Opportunities

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). Applicants of all nationalities, however, will be considered for long-term fellowships; 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.  PhD candidates are welcome to apply for long-term fellowships if all degree requirements, including the successful defense of their dissertation, have been met by the application deadline. Long-Term Fellowships are available for periods of five to ten months and carry a monthly stipend of $5,000.  Long-term fellowships must be residential. The application for a long-term fellowship at the John Carter Brown Library is due December 16, 2024.  Fellowships awarded for the 2025-2026 cohort are to be completed between July 1, 2025 and June 30, 2026.

Apply Here

The John Carter Brown Library supports scholarship centered on the history of the colonial Americas, North and South, including all aspects of African, European, and Native American engagements in both 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.  Short-term fellowships are available for periods of two to four consecutive months and carry a stipend of $2,500 per month. The JCB supports both residential and remote Short-term fellowships.  The application for a short-term fellowship at the John Carter Brown Library is due December 16, 2024. Fellowships awarded for the 2025-2026 cohort are to be completed between July 1, 2025 and June 30, 2026.

Apply Here

The John Carter Brown (JCB) Library, located on the campus of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, stewards a research collection focused on the histories and cultures of the Early Americas. The Library is free and open to the public with appointments required for research visits, and operates a robust fellowship program to support researchers across myriad research topics. The JCB invites tribal communities and community members to apply to its Research Fellowship for Indigenous Communities. This fellowship supports community-prioritized and community-based research that would benefit from research time in the JCB’s collections, that could  be undertaken, for example, by Native or Indigenous scholars, Elders, Tribal librarians or archivists, and knowledge keepers. 

Individual scholars may apply but must include a letter of support from the tribal community that will benefit from their research.  Researchers do not need to have an academic affiliation or academic background to apply. Fellowship funding supports the JCB’s commitment to knowledge sharing and digital and on-site access to its collection of materials focused on the history of the western hemisphere from the 15th through the 19th centuries.

The Fellowship is available for periods of two to four months and includes a stipend of $2,500 per month. The JCB supports both residential and remote fellowships. Applications for this fellowship are accepted and awarded on a rolling basis.

A letter of support must come from a representative of the community that will directly benefit from the research project. The letter should include a description of researcher’s experience and interest in undertaking this work on behalf of the community.

Awards are open to U.S. citizens and foreign nationals who hold the necessary U.S. government documents. Successful proposals will require the use of materials available only at the JCB.

Apply- Indigenous Communities

The John Carter Brown Library (JCB) and the Ruth J. Simmons Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice at Brown University (Simmons Center) invite applications for a postdoctoral fellowship focused on any area/theme of historical scholarship around African racial slavery, and/ or Indigenous dispossession and slavery. The fellowship is also open to scholars working on the relationships between African slavery and Indigenous slavery and dispossession as well as related issues of freedom and sovereignty. Combining the mission and resources of the Simmons Center and the JCB, we expect to support a single fellow doing advanced research for a year (12 months) in residence beginning July 2025. The Simmons Center-JCB postdoctoral fellowship is expected to be offered annually in recognition of our collective commitment to advance scholarship in critical areas. Applications representing a wide range of disciplinary perspectives are welcome.
The position salary is $72,000, includes benefits and a modest research account.

Applicants must have completed doctoral work by the time of application and should expect to submit a letter of application explaining how the combined resources of the Simmons Center and the JCB would provide particular and distinctive support to the applicants’ research. Fellows will be asked to participate in the intellectual community at Brown, in and through the Simmons Center and the JCB, to include an opportunity to share their research at a jointly sponsored event.

Apply Here 

Applications received by January 15, 2025 will receive full consideration. 

The J. M. Stuart Graduate 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.  Time contributed to work on the Library project, which is a requirement of the fellowship, should average around one day/week.  

Please note that the deadline for the 2024-2025 J.M. Stuart Graduate Fellowship has passed.   The 2025/26 application will be available soon.

The John Carter Brown Library invites eligible Brown University junior faculty to apply for fellowship support to augment a sabbatical. Fellows will receive a one semester leave on special assignment, at full salary and benefits, to extend their sabbatical from one semester to a full year. 
The John Carter Brown Library is an independent research library focused on the early Americas located on the campus of Brown University. The JCB's collection of more than 50,000 rare books, maps and manuscripts encompasses more than two hundred languages and spans over three centuries of early American history.  The Library’s collections are particularly well suited to a wide range of research interests in the African, Indigenous and European peoples of the early Americas.  

The JCB regularly welcomes dozens of short and long-term fellows from around the world as well as fellows who join us remotely, a practice we initiated under pandemic. The JCB faculty research support fellow will be expected to primarily reside locally, and to participate regularly in the intellectual life of the Library, including seminars and workshops, and to share their own research at a sponsored event.

Only Brown University untenured assistant professors who qualify for a one semester junior sabbatical are eligible for the JCB Brown Faculty Support 2024-2025.  For questions please contact Karin Wulf (karin_wulf@brown.edu).

Applicants should send a letter of interest describing how their research project for 2024-25 will rely on the JCB’s distinctive collections as well as an updated CV and two letters of recommendation, one from within Brown. Applications may be submitted via Interfolio. 

Please note that the deadline for the 2024-2025 Brown faculty opportunities has passed. The 2025/26 application will be available soon.