News Release

Matthew Erlich, a rising senior at The Johns Hopkins University, has been named one of 15 Gilder Lehrman History Scholars, chosen from more than 300 candidates nationwide. Each scholar will be in New York City June 20 through July 31 for an exclusive six-week program that combines research training, seminars with eminent historians, and behind-the-scenes tours of rare archives.

In addition to transportation, room-and-board, and a $2,400 stipend, each scholar receives a chance to produce original research resulting from his or her summer work. Applicants to the scholarship program represent more than 191 different colleges and universities across the United States.

"These are the brightest young historians in America," said Professor James G. Basker of Barnard College and president of the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, which sponsors the program. "We see them as a kind of Rhodes Scholar elite among history majors. We hope this spurs them all to consider careers as scholarly historians in the future."

Erlich, a history major and film and media studies minor from Boston, has developed his interest in labor history through coursework, pointed research into the CIO in the 1930s and 40s, and an internship with the Union of Needleworkers and Industrial Textile Employees.

In New York, Erlich will join 14 other scholars from colleges including Bucknell University, Claremont McKenna College, Columbia University, Florida State University, Grinnell College, Harvard University, Mercer University, Oklahoma State University, the University of Alberta, the University of Nebraska, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Wisconsin, and Yale University.

Erlich is the son of Mark Erlich and Barbara Gottlieb. Further information about the Gilder Lehrman History Scholars Program can be obtained from the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, 19 West 44th Street, Suite 500, New York, New York 10036, 646-366-9666, info@gilderlehrman.org, or by visiting www.gilderlehrman.org.