Apply for a Fellowship

Application Guidelines

Short-term fellowship applications must received by February 6, 2012. This includes the applicant’s own materials and also all letters of reference. Electronic submissions must arrive by 11:59 pm. Paper submissions must be postmarked no later than the deadline.

Please Note:

The review committee will not accept applications which include any materials in excess of the five main parts described in detail below. Excessive materials include but are not limited to:

  • Personal cover letter
  • Audio-visual materials
  • Images (either embedded or in appendices)
  • Abstract or project description exceeding the word limit
  • Appendices/bibliography exceeding the word limit

Please Note:

Due to the large volume of materials we receive, we cannot accept re-submissions of materials. Once an application or letter has been received, we will not accept an additional, revised document.

See Application FAQs for additional support on the application process. Unless otherwise specified in the fellowships descriptions, applications consist of five elements:

  1. The Cover Sheet of basic personal and professional information. Scholars applying for both long and short-term fellowships must submit their application with both the long-term and the short-term cover sheets.
  2. A Project Abstract of no more than 300 words. The abstract must be able to communicate the significance of the project to reviewers who are humanities scholars but may not be specialists in the area of inquiry.
  3. A Project Description of no more than 1,500 words. This is the most important part of the application. It should consist of two parts, divided approximately as follows:
    • Description of the project and its significance (approximately 1,000 words). When appropriate, please make specific reference to previously published scholarship that will be revised or supplanted by the proposed project.
    • Description of the Newberry materials to be consulted (please be as specific as possible) and an outline of the plan of work for the fellowship period (totaling approximately 500 words). Applicants for exchange fellowships must follow the specific instructions for those fellowships included in the descriptions of those awards.
  4. A current Curriculum Vitae (CV) of no more than ten pages. Avoid submitting a bulky and difficult-to-read document. Please list manuscript pages or word counts for forthcoming publications and use the following commonly-accepted terms to describe them:
    “in progress” (not yet completed or submitted)
    “submitted” (currently under review at a journal or press)
    “accepted” (publisher committed to publication; currently under revision)
    “in press” (in the hands of copy editor, typesetter, or printer)
  5. Three Letters of Reference. Letters should speak to the proposed project as well as to the talents and qualifications of the applicant. Please send your referees a copy of your project description and remind them of the application deadline. Letters that speak of the project the applicant proposes to carry out at the Newberry in specific terms are more effective than general letters from a dossier. We prefer that letters be submitted electronically. Letters must come directly from the letter writer, not from the applicant. The letters should be written in English. See below for specific instructions.
     
    École Nationale des Chartes Fellowship applicants must submit a fourth letter from their university certifying French language fluency. Lipking-Newberry Fellowship applicants need to submit only one letter of reference.

Instructions for Submitting Applications

Applicants must compile their applications electronically and submit them as e-mail attachments.

Please note that the Newberry e-mail server cannot accept attachments larger than 10 MB. If this presents a problem, please call the Office of Research and Academic Programs at (312) 255-3666 to make other arrangements.

  1. Download the appropriate cover sheet (see below). Fill in the shaded form fields using a word processing application.
  2. Attach the following documents to an e-mail using these corresponding file names:
    • Cover Sheet  
    • Project Abstract  
    • Project Description  
    • CV

    Please submit these as four separate documents. The Project Abstract, Project Description, and CV may be submitted as Word attachments. PDFs are preferred but not required.

  3. Send the e-mail to research@newberry.org with subject line: “[Applicant’s Last Name] Fellowship Application” and specify “ST” for short-term or “LT” for long-term.
  4. Contact referees regarding letters of reference. We prefer that referees send their letters electronically as attachments to research@newberry.org with subject line: “[Applicant’s Last Name] Fellowship Reference.” In cases where referees are not able to send electronic copies, paper copies will be accepted. If referees are sending paper copies, make sure they know all deadlines are post-mark deadlines. (Referees sending electronic letters need not send hard copies.)

    Due to the large volume of applications we receive, we cannot promise to notify applicants about missing letters. Applicants are responsible for making sure that their referees submit their letters on time and should contact research@newberry.org to confirm receipt.

  5. We will acknowledge receipt of all applications via e-mail. If we do not respond within three business days of receiving the application, please contact us at research@newberry.org or (312) 255-3666. Applications must be postmarked by the deadlines listed.

Forms for 2012–13 Fellowships

Application forms for 2012–13 fellowships are available online as Microsoft Word documents. Please let us know if there is any trouble downloading them in this format.

The cover sheets may be filled out at a computer. On these forms, position the cursor over a fill-in area or element. A black box will appear. Enter the appropriate data in each box or field. Please use clear abbreviations in order to ensure that all important information is visible.