The Huntington Names 2026–27 Research Fellows

Key takeaways: 

• The 2026–27 fellowship cohort of 184 scholars coming to The Huntington includes 23 long-term research fellows, 147 short-term fellows, six exchange fellows, and eight one-month fellows supported by partner institutions. The Huntington also awarded eight exchange fellowships and six travel grants for research at partner institutions abroad. 
• The awards represent roughly $2 million in institutional support for humanities research at a time when universities, cultural institutions, and public funders face mounting pressure. 
• Huntington research fellowships provide scholars with sustained access to rare books, archives, manuscripts, art, and botanical collections, supporting work that often becomes books, articles, exhibitions, documentary films, public programs, and classroom materials. 
• Scholars Grove, now under construction and slated to open in fall 2027, will give fellows access to reasonably priced housing and shared space for scholarly exchange. 

At a time when humanities funding and academic research support are under mounting pressure nationwide, The Huntington will invest roughly $2 million in fellowship support during the 2026–27 academic year, bringing 184 scholars from around the world to work in its collections and contribute to one of the nation’s largest centers for humanities research. 

Selected through The Huntington’s rigorous peer-review process, the 2026–27 cohort includes 23 long-term fellows, 147 short-term fellows, six exchange fellows, and eight one-month fellows supported by partner institutions.  The Huntington also awarded eight exchange fellowships and six travel grants for research abroad.  

The new cohort joins a research community that has supported more than 12,000 scholars since the program’s founding in 1928 and welcomes more than 2,000 Readers annually. Since 1995, long-term Huntington research fellows have produced 209 books, reflecting the program’s sustained contributions to humanities scholarship.

Cherokee Women’s Textile Diplomacy 

Patricia Dawson (Cherokee Nation), assistant professor of history at Mount Holyoke College and a 2026–27 Mellon Academic Term Fellow, teaches and researches Native American history and material culture.  

Dawson has worked with family members to edit and publish A History of the Cherokee Nation, by Rachel Caroline Eaton, Dawson’s great-great-great aunt, who is believed to be the first Native American woman to earn a Ph.D. Originally written in the 1930s but denied publication for being too “pro-Cherokee,” the book was published by the University of Oklahoma Press in fall 2025. 

Dawson’s current book manuscript, Our Hearts Are Straight: Cherokee Women’s Textile Diplomacy, which she will revise while at The Huntington, examines Cherokee clothing as a tool of diplomacy, a symbol of identity, and a form of resistance against Euro-American encroachment in the 18th and early 19th centuries.  

“In the early 19th century, Cherokee women transformed their economy through cotton agriculture and cloth production, and they were at the center of their nation’s resistance to removal from their native lands through material culture diplomacy,” Dawson said. “At the same time, Cherokees developed innovative new styles that also symbolized Cherokee identity.”  

According to Dawson, women and girls used gifts of cotton textiles to forge diplomatic relationships with U.S. women as well as political and religious leaders, helping to spur the first U.S. women’s petition campaign in 1830. While the new U.S. government hoped the switch to cotton farming would make Cherokees more open to selling their supposedly surplus land, the Cherokees, particularly women, used textile and agricultural innovations to retain power.  

“In the past, scholars have assumed women’s power in diplomacy and politics declined with Cherokee Nation government reforms of the early 19th century and the 1827 Cherokee Nation constitution, which banned women from holding official positions of power,” Dawson said. “My work demonstrates that Cherokee women and girls continued to play a central role in diplomacy through gift-giving and visual communication through dress, successfully creating allies in the United States, particularly among U.S. Protestant women’s networks.”

Listening to the Colonial Archive

Felipe Ledesma Núñez, a 2026–27 Barbara Thom Postdoctoral Fellow, is an Ecuadorian sculptor and historian of sound whose research explores the ancient Andes through 17th-century sources and the creation of ceramic sound artifacts. He is the first Ecuadorian to earn a doctorate from Harvard University in any discipline.  

At The Huntington, Ledesma will launch Coya Huarmi: Listening to the Colonial Archive, a book that examines 17th-century testimonies of Andeans who faced Catholic inquisitorial campaigns in the rural highlands. Through experiential and sensory engagement with colonial archival sources, the project addresses longstanding questions in archaeology and musicology and contributes to broader debates across the humanities. As Ledesma argues, “sound is a primary expression of the life force of Andean sacred entities and a medium through which humans, ancestors, and extra-human beings sustain relationships across time.” 

Using pottery as a tool for historical investigation, the book traces the ancient history of a ceramic jar believed to be the primeval female ancestor of a highland Peruvian community. In doing so, it uncovers previously unknown documentation of Andean ritual and sacred practices, including the earliest reconstruction of a Quechua song and the only known historical account describing the use of whistling bottles. 

Through his creative practice and the production of replicas using techniques employed by ancient Andean potters, Ledesma invites reflection on the ethics of curation, preservation, and patrimonial sovereignty. His work also emphasizes the inseparable relationship among territories, communities, and archives in shaping new approaches to creative research. 

“I am particularly eager to consult The Huntington’s Spanish collections, whose holdings on the Mexican Inquisition offer an exceptional comparative framework for my research,” Ledesma said, highlighting the acoustically informed methodology that shapes his investigation.

Hydraulic Empire 

Padma Rangarajan, associate professor of English at the University of California, Riverside and the 2026–27 Fletcher Jones Foundation Fellow, specializes in 19th-century British literature, with an emphasis on the literature and history of empire. She is the author of Imperial Babel: Translation, Exoticism, and the Long Nineteenth Century (Fordham University Press, 2014) and Insurgent Fictions: The British Empire and the Birth of Terrorism (forthcoming from Johns Hopkins University Press). 

At The Huntington, Rangarajan will conduct research for a book-length project provisionally titled Hydraulic Empire: Riverine Fictions in 19th-Century Britain. The book examines the literary, political, and environmental significance of river systems to the British Empire. By considering the effects of rivers on landscape, both literally and figuratively, Rangarajan traces the confluence of aesthetics, infrastructure, and hydrology by demonstrating how poets and authors captured the period’s revolutions through river mapping, hydraulic engineering, and resource management. 

Rangarajan conceives of the British Empire as a form of “hydraulic empire” that was imaginatively and practically shaped by rivers and river superintendency. She notes that the scale and scope of river engineering grew tremendously in the 19th century. 

“Each chapter of my book will focus on a specific river: the Ganges in India, the Tweed in Scotland, the Nile in Egypt, and the Thames in England,” Rangarajan said. “While my project stresses the importance of rivers, I anticipate that much of my research will center around deltas, estuaries, and firths—those crucial areas where river and ocean meet.” 

Plans for straightening the Ganges or building a canal were discussed in the late 18th century, according to Rangarajan, but the hydraulic transformation of rivers took significant shape in the 19th century, when many of the world’s major rivers were subjected to significant modifications. 

For press inquiries or to request high-resolution press images, email huntingtonnews@huntington.org. 

About The Huntington 

The Huntington, a world-renowned cultural and educational institution, provides transformative experiences for a community of the curious. Founded in 1919 by Henry E. and Arabella Huntington, it supports research and promotes public engagement through its expansive library, art, and botanical collections. By cultivating dynamic scholarship, creating innovative programs for students and lifelong learners, and sharing its extraordinary resources, The Huntington invites all on a journey of discovery, insight, and connection. Only 12 miles from downtown Los Angeles, The Huntington is located at 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino, California. Learn more at huntington.org.