Folger Institute Fellowships

Folger Institute fellowships support individual research, scholarly and artistic, that expands understanding of the early modern world. The Institute describes its fellows as sharing interests in the history and literature, art and performance, philosophy, religion and politics of that world, and it puts them in direct contact with rare books, manuscripts, art, costumes, periodicals and prints, many of which are also available digitally.

Fellows work within a multidisciplinary community of researchers, with guidance from professional staff. The Institute says it values research that grapples with difficult historical questions and pays attention to what primary sources leave out, as well as what they say.

Long-term scholarly fellowships last nine months, paying 70,000 US dollars, or five months, paying 35,000, for the 2027-2028 year. Year-long fellows can take up to three months virtually and semester-long fellows one month. Long-term public humanities fellowships last nine months and support research together with a public humanities project for Folger audiences; they do not require a doctorate.

Short-term scholarly fellowships last one, two or three months and pay 5,000 dollars a month in residence or 4,000 a month virtually; they can be held fully on site, fully online or as a mix. Artistic research fellowships follow the same pattern for visual, performance and sonic artists, writers, filmmakers, poets, chefs, theatre-makers and others whose work draws on the early modern world. A Books in Progress fellowship is a two-day spring workshop for early career scholars with a complete draft of a book manuscript and no institutional support for reviewing it.

Fellowships are open to scholars of any nationality, and the Institute can sponsor international fellows on a J-1 visa and covers the cost of that application. Long-term scholarly applicants must hold a PhD or other terminal degree by the time the fellowship begins. Short-term fellowships are open to PhD holders and to doctoral candidates who are all but dissertation.

Artistic applicants, including archivists, curators, dramaturgs, librarians, performers and playwrights, need an appropriate degree or experience in their field. Graduate students who are not yet ABD are pointed to the Institute's scholarly programmes instead.

The virtual option was designed for people who cannot travel or commit to a long residence. Virtual months can buy time to write, access to digital resources, reproduction and permission fees for images of rare materials, or relief from summer or adjunct teaching, and the funds can also pay for childcare so that research can go ahead.