Fellowships FAQs

The Folger Institute is committed to supporting research with our collections from across fields of study in the early modern humanities and their afterlives, especially projects that point to richer and more inclusive histories of the early modern world.

For scholars, the Folger Institute offers long-term (an academic year) and short-term (up to three months) research fellowships. Both opportunities are designed for scholarly research that would greatly benefit from the Folger’s extensive printed book and manuscript collections and/or digital resources. While the Folger is certainly best known for our materials related to Shakespeare and his time, our collection of printed books and manuscripts also covers the literary, cultural, political, religious, and social history of Britain and Europe from the 15th though 18th centuries, with a strong emphasis on the 16th and 17th centuries.

Short-term applicants have the option to apply for an onsite, completely virtual, or hybrid fellowship. Fully virtual short-term fellowships provide fellows with the resources and opportunities necessary to advance their research outside of the context of in-person work at the Folger. This can include but is not limited to support for time to write, access to digital resources, reproduction and permission fees for images of rare materials, time to organize notes and images, and a digital project. Fellowship funds may also support work-life balance such as childcare or summer course releases to facilitate research and writing.

Artistic research fellowships support artists working in all media whose work would benefit from significant research related to the histories, concepts, art, and objects of the early modern world (ca. 1400-1800) and its legacies. This includes, but is not limited to, visual, performance, installation, and sonic artists, as well as writers (fiction, non-fiction, and journalism), filmmakers, poets, community engagers, chefs, and theatre-makers. The key difference between scholarly and artistic fellowships is the research output, which is creative. Artist fellows have the option to apply for a completely virtual fellowship.

The Long-term Public Humanities Fellowship is designed to support significant, full-time research and public humanities project implementation related to the early modern world (ca. 1400-1800) and its legacies. This fellowship is open to college and university faculty, independent scholars, artists, public scholars, writers, PhD candidates, postdocs, community leaders, cultural workers, educators and other knowledge holders.

Applicants for long-term fellowships must hold a Ph.D. by the time they begin their fellowship. For example, if you apply for a long-term fellowship in the fall of 2023, successfully defend in May of 2024 and take up your fellowship in fall of 2024, then you qualify to apply for a long-term fellowship. The Long-term Public Humanities Fellowship does not require applicants to hold a terminal degree, but applicants should describe their equivalent training and industry-specific experience in their CV. 

Ph.D. candidates (ABD) are welcome to apply for short-term scholarly fellowships.

Graduate students who are not yet ABD should explore our Scholarly Programs, many of which are designed for and open to graduate students in the humanities.

Archivists, creative artists, curators, dramaturgs, filmmakers, librarians, performers, playwrights, and others proposing a creative project for an Artistic Research Fellowship should hold an appropriate degree OR experience in their field.

Folger fellowships are open to scholars of any nationality. The Folger Institute is eligible to sponsor international scholars under the J-1 visa and covers the costs of application for those awarded Folger fellowships.

Researchers may apply for a fellowship as many times as they like but they will only be awarded a maximum of two Folger fellowships per project, and in applying for a second award, they must address progress made and the new aspect of the project for which funding is sought.

Yes. However, you must submit separate applications to meet separate deadlines, and each application must be tailored to the individual fellowship. You will not be awarded multiple fellowships in any one cycle. Please note, if you apply for both a long-term and a short-term fellowship your recommenders will only need to submit letters once. These letters can be carried over to any other applications.

Yes, if the dates of your Folger Fellowship do not overlap with another grant or fellowship period. Folger fellowships are awarded for full-time work during the award period.

No. You do not need to name any fellowship endowments in your application.

Yes, if you are applying for a short-term fellowship (scholarly or artistic) you must indicate the number of months you are applying for (1, 2, or 3 months) and provide a plan of work for both onsite and/or virtual research. Be sure to include reasoning for requesting virtual time.

If you are applying for either our long-term fellowship or long-term public humanities fellowship and want to utilize up to three months of your award virtually, you must also provide reasoning and a plan of work for that virtual period.

The Folger reserves the right to award a different number of months than those applied for.

Yes, however, only the project lead may apply for and receive a fellowship. We do not award multiple fellowships for one project. Please clearly discuss the larger project and your responsibilities as project lead in your application.

The criteria stated in our application guidelines are the criteria set for review. Fellowship awards are determined by a committee made up of invited specialists and the professional staff of the Folger. Membership on the Folger fellowship selection committees changes each year. We seek to establish committees that reflect the disciplinary, geographic, gender, and status diversity of the applicant pool. All committee discussions are confidential. We do not share reviewers’ comments.

All Long-term awards will be announced in early March, followed by short-term awards in mid-April, and artistic awards in late-April.

No! Anyone can use our Ask A Librarian feature. In fact, we encourage prospective fellows to consult our collections prior to applying. Please be mindful of our response times, particularly as we approach application deadlines.

Yes! The Reading Room is open to everyone. Please review our Use the library page for more information.