The purpose of the Colonel Donald Heiliger Research Grant at the Wisconsin Veterans Museum (WVM) is to encourage the use of the museum’s collections in published scholarly works. One grant will be awarded in the form of a $2,000 honorarium to support research expenses at the WVM (travel, lodging, meals).
Applicants will be scholars at the graduate, postgraduate, or instructor/professor level; or be other professional scholars or authors; or have comparable qualifications based on experience. They will be writing dissertations, articles for scholarly peer reviewed journals, or books on significant subjects that are well supported in the WVM collections.
The Wisconsin Veterans Museum Research Center presents a microcosm of the American military and veteran experience from the Civil War to the present. Focused through the service of Wisconsin men and women, collections touch upon every branch of service, theater of operations, military occupation specialty, and more. These materials shed light on the experience of combat, contain observations and impressions of foreign cultures, communities, and people, and document transitions from civilian to soldier/sailor and back again.
Archival collections consist of original letters, diaries, photographs, scrapbooks, military records, paper ephemera, and more. Library items include rare unit histories, original military manuals, memoirs and reminiscences, and maps. Oral history interviews provide detailed insight into the experiences of individual veterans serving overseas and stateside, in combat and behind the lines.
All Research Center materials are searchable in WorldCat. Contact an Archivist for assistance searching and for help locating pertinent materials and collections.
A committee reviews each application based on the applicant’s research topic, the availability of relevant materials in the WVM collections, and the potential for producing publishable work. The grant does not support research at other institutions, and it does not provide general tuition support. Applications must be submitted via email to reference.desk@dva.wisconsin.gov by 4:00 pm CST on April 15, 2026. Award notification will be made by May 15, 2026.
Download the application and instructions at https://wisvetsmuseum.com/learning-research/colonel-donald-heiliger-research-grant/.