The bursary provides financial support to individuals who are working on a thesis, scholarly article or book in the area of Ontario Jewish history, in which records held by the Ontario Jewish Archives are integral to their work. A grant of up to $500 will be awarded each year to assist one or more researchers with some of the costs incurred while conducting research at the OJA, such as travel expenses, photocopying, off-site retrieval costs etc..

The bursary is funded by Pardes Shalom with some assistance from the Ontario Association of Cemetery and Funeral Professionals. In order to sustain this program and keep it running for many years, we are soliciting donations from the academic and Jewish communities. We would encourage those who knew Stephen and appreciated his work, to send a donation to the OJA in support of this bursary. Cheques should be made out to the Ontario Jewish Archives and a note should be included that the funds are in support of the Stephen Speisman bursary. Tax receipts can be issued, upon request, for donations of $25 or higher.

Those researchers who are interested in applying will need to fill out the application form. The deadline for the application is September 30th of each year. The fund and program will be administered by the Ontario Jewish archives. A special arms-length committee will be responsible for reviewing and adjudicating the applications each year. Applications will be judged based on the importance of the research project, the financial need of the individual, the costs incurred, as well as the types of OJA sources that were employed by the researcher. The first bursary was awarded in October 2009 in order to honour the first yartzheit of Stephen’s death.

CLICK HERE for the Dr. Stephen Speisman Bursary Application Form