A fellow in his carrel.

Fellowship Eligibility | Deadlines and Dates Other Useful Information

Fellowship Eligibility

Long-term fellowships are restricted to postdoctoral scholars (except the École Nationale des Chartes Exchange Fellowship). Most short-term fellowships are open to PhD candidates and postdoctoral scholars. Scholars whose principal residence or place of employment is within the Chicago area are not eligible for most short-term fellowships.

Review individual long-term and short-term fellowship descriptions for more detailed information, and consider the following key areas of eligibility:

Academic Rank

PhD candidate: eligible for all short-term fellowships except Cappon, IES, and Weinberg fellowships; eligible for the École Nationale des Chartes Exchange Fellowship
Other graduate student (in non-PhD awarding programs): eligible for all short-term fellowships except Cappon, IES, and Weinberg fellowships
Postdoctoral scholar: eligible for all long-term fellowships except the École Nationale des Chartes Exchange Fellowship; eligible for all short-term fellowships except NCAIS graduate student and Lipking fellowships
Tenured scholar: eligible for all long-term fellowships except the École Nationale des Chartes Exchange Fellowship; eligible for all short-term fellowships except NCAIS graduate student, Lipking, Monticello, and Allen fellowships

PhD candidate: A PhD candidate is currently enrolled in a PhD program and has advanced to candidacy through approval of the dissertation proposal; it is equivalent to an “ABD.” If a fellowship requires an applicant to be a PhD candidate, this status must be achieved by the application deadline and maintained in good standing through the tenure of the fellowship. We will not consider applications from those who expect PhD candidacy after the application deadline.

Postdoctoral scholar: A postdoctoral scholar is anyone who has been awarded a PhD. If a fellowship requires an applicant to be postdoctoral, this status must be achieved by the application deadline. We will not consider applications from those who expect PhD completion after the application deadline.

Citizenship / Residency

United States citizen: eligible for all fellowships
Permanent United States resident, for at least 3 continuous years: eligible for all fellowships
Recent United States resident, for less than 3 continuous years: eligible for all fellowships except NEH
Citizen of American Indian heritage: required to be eligible for Power/Tanner and Allen fellowships
Citizen of foreign nation: eligible for all fellowships except NEH
Chicago-area resident: eligible for all long-term fellowships and Power/Tanner, Lipking, Weinberg, and Cappon short-term fellowships; ineligible for other short-term fellowships

Chicago-area Resident: We define the Chicago area as including the Illinois counties Cook, Dekalb, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kankakee, Kendall, Lake, McHenry, Will; Indiana counties Lake, LaPorte, and Porter; and Kenosha County, Wisconsin. Any scholar whose principal residence or place of employment is within these counties is a Chicago-area resident.

Institutional/Organizational Faculty or Student Status

ACM/GLCA faculty: required to be eligible for ACM/GLCA faculty fellowship
IES program faculty: required to be eligible for IES faculty fellowship
École Nationale des Chartes student, faculty, or alumnus: required to be eligible for the Newberry residency of the Newberry-École Nationale exchange fellowship
NCAIS university faculty: required to be eligible for NCAIS faculty fellowship
NCAIS university graduate student: required to be eligible for NCAIS graduate student fellowship
NLUS university faculty: required to be eligible for NLUS faculty fellowship
Northwestern University graduate student: required to be eligible for Lipking fellowship
Oberlin College faculty: required to be eligible for Stern fellowship

Organizational Membership

Membership in good standing at time of application and throughout the fellowship period is required by each of the following organizations in order to be eligible for their respective short-term fellowships:

American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (ASECS) Fellowship
Midwest Modern Language Association (MMLA) Fellowship
Northeast Modern Language Association (NeMLA) Fellowship
The Renaissance Society of America (RSA) Fellowship
Sixteenth Century Society and Conference (SCSC) Fellowship

Unaffiliated Status

Independent scholar (no institutional academic affiliation): required to be eligible for Weinberg fellowship

Gender

Female: required to be eligible for Monticello and Allen fellowships

Former Newberry Fellows

Scholars who have received a short-term fellowship are eligible for a long-term fellowship for the same project but are ineligible for a second short-term fellowship for the same project. The Newberry will not award a second fellowship, either short- or long-term, for a project that already has received a long-term Newberry fellowship.

Applying for Multiple Fellowships in One Fellowship Year

We require a single application for multiple long-term fellowships or for multiple short-term fellowships. However, those applying for both long- and short-term fellowships must submit two separate, complete applications.

To apply for multiple fellowships of the same term length, use the cover form to select all fellowships for which you wish to be considered. Applicants may use the same Abstract and Project Description for long- and short-term fellowships; however, application essays tailored to the specific criteria of each term length tend to be more successful.

Individuals may accept only one fellowship per fellowship year.

Fellowship Residency

With the exception of our exchange fellowships and NCAIS graduate fellowships, all Newberry fellowships are residential and continuous. Fellows must work at the library full-time throughout the tenure of the fellowship, without major interruptions.

The Newberry does not award scholarships to other institutions. Lawrence Lipking Fellows receive a stipend plus tuition at Northwestern University but must take up residency at the Newberry. No other tuition assistance is available, and none of the Newberry’s fellowship awards support undergraduate studies.

Deadlines and Dates for the 2013–14 Academic Year

The Newberry begins accepting applications on September 1, 2012.

Fellowship Application Deadlines

Long-term: December 1, 2012 (unless otherwise noted)
Short-term: January 15, 2013 (unless otherwise noted)

We will not consider applications for terms beyond the coming academic year.

Award Status Notifications

Long-term: notified by mid-March.
Short-term: notified by the end of May

Term of Residency

Fellowships awarded for the 2013–14 academic year must begin after July 1, 2013 and should be completed June 30, 2014.

Other Useful Information

Application Review

The Newberry considers three primary criteria:

The significance of the proposed project
The applicant’s ability to complete the proposed project
The appropriateness of the proposed project to the Newberry’s collection

For short-term awards, criterion three takes on added significance. The Newberry collection must be necessary to a short-term fellowship project since these fellowships are intended to enable individuals to have access to the Newberry collection.

Applications will be read by an interdisciplinary committee of scholars who will evaluate projects in a broad range of fields and periods; this committee might not include a scholar familiar with any particular applicant’s field. The most successful application is usually that which articulates the project in terms that are clear to non-specialists, including why the project may be significant to those outside the field.

The Newberry Collection

The Newberry’s Core Collection concerns the civilizations of Western Europe and the Americas from the late Middle Ages to the twenty-first century. Particular collection strengths include:

For further information about specific collections or how one might pursue a particular topic in the collection, contact the Reference Desk at reference@newberry.org or (312) 255-3506. Reference requests are filled in the order in which they are received. Responses may take 4-6 weeks, depending on the number of requests pending and the nature of the request.

Miscellaneous

Newberry Research outside of the fellowship program

Everyone is welcome to use the Newberry’s collection and to visit our exhibits during public hours. The Newberry is free and open to anyone over the age of 16.

Paper Submissions

The Newberry requires that all application materials be submitted electronically. If this requirement will cause an applicant or referee an undue hardship, the applicant may contact the Office of Research and Academic Programs at research@newberry.org or (312)-255-3666 to make other arrangements for applying.

Housing for fellows

Fellows arrange for their own housing. For more information regarding neighborhood apartment, hotels, and other housing and Newberry discounts, see Accommodations and Dining and More Housing Options for Fellows and Visitors.

Foreign Visas

The Newberry is authorized by the Department of State to issue DS-2019 forms that can be used by foreign scholars to secure J-1 visas for the period of their research. The Newberry cannot provide any additional funding for visa fees.

Learn More about the Newberry

Explore the Newberry website, including Programs and Events, the Calendar, Core Collection, and Research Centers; email questions to research@newberry.org.

Eligibility and Application Information