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San Marino, CA 91108
Awarding of a fellowship does NOT guarantee availability or access to all materials referenced in your application. Curatorial approval is required to consult restricted materials, and you may be asked to view digital surrogates. Examples include medieval manuscripts; certain early printed books and manuscripts; and other fragile, oversize, or unique items. Laws or agreements may dictate how certain materials in our collections may be accessed. Collections that are closed are not available to readers until they have been fully processed. If you have questions about restricted or closed statuses, please contact reference@huntington.org.
Typically, the peer review committees will award 14 long-term fellowships: 11-13 academic year (9 months) and 2-4 academic term (4-5 months); 140 short-term (one to three month) fellowships; 6 travel grants and 9 exchange fellowships.
Historically, applicants in the long-term fellowship competition have had a 10-13% chance of being awarded a fellowship, while applicants for short-term fellowships had a 35-40% chance of success. Of those who applied for travel grants and exchange fellowships, approximately 35% were successful.
No. You should ask for the number of months you think you will need. The Huntington’s curatorial staff will review all of the applications and offer their advice on the number of months needed based on the material specified in the proposal. These notes will be available to the peer review committees during their meetings and may affect their decision regarding the number of months to award.
No. Your application will be forwarded to the appropriate peer review committee and will be considered for any short- or long-term fellowship for which you are eligible. If you have a project that fits the stated goals of any named endowment, you may mention that in your application. Whether or not a named endowment is mentioned has no bearing on The Huntington’s assignment of awards. If you are applying for a travel grant or exchange fellowship, the review committee will base its decision on the particular archives/libraries abroad that you need to consult.
Yes! Eligible candidates may apply in collaboration with a colleague for either a joint short-term fellowship or a joint long-term fellowship. Both applicants will be required to complete all the preliminary components of the application (eligibility form, cover sheet, CV) under their own name, making reference where appropriate to the collaborative nature of the project and to the identity of the joint applicant. Each applicant should, however, upload an identical project description to that of their collaborator, and may (if they wish) use the same referee(s) to provide letter(s) of recommendation.
Prospective applicants should note that the peer review committee will evaluate the joint project rather than either of the individual applicants. If the joint application is successful, each grantee will receive a full fellowship stipend.
Please note that because travel grants and exchange fellowships are awarded for one month only, joint applications will not be considered for these awards.
No. Travel grant and exchange fellowship awards are decided by the review committee. If your archives are located in a town where we have an exchange agreement (Oxford, Cambridge, Durham, Dublin, Manchester, and Birmingham), you are likely to be granted an exchange fellowship. Projects that cannot be conducted at one of our exchange partners are likely to receive a travel grant. Awardees in both categories receive round-trip airfare and a stipend and/or housing to support one month of research.
That depends on the fellowship. For Long-Term Fellowships, residence is not a factor: scholars from every institution and at every career stage are welcome to apply. For Short-Term Fellowships, the peer review committees may choose to take locality into consideration for nearby faculty as the fellowship stipend is designed to off-set living expenses for visiting scholars who have no other means of support. However, local graduate students are warmly encouraged to apply for short-term fellowships, as the committees are aware that scholars at this stage have reduced access to funding sources.
It depends on which type of fellowship you are applying for. Applicants for long-term (yearlong and academic term) fellowships must have completed all requirements for a Ph.D. at the time of application. That is to say, only those who hold a Ph.D. or who have successfully defended a dissertation by the application deadline are eligible. You do not need to have formally graduated to apply.
Short-term fellowships (one to three months) are open to graduate students, faculty members, postdoctoral scholars, and independent researchers working on a scholarly project served by our collections.
Travel grants/exchange fellowships (for study abroad) are open to doctoral candidates who have advanced to candidacy (ABD) at the time of the application deadline; to faculty members; and other postdoctoral scholars. All applicants must be based in North America.
Please note that several short-term awards are specifically designed for independent or nontraditional scholars who either trained or currently work outside of academia, many of whom will not have a Ph.D. See available fellowships.
Yes! Short-term fellowships (one to three months) are open to graduate students, faculty members, postdoctoral scholars, working artists, creative writers, and independent researchers working on a scholarly project served by our collections. See Independent Scholars and Creative Researchers FAQs.
No. The majority of Huntington fellowships—short- and long-term—are open to scholars of any nationality. In recent years, about one-third of all fellowships have been awarded to applicants who are not U.S. citizens. Applicants for travel grants and exchange fellowships must be based at institutions in North America, but do not need to be U.S. citizens.
Yes, international scholars awarded a short- or long-term fellowship will need to apply for a J-1 visa. The Huntington maintains an exchange visitor program through the United States Department of State and will assist fellows with providing the appropriate paperwork. The Huntington will also reimburse all administrative expenses associated with the process of securing a visa. If you have a valid visa (such as an F1), you will not have to apply for a J-1 visa. Simply bring in your visa the day of your registration appointment.
No. Candidates are required to choose either a short-term or a long-term award and to convey in their proposal a clear sense of what it is that they hope to achieve within the time available.
EXCEPTION: You may apply for both a travel grant/exchange fellowship for study abroad and for either a short-term or a long-term fellowship at The Huntington. You must, however, apply and submit two separate proposals, one for each award; these awards are for different purposes and are reviewed by separate committees. Your referee(s) will be expected to write a separate letter of recommendation in support of each application.
As long as you are able to commit to being fully in residence for the period of your Huntington fellowship, there is no conflict with accepting another (external) fellowship within the same academic year. If you are awarded a fellowship through one of our Joint Fellowship partners, you may also hold a general Huntington fellowship, but the months may not overlap.
Yes. If you are proposing research for a new project or for a different part of the project on which you were working last year, you may apply for a second short-term fellowship or for a long-term fellowship. If you are applying for a fellowship to continue the same project, your application should demonstrate the progress you made during your first fellowship and specify the agenda for the next stage of the research.
No. The Huntington will not award two long-term fellowships for work on the same project. You are eligible to compete for another long-term award after 7 years have passed and a new project is sufficiently formulated to be competitive.
Yes, as long as the split is within the fellowship year and you spend at least a month in residence each time. A fellowship year is defined as starting July 1 of the year awarded through June 30 of the following year. Fellowships may not be split into periods shorter than one month, nor can a 3-month fellowship be divided into 6-week sections.
No. Under no circumstances will deferral be permitted for a long-term fellowship. Short-term fellowships may, in extraordinary circumstances, be deferred upon petition to the Director of Research.
Both successful and unsuccessful applicants are notified in March.
Yes. See Using the Library for more information.
A project description, CV, and letter(s) of recommendation. As of 2021, we follow ACLS guidelines to collect data about our applicant pool. See fellowships for requirements.
Unfortunately, there is no way to change application types in our system; you must begin a new application.
You may ask any scholar who can attest to the significance of the proposed work and to your ability to realize the project. Letters should speak specifically to the project that you are proposing, rather than to your overall work and track record.
We do not accept letters from your job dossier or from Interfolio Scholar Services. Letters of recommendation must be tailored to your individual application and speak to the relevance of The Huntington’s collections and why they are crucial to your project.
Your recommenders will be contacted by email with instructions on how to upload their letters using the online fellowship application site. You will be notified by email when each letter has been submitted on your behalf.
Yes. Once you have completed all your sections of the application: cover letter, project proposal, CV, and sending requests to recommenders, your application may be submitted. All sections, except letters of recommendation, must be completed to submit. However, an application is NOT considered complete until the letters of recommendation are submitted. Please ensure your recommenders submit their letters in a timely manner.
You must complete each section of the application. Click the “MARK AS COMPLETE” button for each section. You will see a green checkmark appear next to the section heading. Once all four sections are complete, the SUBMIT button will turn green and allow you to submit your application.
At the top of each section, there is a “…” dropdown in the upper right. Click this to edit or reset the form. You can only make changes prior to submitting your application. Once you have hit the SUBMIT button, you are unable to make changes. Please review each section of your application before submitting.
While you will be able to submit your application before letters of recommendation are received, the application is not considered complete without them. Please ask that your recommenders upload letters of recommendation prior to the application deadline.
You will be notified by email when each letter has been submitted on your behalf. It is important that you tell your recommenders to submit as soon as possible.
No. All applications and letters of recommendation must be submitted using the online fellowship application site.
Please contact Krystle Satrum (ksatrum@huntington.org) for assistance.
Applications are considered by one of four external peer review committees:
The Huntington is committed to ensuring diversity and inclusivity within the membership of the peer review committees. All of the committees are charged to evaluate the applications based on the quality of the proposal and the clarity with which it is conveyed; the significance of the project for research in the humanities or arts; the training and professional experience of the researcher; and the need for access to The Huntington’s collections. In general, The Huntington is seeking to fund those candidates who would benefit from working in our collections and who have excellent projects. The committees also bear in mind questions of equity. That is to say, they consider (other things being equal) the diversity and inclusivity of the fellowship cohort; the institutional matrix of the applicant; and their previous history of fellowship support. The Director of Research chairs all of the peer review committee meetings but does not vote.
The deliberations of the peer review committees are confidential. Due to the high volume of applications received, we are unable to provide feedback on fellowship applications.
Fellows are expected to spend twenty working days in the library per month. A “working day” is defined as any day the library is open for use. General hours are Monday, 9 a.m.–5 p.m., Tuesday–Wednesday, 9 a.m.–7 p.m., and Thursday–Friday, 9 a.m.–5 p.m. The library is closed weekends and most federal holidays. Fellows do NOT need to begin fellowships on the first of a calendar month.
If you know before beginning your fellowship that you will not be able to meet the 20-day requirement, please notify the Fellowship Programs Coordinator, Krystle Satrum, ksatrum@huntington.org to explain the circumstances. Only in extreme circumstances will a fellowship shorter than 20 working days be granted. You should be prepared to accept a prorated award.
We understand that circumstances may arise during the fellowship period that interfere with your ability to work in the library, such as illness or a family situation. Please notify the Fellowships Program Coordinator if you miss more than three days in the month. You are welcome to stay beyond the term of your fellowship, of course, to make up for missed time at your own expense. We reserve the right to prorate your award if you are absent five or more days in any given month.
Starting in Fall 2027, The Huntington will offer furnished residential units to long-term fellows and to some short-term fellows on site at Scholars Grove. Rental rates and other details will be available in Spring 2027. For those long-term fellows who chose not to live on campus and short-term fellows who are not offered a unit in Scholars Grove, we provide a database of furnished rooms, apartments, and houses that are available for rent. See housing.
Yes, however, the timeframe cannot overlap. If awarded a 2-month fellowship via the AHRC IPS and a 1-month fellowship from The Huntington, you must be able to commit to 3 months in residence. See short-term fellowships.
Any time in The Huntington’s fiscal year immediately following notification of the award: For awards made in March 2026, you may come into residence at any time between July 1, 2026, and June 30, 2027.
Starting in Fall 2027, The Huntington will offer furnished residential units to some short-term fellows, including AHRC fellows, on site at Scholar Grove depending on availability. Housing at Scholars Grove will not be guaranteed, and for those not offered a unit, we will provide a database of furnished rooms, apartments, and houses that are available for rent. See housing.
You may attend academic conferences or public lectures held at The Huntington between September and May each year; give a “Brown Bag” talk to other scholars who are in residence; and participate in scholarly conversations in The Huntington’s reading rooms, lecture hall, and gardens.
Visit the Huntington Library Catalog for information on books, published catalogs, finding aids to manuscript collections, and online tools. Visit the Art Museum Collections Catalog for information about the art collections.
The peer review committee will primarily evaluate your application based on strength of concept; clarity of project outcome (e.g., novel, exhibition), and demonstrated or projected ability to complete said output; and affinity with—as well as clearly stated need for—specific Huntington collections. You should focus on these criteria in your application, rather than “pitching” your project in an in-depth manner, as you might to a committee of peers in your field, to a publisher, or to a gallery.
Whereas a traditional artistic residency provides time, space, and resources to focus on your practice, a Huntington short-term fellowship is about completing targeted archival research that will feed into your creative output at a later stage. For this reason, your application should state clearly both what you will ultimately create, and why researching in the Huntington collections will be essential preparation for that creation.
You do not need to have a contract or commitment in hand related to the final output of your research. However, demonstration of previous publications, performances, or exhibitions does provide evidence of your ability to bring your current project to completion, and should be highlighted in the CV and/or project description.
You are not required to clear rights and permissions before applying.
No. The Huntington does not have the capacity to host performances or exhibitions by Short-Term Fellows. A short-term fellowship is aimed at, and limited to, providing the researcher access to the relevant and available collections. Public programs or exhibitions are organized separately outside of the fellowship program and led by institutional staff in charge of those programs.
There are no artist studio spaces on site. As the fellowship is designed for preparatory archival research, fellows are mostly engaged in research and study in the reading rooms, accessing rare archival materials. Artists have the opportunity to take preliminary photographs and reference collections objects that can be used in their studio practice. If an artist desires to request imaging of certain archival materials, these are available for a fee. Some objects might have restrictions around copyright and reproduction. On their own, artists may pursue partnerships with other organizations and studio spaces locally to access specific equipment.
For library materials, please see the Imaging Services guide. For Art collections, contact the curator of record for the collection. Some items/images will have restrictions and require approval or new imaging, so it’s best to inquire about rights and restrictions well ahead of any deadlines.