Available Fellowships

Long-Term Awards | Short-Term Awards | Travel Grants and Exchange Fellowships

Long-Term Awards

The Huntington offers 14 long-term fellowships for nine to 12 months in residence, each with a stipend of $50,000. Although nine of these are open to scholars working on projects in any area where The Huntington’s collections are strong, there are specific awards for maritime history (the Kemble Fellowship), the history of medicine (the Molina Fellowship), and the history of science (the Dibner Fellowship). Three awards (the Thom Fellowships) are reserved for recent postdoctoral scholars.

Long-term fellows are expected to be in continuous residence at The Huntington, present at a two-day introductory symposium in September, and participate in weekly working group sessions from October to May.

Octavia E. Butler Fellowship
Eligibility: Only those who hold a Ph.D. or who have successfully defended a dissertation by the application deadline are eligible.
Tenure of fellowship: Between nine and 12 months
Value of award: $50,000

The Huntington is the repository of the literary archive of Octavia E. Butler (1947–2006), the first science fiction writer to receive a prestigious MacArthur Fellowship and the first African American woman to win widespread recognition writing in that genre. Applicants may be working from a variety of disciplinary perspectives on the ideas and issues explored by Butler in her published works, ranging from speculative fiction to Afrofuturism to environmental studies and biotechnology, but preference may be given to candidates who intend to make extensive use of the Butler archive during their residency.

Dibner Fellowship in the History of Science and Technology
Eligibility: Only those who hold a Ph.D. or who have successfully defended a dissertation by the application deadline are eligible.
Tenure of fellowship: Between nine and 12 months
Value of award: $50,000

Applicants must be pursuing scholarship in a field appropriate to The Huntington’s collections in the history of science and technology.

Dana and David Dornsife Fellowship
Eligibility: Only those who hold a Ph.D. or who have successfully defended a dissertation by the application deadline are eligible.
Tenure of fellowship: Between nine and 12 months
Value of award: $50,000

Applicants must be pursuing scholarship in a field appropriate to The Huntington’s collections. Preference may be given to projects in the history of the American West in general and of California in particular.

Kemble Fellowship in Maritime History
Eligibility: Only those who hold a Ph.D. or who have successfully defended a dissertation by the application deadline are eligible.
Tenure of fellowship: Between nine and 12 months
Value of award: $50,000

Applicants must be pursuing scholarship in a field appropriate to The Huntington’s collections in maritime history. Relevant fields might include the history of oceans and oceanography, coastlines and littorals, and global trade and migration.

Mellon Fellowship
Eligibility: Only those who hold a Ph.D. or who have successfully defended a dissertation by the application deadline are eligible.
Tenure of fellowship: Between nine and 12 months
Value of award: $50,000

Applicants must be pursuing scholarship in a field appropriate to The Huntington’s collections.

Molina Fellowship in the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences
Eligibility: Only those who hold a Ph.D. or who have successfully defended a dissertation by the application deadline are eligible.
Tenure of fellowship: Between nine and 12 months
Value of award: $50,000

Applicants must be pursuing scholarship in a field appropriate to The Huntington’s collections in the history of medicine and related sciences, including public health.

National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowships
Eligibility: Only those who hold a Ph.D. or who have successfully defended a dissertation by the application deadline are eligible. Applicants must be citizens of the United States or foreign nationals with a minimum of three years of U.S. residence.
Tenure of fellowship: Between nine and 12 months
Value of award: $50,000 ($4,200 per month from the NEH, the balance of the stipend from Huntington funds)

Applicants must be pursuing scholarship in a field appropriate to The Huntington’s collections.

Barbara Thom Postdoctoral Fellowships
Eligibility: Nontenured faculty
Tenure of fellowship: Between nine and 12 months
Value of award: $50,000

The Thom Fellowships are intended to support nontenured faculty who are revising their dissertation for publication as their first monograph. Applicants must be pursuing scholarship in a field appropriate to The Huntington’s collections and must have received the Ph.D. between Jan. 1, 2018, and Dec. 31, 2020.


Short-Term Awards

Approximately 140 short-term fellowships are available for one to five months in residence and carry monthly stipends of $3,500. They are open to scholars in any field where The Huntington’s collections are strong.

Eligibility: Doctoral candidates who have advanced to candidacy (ABD) at the time of the application deadline, faculty members, and other postdoctoral scholars.
Tenure of fellowship: Between one and five months
Value of award: $3,500 per month

Note: The majority of Huntington fellowships will be awarded to scholars pursuing scholarship in a field appropriate to The Huntington’s collections. We do, however, offer a number of specialized fellowships, which include (but are not limited to):

The Alan Jutzi Residential Fellowship for Non-Traditional Scholars
The Alan Jutzi Fellowship for Non-Traditional Scholars honors a former curator’s long service to the intellectual needs of researchers regardless of academic pedigree. The Alan Jutzi Fellowship will provide up to two months of annual research support to independent scholars who are neither affiliated with nor retired from an academic institution. In keeping with Alan Jutzi’s breadth of interests, ideal candidates will include writers, journalists, urban and city planners, architects, collectors, designers, curators, librarians, and others outside the academy. All applicants must demonstrate by competitive application and through appropriate selection criteria that research at The Huntington is critical to their project.

The Huntington Fellowship in the Materiality of Print Culture
This newly created fellowship in the materiality of print culture provides one month of support for research in any aspect of printing history, book production, or illustration technologies, including photography. Applications are welcomed from those inside and outside the academy but are especially encouraged from librarians, curators, conservators, and advanced practitioners of any of the allied arts of printing, printmaking, photography, graphic design, and book production. Applicants must have a focused research project that centers on some material aspect of print culture and must demonstrate how research in The Huntington’s Library collections is critical to its development.

The Thomas W. Wilkins Fellowship to encourage greater diversity among the scholars who use The Huntington’s collections
The Thomas W. Wilkins Fellowship honors the memory and vision of a middle school teacher and proud Angeleno who left a legacy that would benefit the diverse city he loved so much. The Thomas W. Wilkins Fellowship provides up to two months of annual research support for scholars who have the potential to bring to their academic and research careers the critical perspective that comes from their understanding of the experiences of members of groups historically underrepresented in higher education in the United States. The contributions to diversity may include research focusing on underserved populations or understanding inequalities related to race, gender, disability, or LGBTQ issues. Applicants must either hold a Ph.D. or be graduate students advanced to doctoral candidacy.

The Howard and Dawn Weinbrot Research Fellowship for the Study of Eighteenth-Century British Society and Culture
The Howard and Dawn Weinbrot Research Fellowship for the Study of Eighteenth-Century British Society and Culture provides one month of support for research in politics, literature, religion, and art, among other germane 18th-century topics. To be eligible, fellowship recipients must be members of or agree to join the American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies. All applicants must demonstrate by competitive application and through appropriate selection criteria that research at The Huntington is critical to their project. Applicants must either hold a Ph.D. or be graduate students advanced to doctoral candidacy.


Travel Grants and Exchange Fellowships for Study Abroad

Six travel grants for study abroad are available in any of the fields in which The Huntington’s own collections are strong and where the research will be carried out in libraries or archives outside of the United States or Canada, especially those in the United Kingdom, continental Europe, or Latin America.

We also offer nine exchange fellowships with Corpus Christi, Jesus, Linacre, Lincoln, and New Colleges, Oxford; Trinity Hall, Cambridge; Trinity College Dublin/Marsh’s Library; the University of Durham; and the John Rylands Research Institute and Library at the University of Manchester (funding available starting Aug. 22). The intention is to encourage projects that can be developed both in The Huntington’s collections and in archives across the world.

Eligibility for Travel Grants and Exchange Fellowships: Doctoral candidates who have advanced to candidacy (ABD) at the time of the application deadline, faculty members, and other postdoctoral scholars. Applicants must be based in North America.
Tenure of travel grants and exchange fellowships: One month

Travel Grants
Recipients of the travel grants must be conducting research in a library or archive abroad in any of the fields in which Huntington collections are strong. The Huntington will reimburse the grantee for economy round-trip airfare before the trip. A stipend of $3,500 will be paid after the grantee submits a detailed report on the research conducted. The travel grants can be taken up as early as July 1, 2023, and no later than June 30, 2024.

Exchange Fellowships
Accommodation and hospitality are provided by the U.K. or Irish college or university, although the timing of the fellowship may be subject to the availability of housing and to the schedule of the academic year in each institution. The Huntington will reimburse the fellow for economy round-trip airfare. The fellow must provide a written report on his or her experience. Exchange fellowships can begin as early as July 1, 2023, and no later than June 30, 2024.

The following fellowships operate on a different funding model:

Linacre College, Oxford
A stipend of $3,500 is provided by The Huntington to the recipient of the fellowship before traveling to England, along with reimbursement for economy round-trip airfare. Accommodation is arranged by the college, although the fellow is responsible for all associated costs. The fellowship should ideally begin during July 2023. The fellow must provide a written report on his or her experience.

University of Durham (Residential Research Library)
A stipend of £1,800 (GBP) is provided by the University of Durham. Self-catered en suite study bedrooms at Ushaw College (3.5 miles from Durham city center) will be available at a competitive rate. The Huntington will reimburse economy round-trip airfare. The fellowship is designed to facilitate scholarship on the basis of the three historic collections of Durham: those held by Durham Cathedral, Ushaw College, and Durham University, including Palace Green Library and the Oriental Museum. The fellow must provide a written report on his or her experience.

The Huntington offers several joint professorships and collaborative fellowships with other institutions and organizations. See Joint Professorships/Collaborative Fellowships for more information.