Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives Fellowship Program

The Fellowship Program of The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives was established in 1977 by our institution's founder, the late Dr. Jacob Rader Marcus. Since its inception, more than 500 scholars from over 20 countries have been named Marcus Center Fellows.

The Marcus Center's Fellowship Program was founded with the intent of creating a forum where students and scholars of the American Jewish experience could gather together to research, discuss, and study their chosen topics. Under the auspices of this unique program, scholars come to Cincinnati to conduct in-depth research at the American Jewish Archives and to take part in the academic community of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. The program provides fellows with an opportunity not only to pursue their own research, but also to interact and exchange ideas with research peers as well as with the faculty and students of HUC-JIR.

Today, The Marcus Center administers fifteen endowed fellowships, all funded by generous friends and supporters of the American Jewish Archives. Marcus Center fellows are teachers, students, scholars, and practitioners who, both individually and as a group, come to the American Jewish Archives to study some aspect of the American Jewish past. It is The Marcus Center's hope that this Fellowship Program will advance our understanding of American Jewish history and, simultaneously, of the American nation as a whole.

Call for Applications

The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives is pleased to invite applications to its annual Fellowship Program for the 2024-2025 academic year. The Marcus Center's Fellowship Program provides recipients with month long fellowships for research and writing at The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives, located on the Cincinnati campus of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. Fellowship stipends will be sufficient to supplement transportation and living expenses while in residence in Cincinnati.

Applicants for the Marcus Center Fellowship Program must be conducting serious research in some area relating to the history of North American Jewry. Typically, Marcus Center Fellowships will be awarded to post-doctoral candidates, Ph.D. candidates who are completing dissertations, and senior or independent scholars.

Applicants must submit a fellowship application (see below) together with a five-page (maximum) research proposal that outlines the scope of their project and lists those collections at the American Jewish Archives that are crucial to their research. Applicants should also submit two letters of support, preferably from academic colleagues. Please note that former AJA fellows need only submit one letter of recommendation that speaks to the significance of their research project. For graduate and doctoral students, one of these two letters must be from their dissertation advisor.

Download a fellowship application or request to have one sent via postal mail. The submission deadline for applications is no later than February 20, 2024. All inquiries and application materials should be forwarded to:

Dr. Dana Herman
Director of the Fellowship Program
c/o The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives
3101 Clifton Avenue
Cincinnati, Ohio 45220-2408
Phone: (513) 487-3069
Fax: (513) 221-7812
Email: dherman@huc.edu