out to people who don't know about us.

Bring Richard III to the Classroom

If you're a teacher, you can make use of our learning resources. If you're not a teacher, you may still be able to help, by bringing the wealth of Ricardian resources to the attention of local educators. With several new version of Shakespeare's Richard III available on video, and a large number of primary sources available on this web site, Richard III is an attractive topic for a multimedia approach to literature and history. If you're not afraid of public speaking, you may find that local high school or college teachers will welcome you as a guest lecturer.

Volunteer Your Time

The Richard III Society is a labor of love for its all volunteer staff. Without our volunteers, we would not be able to exist. The American Branch is always looking for volunteers. Right now we could use members who are willing to

• Work on outreach through press releases, feature article placements;
• Help to build our online library by scanning, keyboarding, and proofreading primary texts and secondary sources;
• Take on other special projects, including ones you think of yourself

Make a Donation

We've set our dues to cover our most basic costs (publications and a few mailings, minimal upkeep on our libraries). This keeps the basic Society membership affordable. We rely on volunteer time and on our members' financial contributions to expand our activities. The Richard III Society, American Branch is incorporated as the Richard III Society, Inc., a nonprofit educational corporation with 501(c)(3) status. Contributions are tax-deductible.

Your gift can help in the following areas:

• Scholarship Funds

  William B. Schallek Memorial Graduate Fellowship Awards.
  Named for the award's first major donor, the Schallek Awards are granted to a graduate student or students working in Yorkist-era English history and culture. The American Branch has made these awards since 1981. The Awards are supported by a $40,000 endowment; contributions for the current year and for the endowment are both welcome.
  

• Maxwell Anderson Scholarship in Medieval and Renaissance Literature
  This award is named for twentieth-century dramatist Maxwell Anderson, whose Richard and Anne offers a more sympathetic treatment of Richard III. The first Anderson Scholarship award will be made for the 1999-2000 academic year; contributions for the first year's scholarships or for the endowment fund are both welcome.
  

Special Funds

• The James Gillespie Fund.
  Named for the founder of the Society of the White Hart (Richard II studies) and administered jointly by the Richard III Society American Branch and the Society of the White Hart, this fund offers travel assistance for students or independent scholars to present papers at scholarly colloquia.
  

• The Morris McGee Speaker Fund. Named in honor of former American Branch chair Morris McGee, who launched our successful scholarship fund and who has always encouraged public speaking as performance. Income from this endowed fund will provide honoraria for speakers at the American Branch Annual General Meeting.
  

Publishing Fund
This fund supports publication of important monographs on topics relating to late fifteenth century England and of proceedings from American Branch conferences. The first monograph, on Giles Daubeney, and the first volume of conference proceedings, from the 1995 conference, are in preparation.

Library Funds
Many Society members do not have access to a major research library, and many of the volumes they wish to consult are not available via interlibrary loan. Although the Online Library at this site helps fill in some of the gaps, it is not a panacea, and many members rely on our three libraries to supplement the resources in their personal and community libraries.

• Research Library: The Weinsoft Fund
  This endowed fund was begun with a bequest from Judy R. Weinsoft in 1994, and is supplemented by contributions by family, friends, and other Ricardians. Income from the fund is used to purchase books and other knowledge resources for our research library.
  

• Research Library: Current Needs
  Gifts to the research library are used to supplement funds from the American Branch's operating budget and from the Weinsoft fund. Gifts of books and stamps are also welcome. When duplicate copies of books are donated, they are offered to Society members at silent auction and the proceeds used for the purchase of new books or the repair of materials in the collection.
  

• Fiction Library
  The Fiction Library seeks gifts of money, books or stamps. Some of the collection was damaged by a flood in 1996; the librarian is still seeking to replace some hard-to-find volumes. For a list of the fiction titles for which we still need replacements, send e-mail to feedback@r3.org.
  

• Audivisual Library
  Contributions to this library will help us build collections of videos suitable for classroom use.
  

• Web Site Support
  The World Wide Web is increasingly paying a central role in the Society's mission: to circulate the relevant historical information about later medieval England to the scholarly community and to the general public. Next to its journal and its annual general meeting, the American Branch's largest single expense is the rental of server space for this site. Your gift will allow us to expand our coverage with additional resources of text, sound, and still and moving images.
  

• General Fund
  Contributions to the general fund help the American Branch to provide operating support for the business of running the Branch. Contributions to the general fund also provide seed money for new projects as new opportunities arise. The Branch often makes challenge grants from the General Fund to help launch new initiatives.