Opportunities

Sponsorship of research at the John Carter Brown Library is reserved exclusively for scholars whose work is centered on the colonial history of the Americas, North and South, including all aspects of European, African, and Native American engagements in 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. Graduate students must have passed their preliminary or general examinations by the application deadline of December 1, 2019. Short-term fellowships are available for periods of two to four months and carry a stipend of $2,100 per month.

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). 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. Applicants of all nationalities, however, will be considered for long-term fellowships. PhD candidates are welcome to apply for long-term fellowships only if all degree requirements, including the successful defense of their dissertation, have been met by the application deadline of December 1, 2019. Long-Term Fellowships are available for periods of five to ten months and carry a monthly stipend of $4,200.

As part of a new initiative in the history of Africa, Africans in the Americas, and the history of slavery and the slave trade in the early modern world, we invite applications for short-term fellowships in 2020-2021 specific to the Library's African Americas Initiative. Fellowships supported by this initiative will draw attention to the JCB's significant archive of materials related to the history of Africans and their social, cultural, and intellectual legacies in the New World. The Library aims to award three to six of these dedicated short-term fellowships annually for the next several years. Applicants for this fellowship should follow the application instructions for short-term fellowships. Find out more about this initiative here. 

As part of an effort to expand the disciplinary scope of research at the Library, and to emphasize the role of the JCB as a laboratory for new research methods, the fellowship committee encourages applications from small groups of between two to four scholars who would be in simultaneous residence for periods of up to one month to work in collaboration on a particular theme, object, or scholarly project. The fellowship carries a weekly stipend of $500 per person.

The Hodson Trust –John Carter Brown Library Fellowship supports work by academics, independent scholars and writers working on significant projects relating to the literature, history, culture, or art of the Americas before 1830. Candidates with a U.S. history topic are strongly encouraged to concentrate on the period prior to 1801. The fellowship is also open to filmmakers, novelists, creative and performing artists, and others working on projects that draw on this period of history.

The four month fellowship is divided into two parts – two months of research at the John Carter Brown Library during the academic year and two months of writing at the C.V. Starr Center at Washington College in Chestertown, MD during the following summer. The stipend is $5,000 per month for a total of $20,000, plus housing and university privileges.

The J. M. Stuart 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. He or she is provided with work space in the Library. Time contributed to work on the Library project, which is a requirement of the fellowship, should average around one day/week.

The Interdisciplinary Opportunities Fellowship is open to Brown Ph.D. students in the humanities and social sciences who will be entering their 5th or 6th year of doctoral study in 2020-2021. The fellowship is open to students 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. While primarily engaged in dissertation research, fellows are expected to collaborate closely with leading curatorial experts on a Library project about one day per week and be active and engaged members of the international community of scholars in residence at the Library.