Apply Now for Winterthur Research Fellowships | Remote, Residential, and Hybrid Options

Julia Hamer-Light Discussion
 
Winterthur Research Fellowships
Now Accepting Applications for 2021–2022 Fellowships
Winterthur invites scholars, graduate students, artists, and craftspeople to begin brainstorming and planning projects for application to the 2021–2022 Research Fellowship Program at Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library.
The health and safety of our community is of utmost importance. Winterthur is closely following the guidelines from local, state, and federal authorities to comply with best public health practices to safely welcome researchers. Our Fellowship Program continues this cycle by offering residential, remote, and hybrid options. Please see below for more details.
A research fellowship at Winterthur offers unparalleled access to a wealth of museum, garden, and library collections supporting material culture research. As an interdisciplinary center for collections-based scholarship and conservation, Winterthur encourages researchers to explore and immerse themselves in holistic and intimate inquiry from a wide range of disciplines. We enthusiastically welcome researchers from underrepresented communities including, but not limited to Black, Indigenous, and People of Color as well as scholars who bring critical perspectives to collections research.
Why Winterthur? You'll Find Inspiration in...
Unparalleled Collections:
Printed and rare books, manuscripts and ephemera, images, and museum and garden collections.
A Broad Range of Scholarly Topics and Academic Disciplines:
We welcome new and critical approaches to a broad range of scholarly topics, including: material culture studies, social and cultural history, social justice, museum practice, art history, literary studies, American studies, design history, the decorative arts, landscape architecture and design, consumer culture, and conservation studies covering global topics from the 17th to the 20th centuries. We also support fellowships designed for artists, writers, filmmakers, horticulturalists, craftspeople, and others who wish to examine, study, and immerse themselves in Winterthur’s vast collections in order to inspire creative and artistic works for general audiences.
In other words, what do you hope to do and how can Winterthur’s resources help you achieve your goals? Your creativity and imagination are welcomed. 
A Dedicated and Inclusive Community:
The Winterthur Research Fellowship Program community of students, curators, conservators, librarians, and scholars is dedicated to creating a safe, socially just, and collaborative scholarly environment for our fellows. This includes, but is not limited to: engaging in actions to support BIPOC scholars, creating a harassment-free environment, acknowledging and actively combatting systemic racism and inequality inherent in cultural heritage and academia, and fostering an environment that welcomes sustained and sustainable efforts to support robust scholarly and professional discourse. We welcome engagement with difficult topics, practiced with respect and care, in service of these goals.
A Material Culture Perspective:
Experience gained in seeking new knowledge from the study of the material world.

Fellowships Offered
Academic, independent, and museum scholars as well as advanced graduate students are invited to apply for short-term (two- to six-week) and long-term (four- to eight-month) residential, remote, and hybrid research fellowships that can be used between June 1, 2021, and August 31, 2022.
Fellowships include a 4-month postdoctoral fellowship, 1–2 semester dissertation fellowships, and 1–3 month short-term fellowships. And we are proud to announce our National Endowment for the Humanities 4-month postdoctoral fellowship.
Winterthur continues this year to invite applications for short-term Maker-Creator Fellowships. These fellowships are designed for artists, writers, filmmakers, horticulturists, craftspeople, and others who wish to examine, study, and immerse themselves in Winterthur’s vast collections in order to inspire creative and artistic works.
Fellows have full access to the library collections, including more than 87,000 volumes and one-half million manuscripts and images, searchable online. Resources for the 17th to the early 20th centuries include printed and rare books, manuscripts, period trade catalogues, auction and exhibition catalogues, printed ephemera, and an extensive reference photograph collection of decorative arts. Fellows may conduct object-based research in the museum collection, which includes 90,000 artifacts and works of art made or used in America from about 1600 to 1860, with a strong emphasis on domestic life. Winterthur also supports a program of scholarly publications including Winterthur Portfolio: A Journal of American Material Culture.

Remote Fellowships Available!
In response to the COVID-19 crisis, we created a remote fellowship option to accommodate off-site work. We understand that personal and professional obligations, limits to budgets and time, and other factors create significant challenges to travel and residential work. We are happy to discuss with you the possibility of remote and hybrid options if you are awarded a fellowship. Remote options are offered for researchers in all categories. 
 

 
What does a remote fellowship include?

– Digital access to Winterthur’s museum, garden, and library collections.
– Virtual access to staff support and project consultations.
– Remote opportunities to present and publish scholarship.
– Virtual opportunities to inte
ract with Winterthur’s Research Fellow community including current, former, and prospective fellows, and Winterthur graduate students, faculty, and staff.

If you have any questions, please contact program staff.
 

 
Fellowship applications are due January 15, 2021.

Click here to learn more or apply today!