Fellowship Application

Applications for the 2025-2026 fellowship cycle are open. Applications are accepted through January 31, 2025 for fellowships to be activated within the 2025 calendar year.

Application Details

• A current Curriculum Vitae of no more than six pages. 
• A project proposal, consisting of
  • An abstract of no more than 300 words describing the significance of the project to the selection committee which consists of humanities scholars with wide areas of expertise.
  • A research proposal of no more than 1,500 words. This document should include in roughly equal parts:
    • A description of the project and its significance with specific reference to published scholarship in the field that will be influenced, revised, or supplanted by the proposed project.
    • A rationale for the use of the Booth Family Special Collections Center.
      • This rationale should include specific reference to the parts of the collection the applicant wishes to use and an outline of the applicant’s plan of work. 
      • The applicant should provide an approximate research schedule for the four weeks of the award’s residency that encompasses 160 total hours of research in the Washington-Baltimore metropolitan area, including at least 80 hours specifically in the Booth Family Center for Special Collections.
      • If the materials applicants plan to consult are also available online or elsewhere, they should explain how access to physical materials at the Booth Family Center would be advantageous to their research.
  • A one-page, selective bibliography providing a list of secondary sources relevant to and providing context for the proposed project.
• Letters of recommendation (2)
  • Letters are required for doctoral candidates and optional for post-doctoral applicants.
    • The applications of doctoral candidates will not be evaluated until both letters have been received via Interfolio.
    • Post-doctoral applicants may opt out of submitting letters. In lieu thereof their scholarly publications (in the c.v.) will then be examined with particular scrutiny.
      • The Interfolio system requires two names and email addresses. To opt-out, applicants should enter their own email in the first slot and the selection committee chair (Ryan Maher, SJ, rjm27@georgtown.edu) in the second to signal the selection committee of their opt-out.
  • The confidential letters must be received by the application deadline via Interfolio (1/31/2025).

Letters of recommendation: 

• Each letter should address the qualities of the proposed project, the value of research at Georgetown University/BFCSC for the applicant, and the qualifications of the applicant. The more specifically the letter addresses the project at hand and the usefulness of the resources at Georgetown’s Special Collections, the more helpful it will be to the selection committee.
• Letters of recommendation should be written on institutional letterhead, establish the qualifications of the author, and include the recommender’s signature. 
• Letters must be submitted via Interfolio by the application deadline. Applicants are responsible for communicating the link and information about the fellowship program, including deadlines, to their recommenders. The selection committee will not accept letters by email or regular mail.

Have Questions?

• About Special Collections: specialcollections@georgetown.edu
• About the Fellowship: catholicstudies@georgetown.edu