English Department External Fellowships

Students are encouraged to work with the Office of Fellowship Advising, which connects students with opportunities and guides them through the process of applying for prestigious awards. The OPF specializes in providing feedback on application essay drafts and preparing for interviews with selection committees. Please email Anna Beskin to make an appointment. 

American Antiquarian Society
Various long-term and short-term fellowships are available.

American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The Visiting Scholars Program provides residential fellowships for junior faculty members and postdoctoral scholars in the humanities and social sciences.

American Association of University Women (AAUW) Fellowships
Dissertation and career development grants for women in graduate programs who have achieved distinction or show the promise of distinction in their fields. Deadlines vary.

American Heraldry Society - William Barton Graduate Scholarship
Barton Scholarships support master's or doctoral students conducting research on heraldry (coats of arms, seals, badges and related symbols) within the United States and its territories and possessions. Eligible disciplines include, but are not limited to, history, literature, law, anthropology, sociology, political science/government, archaeology, art history, architecture and design, and communication studies.
Award amount: Up to $1,500.

Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Dissertation Completion Fellowship
Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Completion Fellowships support a year of research and writing to help advanced graduate students in the humanities and related social sciences in the last year of Ph.D. dissertation writing. The program encourages timely completion of the Ph.D. Applicants must be prepared to complete their dissertations within the period of their fellowship tenure.
Award amount: $30,000, plus funds for research costs of up to $3,000 and for university fees of up to $5,000.

Arnold L. Mitchem Dissertation Fellowship Program
In 2002, Marquette established the Arnold L. Mitchem Dissertation Fellowship Program, intended to increase the presence of underrepresented ethnic groups in the professorate by supporting doctoral candidates in completing the final academic requirement, the dissertation. The fellowships provide two students from other U.S. universities with one year of financial support, including a stipend, fringe benefits, and research and travel funds. The fellows will be in residence at Marquette for an academic year, during which they will teach one course in their area of specialization while completing their dissertations. They will also participate in a formal mentoring program.

Birgit Baldwin Fellowship, Medieval Academy of America
The Baldwin Fellowship provides a grant of $20,000 to support a graduate student in a North American university who is researching and writing a significant dissertation for the Ph.D. on any subject in French medieval history that can be realized only by sustained research in the archives and libraries of France. The fellowship helps defray research and living expenses for the equivalent of an academic year of study. It may be renewed for a second year upon demonstration of satisfactory progress. Because of the renewable nature of the fellowship, applications are solicited on a biannual basis. The fellowship recipient must devote full time to the dissertation project and may not hold any job or teaching position or work on another project during the term of the fellowship. Applicants must be members of the Medieval Academy.
Award amount: $20,000.

Carl H. Pforzheimer, Jr., Research Grants (Keats-Shelley Association)
Pforzheimer Grants are awarded each year to defray travel expenses incurred in pursuing archival and/or special-collections research related to British Romanticism and literary culture, 1789-1832. Preference is given to projects involving authors featured in the bibliography of the Keats-Shelley Journal, the Association’s annual publication. Advanced graduate students, untenured faculty, and independent scholars working outside the academy are eligible.

Charlotte Newcombe Doctoral Dissertation Fellowships
For 12 months of full-time dissertation research and writing on ethical or religious values.

Children's Literature Association - Hannah Beiter Graduate Student Research Grants
Beiter Grants are awarded for research in children's literature criticism. Funds are not intended as income to assist in the completion of a graduate degree (e.g., applied to tuition), but as support for research that may be related to the dissertation or master's thesis. The award may be used to purchase supplies and materials (e.g., books, videos, equipment), as research support (photocopying, etc.) or to underwrite travel to special collections or libraries.
Award amount: $500-1,500.

Council of American Overseas Research Centers (CAORC) Multi-Country Fellowship Program
A variety of programs which support advanced regional or trans-regional research in the humanities, social sciences, or allied natural sciences for U.S. doctoral candidates. Preference will be given to candidates examining comparative and/or cross-regional research. Applicants are eligible to apply as individuals or in teams. Scholars must carry out research in two or more countries outside the United States, at least one of which hosts a participating American overseas research center.

Dolores Zohrab Liebmann Fellowship
Liebmann Fellowships are awarded “to attract and support students with outstanding character and ability who hold promise for achievement and distinction in their chosen fields of study.” Candidates must be U.S. citizens with outstanding undergraduate records and demonstrated need for financial assistance. Eligible students include not only those in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences, but also those in professional programs like law, medicine, engineering, and architecture. Fellowships provide fees and a living stipend, and are renewable for up to three years of total support.
Award amount: Fellowships cover the cost of tuition and provide an annual $18,000 stipend for living expenses. Publication grants vary depending on magnitude of the publication.

Everett Helm Visiting Fellowships, Lilly Library
The rare books, manuscripts, and special collections library at the University of Indiana, the Lilly Library, holds a bi-annual competition scholars interested in accessing their resources. Special strengths include British and American literature, children's literature, and Medieval and Renaissance manuscripts.
Award amount: $1500.

Ford Foundation Diversity Predoctoral and Dissertation Fellowships
One year and three year fellowships for U.S. citizens or nationals who have demonstrated superior academic achievement, are committed to a career in teaching and research at the college or university level, show promise of future achievement as scholars and teachers, and are well prepared to use diversity as a resource for enriching the education of all students.
Award amount: $20,000.

Fulbright Study/Research Grants
Applicants for study/research grants design their own projects and will typically work with advisers at foreign universities or other institutes of higher education. The study/research grants are available in approximately 140 countries. Program requirements vary by country.

Gaius Charles Bolin Dissertation and Post-MFA Fellowships, Williams College
The Gaius Charles Bolin Fellowships at Williams College are designed to promote diversity on college faculties by encouraging students from underrepresented groups to complete a terminal graduate degree and to pursue careers in college teaching.  The Bolin Fellowships are two-year residencies at Williams, and three scholars or artists are appointed each year. Fellows devote the bulk of the first year to the completion of dissertation work—or in the case of MFA applicants, building their professional portfolios—while also teaching one course as a faculty member in one of the College’s academic departments or programs. The second year of residency (ideally with degree in hand) is spent on academic career development while again teaching just one course.
Award Amount: The annual stipend for the position is $50,000. The College will also provide health and dental benefits, relocation and housing assistance, academic support including office space and a computer, and an annual allowance of $4,000 for research-related expenses.

Georgia O'Keeffe Museum Research Center - Dissertation and Postdoctoral Fellowships for the Study of American Modernism
Academic Fellowships support independent research in the humanities, and may also include cross-disciplinary topics, creative practice, and collaborations. The goal of the fellowship program is to foster new research, exploration, and dialogue about Georgia O’Keeffe and Modernism. Projects that utilize the collections and research materials of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum will be given priority.

German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)
Long-term and short-term research and study grants available for M.A., Ph.D., and postdoc research.

Getty Predoctoral Fellowships
Predoctoral Fellowships provide support for emerging scholars to complete work on projects related to the Getty Research Institute’s annual theme. Recipients are in residence at the Getty Research Institute, where they pursue research to complete their dissertations or to expand them for publication. There may also be opportunities to work on collaborative research projects. Fellows make use of the Getty collections, join in a weekly meeting devoted to the annual theme, and participate in the intellectual life of the Getty Center.
Award amount: $25,000.

Harry Frank Guggenheim Emerging Scholars Awards
These grants are made to PhD candidates who are entering the dissertation stage of graduate school. Usually, this means that fieldwork or other research is complete and writing has begun. Questions that interest the foundation concern violence and aggression in relation to social change, intergroup conflict, war, terrorism, crime, and family relationships, among other subjects. Priority will also be given to areas and methodologies not receiving adequate attention and support from other funding sources.
Award amount: $20,000.

Harry Ransom Center Research Fellowships in the Humanities
The Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas offers dissertation fellowships to doctoral students with an interest in its rare books, manuscripts, and special collections. Strengths include women's studies, American and British literature, and the history of the book.
Award amount: $1500.

Harvard College Houghton Library Research Fellowships
Houghton Library is the principal rare book and manuscript library of Harvard College. The Library's holdings are particularly strong in the following areas: European, English, American, and South American literature, including the country's pre-eminent collection of American literary manuscripts; philosophy; religion; history of science; music; printing and graphic arts; dance; and theatre. Fellows will also have access to collections in Widener Library as well as to other libraries at the University. Preference is given to scholars whose research is closely based on materials in Houghton collections, especially when those materials are unique. Fellowships are normally not granted to scholars who live within commuting distance of the library.
Award amount: $3,600.

Helen Ann Mins Robbins Residential Fellowship for Women Conducting Dissertation Research in Medieval Studies
This residential Fellowship is for a woman working on a dissertation in medieval studies. The research must make use of the Rossel Hope Robbins Library holdings in medieval English literature and medieval British history and culture and in the relations between England and France in the Middle Ages. This includes but not limited to Chaucer, the Middle English lyric, medieval romance, and general Old and Middle English literature. The Fellowship is for up to 12 months.
Award amount: $20,000 stipend.

Henry Belin du Pont Dissertation Fellowships
Henry Belin du Pont Dissertation Fellowships are designed for graduate students who have completed all course work for the doctoral degree and are conducting research on their dissertation. We invite applications from Ph.D. candidates whose research on important historical questions would benefit from use of Hagley's research collections. Applications should demonstrate superior intellectual quality, present a persuasive methodology for the project, and show that there are significant research materials at Hagley pertinent to the dissertation. Use of Hagley's collections may take place prior to application for the dissertation fellowship. Potential applicants are strongly encouraged to consult with Hagley staff prior to submitting their dossier. This is a residential fellowship with a term of four months.
Award amount: $6,500, free housing on Hagley's grounds, use of a computer, mail and internet access, and an office.

Henry Belin du Pont Research Grants
These grants are intended to support serious scholarly work that makes use of Hagley's research collections and expands on prior scholarship. Research grants are awarded for the length of time needed to make use of Hagley collections for a specific project.
Award amount: Stipends are for a maximum of eight weeks and are pro-rated at $400/week for recipients who reside more than 50 miles from Hagley, and $200/week for those within 50 miles.

Horatio Alger Fellowship for the Study of American Popular Culture
The University Libraries, Northern Illinois University, invite applications for the Horatio Alger Fellowship for the Study of American Popular Culture. Funding is available to scholars who will be using materials from the Libraries’ major holdings in American popular culture. These holdings include the Albert Johannsen Collection of more than 50,000 dime novels, and the nation’s preeminent collections related to Horatio Alger, Jr., and Edward Stratemeyer. Many other authors are represented. Topics which could draw on the collections’ strengths might include the plight of urban children, image of the American West in popular literature, widespread use of pseudonyms, and stereotypical portrayals. Preference will be given to applicants who signify an interest in conducting research related to Horatio Alger, Jr.
Award amount: $2000.

Huntington Library Fellowships
Various short and long-term awards are available.

Institute of Historical Research Mellon Fellowships for Dissertation Research in the Humanities
The Institute of Historical Research offers fellowships funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for both pre-dissertation and dissertation research in the humanities using original sources. The purposes of this fellowship program are to: help doctoral candidates in the humanities who may otherwise not have opportunities or encouragement to work with original source materials in the United Kingdom; help doctoral candidates in the humanities to deepen their ability to develop knowledge from original sources; provide insight from the viewpoint of doctoral candidates into how scholarly resources can be developed most helpfully in the future.

International Dissertation Research Fellowship
The Mellon International Dissertation Research Fellowship offers nine to twelve months of support to graduate students in the humanities and humanistic social sciences who are enrolled in Ph.D. programs in the United States and conducting dissertation research on non-US topics. Eighty fellowships are awarded annually. The program invites proposals for dissertation research conducted, in whole or in part, outside the United States. It will consider applications for dissertation research grounded in a single site, informed by broader cross-regional and interdisciplinary perspectives, as well as applications for multi-sited, comparative, and transregional research. Proposals that identify the United States as a case for comparative inquiry are welcome; however, proposals that focus predominantly or exclusively on the United States are not eligible.
Award amount: Averages $20,000.

Japanese Studies Fellowship Program
This program provides support to outstanding scholars in the field by offering the opportunity to doctoral candidates in the humanities or social sciences who have achieved ABD status by the time the fellowship begins to conduct research in Japan for four to twelve months. Applicants must be proficient in either Japanese or English, and in principle must be able to stay continuously in Japan for the term of Fellowship.
Award amount: Approximately $7,000 plus airfare and various other reimbursements.

Josephine De Karman Fellowship
DeKarman fellowships are open to students in any discipline, including international students, who are currently enrolled in a university or college located within the United States. 

Laura Bassi Scholarship
The Laura Bassi Scholarship, which awards a total of $8,000 thrice per annum, was established by Editing Press in 2018 with the aim of providing editorial assistance to postgraduates and junior academics whose research focuses on neglected topics of study, broadly construed. The scholarships are open to every discipline and are awarded three times per year, in December, April, and August. Applicants are generally notified within 3-4 weeks of the application deadline, with scholarships awarded in the following amounts: Master’s candidates, $750; Doctoral candidates: $2,500; Junior scholars: $500.

Lewis Walpole Library (Yale)
The Library offers short-term residential fellowships and travel grants to support research in the Library's rich collections of eighteenth-century (mainly British) materials, including important holdings of prints, drawings, manuscripts, rare books and paintings, as well as a growing collection of sources for the study of New England Native Americans. Fellows also have access to additional resources at Yale, including those in the Sterling Memorial Library, the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, and the Yale Center for British Art.

Library Company of Philadelphia
Various short-term, long-term, and postdoctoral fellowships available.

Marilyn Yarbrough Dissertation/Teaching Fellowship
Kenyon College offers the Marilyn Yarbrough Dissertation/Teaching Fellowship for scholars in the final stages of their doctoral work who need only to finish the dissertation to complete the requirements for the Ph.D. In the past, fellowships have been awarded in: African and African American Studies, American Studies, Anthropology, Art History, Biology, English, History, Languages and Cultures (Spanish), Math, Music, Religious Studies, and Sociology.
The Fellow is expected to write the dissertation and to teach one course each semester, usually in the Fellow's general research area. Fellows are also expected to offer a college lecture or departmental seminar on the dissertation topic at some point during the academic year in residence. Kenyon College assumes that the Fellow will participate in the intellectual life of his/her home department, as well as in the broader cultural life of the College. Our primary expectation, however, and the main focus of this fellowship is the completion of the dissertation.
Award amount: Kenyon will provide a stipend of $32,500, plus health benefits, housing, and a small moving allowance. The College will also provide an allowance to cover travel to conferences or for consultation with the dissertation director. Kenyon will assist the Fellow in finding college housing. The Fellow will be provided an office, a networked computer, and secretarial support services.

Mary McEwen Schimke Scholarship
This is a supplemental award to provide relief from household and child care expenses while pursuing graduate study. The award is made on the basis of scholarly expectation and identified need. The candidate must be over 30 years of age, currently engaged in graduate study in literature and/or history. Preference is given to American studies.
Award amount: up to $1,500.

McNeil Center for Early American Studies Dissertation Fellowship Program
Since 1978, more than 200 advanced graduate students from dozens of universities across North America and Europe have received dissertation fellowships from the McNeil Center. While no teaching is required for most fellowships, all McNeil Center fellows are expected to be in residence in Philadelphia during the academic year and to participate regularly in the Center's program of seminars and other activities. Fellowships include:
MCEAS Barra Dissertation Fellowships are open to candidates from any discipline working on a topic within the McNeil Center's area of interest.
The Barra Foundation Fellowship supports research related to art or material culture.
Friends of the MCEAS Fellowships support research dealing with Philadelphia or the Mid-Atlantic region.
MCEAS Consortium Fellowships are reserved for candidates from research universities that are members of the McNeil Center Consortium. (Fordham is a member.)
The Richard S. Dunn Fellowship acknowledges excellence in Early American Studies.
The E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Fellowship in Early American Religious Studies is open to candidates in any discipline researching any aspect of religion in North America and the Atlantic world before 1850.
The Monticello-McNeil Fellowship, co-sponsored by the McNeil Center and the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello, facilitates scholarship on Thomas Jefferson and his times. Holders of this fellowship spend a portion of their fellowship term at the ICJS in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Mellon Fellowships for Dissertation Research in Original Sources
The Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) is pleased to offer fellowships funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for dissertation research in the humanities in original sources. The purposes of this fellowship program are to help junior scholars in the humanities and related social-science fields gain skill and creativity in developing knowledge from original sources; enable dissertation writers to do research wherever relevant sources may be, rather than just where financial support is available; encourage more extensive and innovative uses of original sources in libraries, archives, museums, historical societies, and related repositories in the U.S. and abroad; and provide insight from the viewpoint of doctoral candidates into how scholarly resources can be developed for access most helpfully in the future.
Award amount: up to $25,000.

Newberry Library - Dissertation and Postdoctoral Research Fellowships
Newberry Library Fellowships (various long-term and short-term available) enable scholars to work on projects related to the Newberry Library's collections. The Newberry collections include: European discovery, exploration, and settlement of the Americas; The American West; Local history, family history, and genealogy; Literature and history of the Midwest, especially the Chicago Renaissance; Native American histories and literatures; The Renaissance; French Revolutionary Era; Portuguese and Brazilian history; British literature and history; History of cartography; History and theory of music; History of printing; and Early philology and linguistics. Fellowships are for four to twelve months.

Pre-Doctoral Fellowships for Excellence through Diversity
The University of Pennsylvania offers awards designed to provide mentorship and access to Penn’s resources for doctoral students in the humanities or social sciences, enrolled in graduate or professional programs at universities other than Penn, as they complete their dissertations. These residential Fellowships support graduate students in the final stages of dissertation research or writing at Penn for an academic year, normally September through August. Each scholar will be selected and hosted by a department or school and assigned a faculty mentor. Recipients will be in the stage of either advanced dissertation research or writing.
Award amount: $30,000, health insurance, library privileges, moving expenses and a $3,000 research and travel fund.

Pre-Doctoral Residential Research Fellowship, The Carter G. Woodson Institute for African-American and African Studies at the University of Virginia
The Carter G. Woodson Institute for African-American and African Studies at the University of Virginia invites scholars whose work focuses on Africa and/or the African Diaspora to apply for a two-year predoctoral research fellowship. The predoctoral fellow must be in residence at the University of Virginia for the duration of the award period. Fellows are expected to make periodic presentations of their work to the Woodson fellows and the larger academic community.
Award amount: $20,000.

Princeton Library Research Grants
The Friends of the Princeton Library award short-term research grants in order to facilitate scholars who have a special need for their collections. They are particularly interested in applications that make use of their unique and rare materials. The library's special strength's include children's literature, graphic arts, Medieval, Renaissance, and modern manuscripts, and Western Americana.

Rockefeller Archive Center, Grants-In-Aid For Research
The Rockefeller Archive Center offers a competitive research stipend program that provides individuals (not institutions) up to $5,000 for reimbursement of travel and accommodation expenses. The stipend can only be used to facilitate research at the RAC, not for research at other archival repositories or for tuition support. Applications are reviewed by an independent committee that considers an applicant’s topic and the availability of relevant archival materials at the RAC. Anyone can apply for a research stipend, regardless of country of origin. Please be aware that certain U.S Government requirements may apply to non-U.S. citizens.

Rome Prize Fellowship, American Academy in Rome
Each year, the coveted Rome Prize is awarded to thirty emerging artists and scholars in the early or middle stages of their careers who represent the highest standard of excellence in the arts and humanities. Prize recipients are invited to Rome for six months or eleven months to immerse themselves in the Academy community where they will enjoy a once in a lifetime opportunity to expand their own professional, artistic, or scholarly pursuits, drawing on their colleagues' erudition and experience and on the inestimable resources that Italy, Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Academy have to offer. Fellows are encouraged to work collegially within and across disciplines in pursuit of their individual artistic and scholarly goals. 
Award amount: $12,500 for 6-month fellowship; $25,000 for 11-month fellowship.

Schallek Fellowship, Medieval Academy of America
The fellowship supports an advanced graduate student who is writing a Ph.D. dissertation in any relevant discipline dealing with late-medieval Britain (ca. 1350-1500). The $30,000 fellowship helps defray research and living expenses for the equivalent of an academic year of study. The fellowship recipient must devote full time to the dissertation project and may not hold any job or teaching position or work on another project during the term of the fellowship. Applicants must be graduate students whose dissertation proposals have been approved by their dissertation committees.
Award amount: $30,000.

The Spencer Foundation Dissertation Fellowship
The Spencer Foundation offers dissertation fellowships in support of projects bringing “fresh and constructive perspectives to the history, theory, or practice of formal or informal education anywhere in the world.”
Award amount: $27,500.

U.S. Memorial Holocaust Museum - Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies - Dissertation and Postdoctoral Fellowships
Residential fellowships support Ph.D. candidates working on their dissertations, postdoctoral researchers, and senior scholars in all relevant academic disciplines including history, political science, literature, Jewish studies, philosophy, religion, sociology, anthropology, comparative genocide studies, law, and others. Fellows at the Center in Washington, D.C., have access to research resources including more than 60 million pages of Holocaust-related archival documentation; the Museum’s extensive library; oral history, film, photo, art, artifacts, and memoir collections; and a database on Holocaust survivors and victims.  Fellowships are from 3 to 8 consecutive months of residency.
Award amount: Up to $3,500 per month for non-Washington, D.C., area residents to defray local housing and other miscellaneous living expenses. One-time travel stipend for non-area residents for direct travel to/from Washington, D.C. Access to workspace, computer, telephone, fax, and photocopier.

Winterthur Dissertation Fellowships
One or two semesters for doctoral candidates conducting dissertation research and writing. 
Award amount: $7,000 per semester.

Woodrow Wilson Foundation - Dissertation Completion Fellowships in Women's Studies
Fellowships enable doctoral students to complete their dissertations on research about women that crosses disciplinary, regional, or cultural boundaries. The competition is for projects in the humanities and social sciences. Fellows may use the award for research-related travel, data work/collection, and supplies.
Award amount: $5,000.

Yale University - American Indian Studies - Henry Roe Cloud Dissertation Writing Fellowship
The Fellowship facilitates the completion of the doctorate by scholars working on pressing issues related to the American Indian experience. Scholars working on topics in Indigenous Studies that relate to the study of North American Indians are also encouraged to apply. The Fellowship is for one academic year.

Yale University Center for British Art - Visiting Pre-doctoral and Postdoctoral Fellowships
The Center offers residential Fellowships to scholars undertaking research related to British art. The awards are for scholars in any discipline, including history, the history of art, literature, and other fields related to British visual and material culture, to study the Center’s collections of paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, rare books, and manuscripts, as well as primary and secondary reference materials. Award recipients are required to be in residence in New Haven and must be free of all other significant professional responsibilities during their stay. Fellowships are for 1-4 months.