John Carter Brown Library Short- and Long-Term Fellowships, USA

The John Carter Brown Library will award approximately forty residential research fellowships for the year July 1, 2019–June 30, 2020. Sponsorship of research at the John Carter Brown Library is reserved exclusively for scholars whose work is centered on the colonial history of the Americas, North and South, including all aspects of the European, African, and Native American engagement. A more detailed description of the JCB Fellowship Programs may be read in French and Spanish here.


Short-Term Fellowships

Sponsorship of research at the John Carter Brown Library is reserved exclusively for scholars whose work is centered on the colonial history of the Americas, North and South, including all aspects of European, African, and Native American engagements in global and comparative contexts. Short-term fellowships are open to individuals who are engaged in pre- and post-doctoral, or independent research, regardless of nationality. Graduate students must have passed their preliminary or general examinations at the time of application. Short-term fellowships are available for periods of two to four months and carry a stipend of $2,100 per month.

The application for a short-term fellowship at the John Carter Brown Library consists of four parts:

1. A narrative description of the proposed project, including an explanation of its historiographical significance, progress to date on the project, identification of specific materials to be consulted at the JCB, and plan for work to be completed while in residence. Applicants may submit proposals in English, French, Spanish, or Portuguese (although English is generally preferred by the committee when possible).

2. Current curriculum vitae.

3. A completed application form.

4. Applicants should arrange for two (2) letters of recommendation to be sent in support of their proposed project.

Individuals whose permanent residence is within commuting distance of the Library (approximately 45-mile radius) are also eligible for the short-term fellowship competition. However, if a fellowship is awarded, the total amount will be adjusted to 50% of the residential stipend amount so as to support transportation expenses instead of housing costs.

The annual application period runs from September – November, with a deadline of December 1st. Begininng on September 1st, applications may be submitted to our application portal, Interfolio.

Long-Term Fellowships

The John Carter Brown Library offers long-term fellowships, several of which are funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), an independent agency of the U.S. Federal government. Additional long-term fellowships have been made possible by Donald L. Saunders; R. David Parsons; and The Reed Foundation, which has endowed the InterAmericas Fellowship (for research on the history of the West Indies and the Caribbean basin). Fellowships funded by the NEH are only available to citizens of the United States or to those applicants residing in the U.S. for the three years preceding application. Applicants of all nationalities, however, will be considered for long-term fellowships. PhD candidates are welcome to apply for long-term fellowships only if all degree requirements, including the successful defense of their dissertation, have been met by the application deadline of December 1, 2017. Long-Term Fellowships are available for periods of five to ten months and carry a monthly stipend of $4,200.

The application for a long-term fellowship at the John Carter Brown Library consists of four parts:

  1. A narrative description, in English, of the proposed project, including an explanation of its historiographical significance, progress to date on the project, identification of specific materials to be consulted at the JCB, and plan for work to be completed while in residence
  2. Current curriculum vitae.
  3. A completed application form.
  4. Applicants should arrange for three (3) letters of recommendation to be sent in support of their proposed project.

The annual application period runs from September – November, with a deadline of December 1st. Begininng on September 1st, applications may be submitted to our application portal, Interfolio.

Collaborative Cluster Fellowships

As part of an effort to expand the disciplinary scope of research at the Library, and to emphasize the role of the JCB as a laboratory for new research methods, the fellowship committee encourages applications from small groups of between two to four scholars who would be in simultaneous residence for periods of up to one month to work in collaboration on a particular theme, object, or scholarly project. The fellowship carries a weekly stipend of $500 per person.

The application for a Collaborative Cluster Fellowship at the John Carter Brown Library consists of two parts:

  1. Project overview (approx. 1000 words), outlining the proposed research project, names of participants, and proposed length of fellowship (between two to four weeks).
  2. CVs for each participant.

No letters of reference are required for the Collaborative Cluster Fellowship application.

Application materials may be sent to the attention of Neil Safier at JCB-Fellowships@brown.edu by the January 15, 2019 deadline.

Digital Fellowship for Former Fellows 

The John Carter Brown Library is pleased to announce the Digital Fellowship for Former Fellows, supported by a generous grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. This new fellowship opportunity would allow former JCB fellows to return to Providence for 2-3 months to conduct work that relates to their original research project in the Library’s collection but that also extends that engagement through an original digital project.

By bringing former Library researchers back as Digital Fellows, the JCB hopes to provide researchers with an intimate and stimulating environment to pursue digital scholarship. New hires and a renewed commitment to digital engagement and discovery at the Library underlines the JCB’s commitment to fostering new ways of connecting with the collection and expanding use through digital platforms. Opportunities including revisiting and rediscovering source materials and helping the Library conceive of its physical materials in new ways through digital means.

The Digital Fellowship for Former Fellows is tenable for a period of 2-3 months (depending on the nature of the project) and carries a stipend of $2,100 per month, plus an additional $1,200 per month for expenses that may include graphic design, web hosting, student assistants, and other miscellaneous expenses related specifically to the transformation of a “traditional” research project into a digital medium. The Library hopes to award 1-2 Digital Fellowships.

Applicants should submit a 750-word project proposal (which appends the applicant’s original project at the JCB, not included in word count) outlining the work they hope to do at the Library, progress on the project to date, a description of any relevant technical skills the applicant has, and a framework for the project’s engagement with digital tools and proposed outcomes. The project proposal should also include the applicant’s name and institutional affiliation. No letters of recommendation are required; however, if the applicant has already worked with digital technologies staff at her/his home institution, a letter of support from that individual would be helpful, since collaboration with other institutions is an essential part of this overall effort. Once again, this fellowship competition is open only to former fellows of the John Carter Brown Library. 

Interested individuals should submit applications (in .pdf form) to the attention of Neil Safier at jcb-fellowships@brown.edu by January 15, 2019.

Hodson Trust – John Carter Brown Library Fellowship

The Hodson Trust –John Carter Brown Library Fellowship supports work by academics, independent scholars and writers working on significant projects relating to the literature, history, culture, or art of the Americas before 1830. Candidates with a U.S. history topic are strongly encouraged to concentrate on the period prior to 1801. The fellowship is also open to filmmakers, novelists, creative and performing artists, and others working on projects that draw on this period of history.

The four month fellowship is divided into two parts – two months of research at the John Carter Brown Library during the academic year and two months of writing at the C.V. Staff Center at Washington College in Chestertown, MD during the following summer. The stipend is $5,000 per month for a total of $20,000, plus housing and university privileges. Application details may be found here.

The deadline to apply for a Hodson Trust – John Carter Brown Library Fellowship is March 15, 2019.

J.M. Stuart Fellowship

The J. M. Stuart Fellowship is open to Brown Ph.D. students in the Humanities or Social Sciences whose dissertation topic relates to the early history and culture of the Americas and whose research and writing would benefit from privileged and sustained access to the resources of the John Carter Brown Library.

Stuart Fellows are full members of the international community of scholars in residence at the Library in any given year. In addition, although Stuart fellows are primarily engaged in dissertation research, a distinctive component of this fellowship is the opportunity to gain deeper scholarly command of the collections by working closely with leading curatorial experts on a Library project—such as an exhibition, publication, or website—germane to the fellow’s area of interest.

The Stuart Fellow must have completed all preliminary exams and is expected to reside in Providence or nearby for the entire academic year in which the fellowship is awarded. He or she is provided with work space in the Library. Time contributed to work on the Library project, which is a requirement of the fellowship, should average around one day/week.

The J.M. Stuart Fellowship application consists of three parts:

  1. A single page with name, affiliation, status and 100-word abstract
  2. A narrative description of your proposed project (not to exceed 1200 words), including an explanation of its historiographical significance, progress to date, and identification of specific materials to be consulted at the JCB
  3. A current curriculum vitae.

The Stuart Fellowship carries a stipend equivalent to the Graduate School stipend for a nine-month term, beginning September 1. The Stuart Fellow will also receive a summer stipend that is equivalent but additional to the summer support provided by the Graduate School (currently one-ninth of the academic year stipend), to be used in the summer following their residency at the JCB. Fellows may also apply for up to $1,000 in travel funds for supplementary dissertation research in other collections of primary materials.

Nominations and applications may be sent to the Assistant Director for Academic Programming and Fellowships by January 29, 2019. Only applications that are accompanied by a nomination from their department chair (also due to us on or before January 29, 2019) will be considered. All applications will be considered provisional pending verification of academic standing by the Dean of the Graduate School.

Interdisciplinary Opportunities Fellowship

The Interdisciplinary Opportunities Fellowship is open to Brown Ph.D. students in the humanities and social sciences who will be entering their 5th or 6th year of doctoral study in 2019-2020. The fellowship is open to students whose dissertation topic relates to the early history and culture of the Americas and whose research and writing would benefit from privileged and sustained access to the resources of the John Carter Brown Library. While primarily engaged in dissertation research, fellows are expected to collaborate closely with leading curatorial experts on a Library project about one day per week and be active and engaged members of the international community of scholars in residence at the Library. Interested students should submit applications to the JCB as well as to the Graduate School by January 30, 2019. For more information and to apply, click here or email jcb-fellowships@brown.edu.

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