This week I received the happy news that the Marion E. Wade Center at Wheaton College has awarded me the Clyde S. Kilby Research Grant for 2022.
As explained on the Wade’s website, “In 1982, the Clyde S. Kilby Research Grant was established by Wheaton College’s class of 1939 in honor of their former professor and faculty class sponsor. This endowed award is presented annually by the Board of the Marion E. Wade Center to a scholar engaged in a publishable project related to one of the seven Wade authors. The intention of the award is both to recognize scholarly contributions and also to assist the work of those who use the resources of the Wade Center.”
Every time I go to the Wade for research, I receive the best of professional assistance from the staff, especially from the superb Laura Schmidt in the research room. Marjorie Mead, who has been a fixture at the Wade for decades, has offered her personal encouragement for my research and writing, and I may also count as two of my newest friends Drs. David and Crystal Downing, who have taken on the immense task of directing the Wade’s ongoing activities.
Now, the hard part. I have to be worthy of this award. My hope is to write a book on C. S. Lewis’s views on history, drawing not only from his published writings but on the materials that one can find only at the Wade. Twice this year, I’ve been there to examine Lewis’s annotations and underlinings in books from his personal library. Now, with the monetary help from this grant, I plan to return later this year to continue the quest.
I speak not only for myself, but for the many scholars who have used the Wade’s resources, when I say that we don’t know what we would do without you.
Books take a while to be written and published, but I hope to be able to announce success in that endeavor in the near future. Thank you, Wade Center Board, for your confidence in my research and writing. I will do my best to fulfill your expectations.