Long-term Residential Fellowships

About Long-term Fellowships

The Folger Institute will offer five, semi-residential long-term fellowships at $70,000 for the 2023-2024 academic year (approximately $7,777 per month, for a standard period of 9 months). These fellowships are designed to support full-time scholarly work on significant research projects that draw on the strengths of the Folger’s collections and programs.

Please note, for the 2023-24 fellowship year, long-term fellowships will be off-site for fall 2023 and onsite only in the spring of 2024. In their applications, scholars must describe how they will use the offsite portion of their fellowship in the fall of 2023 as well as what they plan to research in the spring semester in residence. Scholars may choose to visit other archives and libraries or use the fall semester to engage in any combination of the following full-time: research with online collections, as well as writing and editing as it relates to their proposed project.

Scholars must hold a terminal degree in their field in order to be eligible for a long-term fellowship. To evaluate these applications each year, the Fellowships Program assembles an external committee of respected scholars, aiming for disciplinary, methodological, and geographical diversity. Committee membership changes annually. The committee is charged with evaluating applications based on the proposed topic’s impact, its relevance to the field, the originality and sophistication of the scholar’s approach, the feasibility of the scholar’s research objectives, and their expected use of Folger collections. Particular weight is accorded to the project’s impact, relevance, and approach. Furthermore, the Institute is committed to supporting work across fields of study in the early modern humanities that address inequities or marginalized subjects, and which point to richer and more inclusive histories.

Information Regarding Reopening, Housing, and COVID Policies

In the fall of 2023, the Folger will begin reopening. We are confident that we can bring researchers back to the Folger in January 2024. While the reading room will be open and ready to welcome researchers, it is important to note that it remains unclear when Folger properties will become available to researchers once more.

Residential fellows are expected to inform themselves about, and follow, the most up-to-date public health guidelines in both their place of origin and Washington, DC. All fellows and researchers on-site at the Folger will be required to show proof of vaccination. Please see the Folger’s COVID-19 Safety Protocols for more information. Please note that the COVID-19 policies may shift as the pandemic continues to evolve. Please check back prior to travelling to the Folger for the most recent information. Qualifying COVID-19 vaccinations, as well as details on exceptions and on applying for humanitarian waivers to this requirement, can be found on the CDC website.

All J-1 exchange visitor applicants (age 18 or older at the time of travel) will be required to show proof of vaccination prior to arrival in the United States, subject to limited exceptions. This global vaccine requirement coincides with the rescission of the travel restrictions established under Presidential Proclamations 9984, 9992, 10143, and 10199, related to the suspension of entry into the United States of persons physically present in Brazil, China, India, Iran, Ireland, the Schengen Area, South Africa, and the United Kingdom.

More information about the global vaccination requirement.

Exceptions for J-1 exchange visitors include:

• J-1 exchange visitors under the age of 18
• J-2 dependents under the age of 18
• Persons with valid J-1 visas who are citizens of a foreign country with limited COVID-19 vaccine availability

Application Instructions

The application portal for long-term semi-residential fellowships is now closed. All applications must be completed and submitted through our online portal.

Please be sure to review the Fellowships FAQs page before applying.

To apply for a 2023–2024 Folger Long-Term Semi-Residential Scholarly Research Fellowship, please submit the following:

1. 250-word abstract of your project.
2. 1,500-word description of your project, placing particular emphasis upon the proposed topic’s importance, its relevance to the field, and the originality and sophistication of your approach. In addition to your proposed plan for work at the Folger in spring 2024, you must include a statement about your work plan and/or the proposed location(s) of your research in fall 2023, with a justification of why and how these sites will be useful to your research, thinking, and/or writing process.
3. Two-page CV.
4. One- to two-page list of primary sources, rare materials, or digital assets you wish to consult onsite in Spring 2024, during the residential portion of your fellowship at the Folger Library. This list will be used to help determine the viability of your project, as well as to assess the availability, condition, and conservation or exhibition status of the Folger’s collections.
5. Two letters of recommendation. You will identify your recommenders in the online application portal. Your recommenders will be contacted directly via the online portal and will be given guidance on how to upload their letters. Anyone is eligible to act as a recommender: artists, scholars, teachers, colleagues. We recognize that, due to the pandemic, we are all under unique and significant pressures. Letters of recommendation are very helpful to interdisciplinary selection committees as they work to understand how a project fits within its field. Applications may be disadvantaged, but they are not rendered ineligible if they are missing letter(s) of recommendation.

It is helpful to start your online application early. You can revise your application at any point in the process right up to the deadline. You must hit the “submit” button for your application to be complete.

Please note, our ability to offer a residential component for our 2023-24 long-term and short-term fellowships is dependent upon the status of Covid-19 and the completion of our building renovation. Unforeseen complications could alter or delay fellows’ ability to be on-site and could affect the period of residency.