The Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies is pleased to announce that Patrick Monson has been awarded the 2025-2026 Research Grant for Emerging Scholars.
The research grants of up to $6,000 support early-career scholars in any field of the Baltic studies. Proposals are evaluated according to the scholarly potential of the applicant and the quality and scholarly importance of the proposed work, especially to the development of Baltic Studies. Funds may be used for travel, duplication, materials, equipment, or other needs as specified.
The 2025 applications were evaluated by the AABS 2025-2026 Grants and Awards Committee consisting of AABS VP for Professional Development Dr. Kaarel Piirimäe, AABS President Dr. Jörg Hackmann, and AABS Director-at-Large Dr. Dovilė Budrytė. Learn about the other 2025-2026 recipients here.
Patrick Monson recently completed a PhD in History from Princeton University, where he studied East European/Russian imperial and legal history, among others. He received a BA in Eastern European Family History-Genealogy from Brigham Young University; and an MA in Estonian History from the University of Tartu. His research has been supported by Fulbright, ASEEES, and others. Monson currently serves as a digital archivist at FamilySearch, where he leads efforts to preserve documents in several Eurasian countries; and as an adjunct faculty for paleography and genealogical writing at BYU-Idaho.
Project Overview: Judges of Empire
Monson will use the Emerging Scholars Grant to work on his book project, Judges of Empire, which analyzes the reasons for and results of imperial Russia’s reform of Baltic courts, 1860-1917. Grant funds will enable him to survey archival documents on Baltic law and courts after 1918. Since much of Baltic law had not yet been translated into Estonian or Latvian, Monson is interested to see how jurists of the new Estonian and Latvian Republics handled legal and linguistic diversity. The funds will also allow him to finalize work on his manuscript.