Readers use the Reading Room at Houghton Library, ca. 2017.
We are excited to announce that we are now accepting applications for the 2020–2021 Houghton Library Visiting Fellowship Program, which offers funding to scholars at all stages of their careers so they may pursue projects that require in-depth research on the library’s holdings, draw on staff expertise, and participate in intellectual life at Harvard. Visiting Fellows also have access to other Harvard libraries, as well as opportunities to promote their research through Houghton publications (such as this blog and Harvard Library Bulletin) and other scholarly and public programs. Fellows receive a $3,600 stipend and are expected to be in residence at Houghton for at least four weeks within their fellowship year (September 2020–June 2021), though these do not have to be consecutive weeks.
Portraits from Historia aethiopica, sive Brevis & succincta descriptio regni Habbessinorum (1691, Afr 4556.81.2); Letters of the late Ignatius Sancho (1782, Typ 705.82.768); Monsieur de St George (1788, FB7.Sa232.P788w); Phillis Wheatley, Poems on various subjects, religious and moral (1773, *AC7.W5602.773p [A]).
In particular, we want to highlight two recent additions to our fellowship program: the Maryette Charlton Fellowship for the Performing Arts to assist scholarly research on gender and sexuality in the performing arts, and the Donald and Mary Hyde Fellowship for Research in Early Modern Black Lives, including Africa and the African Diaspora, 1500–1800. In connection with the Hyde Research Fellowship, we are also interested in proposals for research in Houghton collections to support a future exhibition on early modern portraiture of people of color. Interested applicants should discuss their expertise in the subject and strategies for identifying such material in our collections.
The application deadline is Friday, January 17, 2020. Please visit our Fellowship Opportunities page for more information and application instructions, and our submission page to apply.