The Huntington Long- and Short-Term Fellowships

The Huntington Library awards over 150 research fellowships annually. Recipients of all fellowships are expected to be in continuous residence at The Huntington and to participate in, and make a contribution to, its intellectual life. Long-Term Fellows are expected to present at a two-day introductory symposium in September and to participate in weekly working group sessions from October–May.

The Huntington is a collections-based research institute, which promotes humanities scholarship on the basis of its library holdings and art collections. The Library holds more than eleven million items that span the 11th to 21st centuries. Its diverse materials center on fourteen intersecting collection strengths:

• American history
• architecture, landscape design, and planning
• British history
• California
• early printed books
• Hispanic history and culture
• history of science, technology and medicine
• literature in English
• medieval manuscripts
• maps and atlases
• the Pacific Rim
• prints, posters, and ephemera
• photography
• Western American history

The Art Collections feature European and American art spanning more than 500 years, with diverse strengths ranging from Renaissance Italian bronzes to British Grand Manner portrait paintings to early American folk art to twentieth-century drawings, prints, and photography.

In addition to reinterpreting the well-known highlights of our collections, thereby connecting them with new and broader audiences, we aim to inspire future generations of scholars and artists by providing greater access to all of our collections.

Applying for a Fellowship

Long-term fellowship, short-term fellowship, and travel grant applications will be accepted beginning Aug. 31, 2022, with a submission deadline of 11:59 p.m. PST on Nov. 15, 2022.  The fellowship year begins on July 1, 2023, and ends on June 30, 2024.

Applicants for long-term (year-long) fellowships must have completed all requirements for the PhD at the time of application. That is to say, only those who hold a Ph.D. or who have successfully defended a dissertation by the application deadline are eligible. You do not need to have formally graduated to apply. Short-term fellowships (of five months or less) and travel grants/exchange fellowships (for study abroad) are open to both doctoral candidates who have advanced to candidacy (ABD) at the time of the application deadline and to faculty members and other postdoctoral scholars.

Application Guidelines

All of the committees are charged to evaluate applications based on the quality of the proposal and the clarity with which it is conveyed; the significance of the project for research in the humanities or arts; the training and professional experience of the researcher; and the need for access to The Huntington's collections. In general, The Huntington is seeking to fund those candidates who would benefit from working in our collections and who have excellent projects. The committees also bear in mind questions of equity. That is to say, they consider (other things being equal) the diversity and inclusivity of the fellowship cohort; the institutional matrix of the applicant and regular teaching load; and their previous history of fellowship support. The Director of Research chairs all of the peer review committee meetings but does not vote.

Applications are submitted online and include:

• Project description not to exceed 1,500 words, and consisting of two parts: description of the project and its significance (approx. 1,000 words); description of the specific Huntington materials to be consulted and an outline of the plan of work for the fellowship period (approx. 500 words). Applicants for travel grants/exchange fellowships should describe the materials to be consulted abroad. Document should be single-spaced, 11 pt. font (approx. three pages). Footnotes will be included in the word count. The project description will be considered by a panel of scholars from a variety of humanities disciplines and should be written for non-specialists.
• Curriculum vitae of no more than three pages.
• Letters of recommendation: TWO Letters for short-term fellowships and travel grants/exchange fellowships; TWO letters for long-term fellowships. You will be unable to submit your application unless all of your recommenders have uploaded their letters by the deadline. You will be notified by email when each letter has been submitted on your behalf. It is important that you tell your recommenders to submit their letters before the deadline.
• We do not accept letters from your job dossier or from Interfolio Scholar Services. Letters of recommendation must be tailored to your individual application and speak to the relevance of The Huntington’s collections and why they are crucial to your project. The same applies to a travel grant application, in which you will indicate which materials in foreign archives you wish to consult and the relationship between the research to be conducted abroad and research that either has been (or will be) conducted on the basis of The Huntington’s collections.

It is advisable to begin your online application well before the application deadline. You may revise your application at any time until the deadline. For more information, see Fellowship FAQs.

Application Submission Process

1. Create an account
2. Complete online application, upload attachments and submit

Applications will be accepted beginning Aug. 31, 2022, with a submission deadline of 11:59 p.m. PST on Nov. 15, 2022.

Contact the Fellowships and Institutes Administrator, Natalie Serrano, for assistance.