I kind of think that at a decent SLAC if they're giving start-up costs that's already a fantastic change in the status quo from when I was hired 30 years ago at Swarthmore, where no such funds where on offer for historians. (Nor has there ever been any acknowledgement officially that some faculty have travel costs totally different than other faculty, but that's because we believe, usually for the best, in equity.)
How does this play out with start-up funds for new TT faculty? In the 2-2 or 2-3 load small-college world, $150k+ startup for new STEM faculty is expected. This is often short-sightedly low, given the fact that it's a one-time cost for a person with a ~30+ year impact, but that's another rant. It's also maybe subsidized by the fact that startup packages for humanities / ss faculty are likely paltry. Is a new historian at an elite SLAC able to get access to whatever archives they want for the first ~10 years of their career? They should be!
I kind of think that at a decent SLAC if they're giving start-up costs that's already a fantastic change in the status quo from when I was hired 30 years ago at Swarthmore, where no such funds where on offer for historians. (Nor has there ever been any acknowledgement officially that some faculty have travel costs totally different than other faculty, but that's because we believe, usually for the best, in equity.)
How does this play out with start-up funds for new TT faculty? In the 2-2 or 2-3 load small-college world, $150k+ startup for new STEM faculty is expected. This is often short-sightedly low, given the fact that it's a one-time cost for a person with a ~30+ year impact, but that's another rant. It's also maybe subsidized by the fact that startup packages for humanities / ss faculty are likely paltry. Is a new historian at an elite SLAC able to get access to whatever archives they want for the first ~10 years of their career? They should be!