Renaissance Society of America
The Society awards a number of competitive fellowships to members each year supporting individual research projects and publications that advance scholarly knowledge about the period 1300-1700. The purpose of the fellowships, both residential and non-residential, is to support members who need to travel to archives, libraries, and historic sites to conduct short-term research (usually 1–2 months), and then to publish their results for the scholarly community and the general public. Even in the digital age, there still exists a need to view original manuscripts and early printed books as well as to view works of art and architecture in situ. Fellowships are made possible by donations from RSA members, and grants from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation and The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation.
All RSA members are eligible to apply; all fellowships are open to members from any country. (Some fellowships are restricted by field or require ABD status or the Ph.D.) The deadline for submitting applications for the current cycle is 15 September 2018.
The fellowships
RSA residential fellowships for scholars in all disciplines
Samuel H. Kress Short-Term Research Library Fellowships for Art Historians
RSA research fellowships
Samuel H. Kress Mid-Career Research and Publication Fellowships in Renaissance Art History
The fellowships
RSA offers two types of research fellowships: residential fellowshipssupporting one or two months of research at one of the institutions with which RSA has a partnership agreement and short-term research fellowships that may be used to support research at the collection or collections of the applicant's choice.
Starting with the 2019 cycle, applicants must apply for either a residential fellowship OR a short-term non-residential research fellowship; they may not apply to both categories. The residential fellowships include the six RSA fellowships available to all applicants, and the nine Samuel H. Kress Short-term Research Library fellowships available only to art historians. The eighteen research fellowships, including the five Samuel H. Kress Mid-Career Research and Publication Fellowships in Art History, support research at any location but may be restricted by field.
Those who have received an RSA fellowship in the past will not be considered for further fellowships for three years after the award and will not be considered for further fellowships for the same project. Applicants will win at most one fellowship per year; RSA does not give multiple awards to the same individual in a single year.
All applicants must be current RSA members. If an applicant is not a current member, they should either join RSA or renew their membership before applying for a fellowship. As of June 2018, RSA memberships last for a full twelve months from the start date or time of renewal.
Successful applicants must agree to complete the proposed research by 30 June 2020 and submit to RSA a brief report indicating the accomplishments of the fellowship within one month of returning from the research trip.
RSA residential fellowships for scholars in all disciplines
RSA expects to award one residential fellowship to a scholar in any discipline at each of the following six host institutions. Applicants should apply for one RSA residential fellowship per year, but may list an alternate location if desired. For more information about application requirements specific to the host institution and details about the highlights of the collections and residency please click on the name of the fellowship. The RSA reserves the right to not award a residential fellowship if the Fellowship Committee finds no qualified applicant(s). Please note that for the 2019 cycle RSA-Folger fellowships must be completed by December 2019.
| Name | Stipend | Duration | Eligibility | Host |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The RSA–Bodleian Library Fellowship | $3,000/$4,000 | 1 month | All | Bodleian Library, Oxford University, UK |
| The RSA–Patricia H. Labalme Fellowship | $3,000/$4,000 | 1 month | All | Centro Vittore Branca at Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Venice, Italy |
| The RSA–Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies (CRRS) Fellowship | $3,000/$4,000 | 1 month | PhD | Centre for Reformation & Renaissance Studies, Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| The RSA-Folger Fellowship | $5,000 | up to 2 months | PhD | Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, DC |
| The RSA-Newberry Fellowship | $3,000/$4,000 | 1 month | ABD or PhD | Newberry Library, Chicago, IL |
| The RSA-Huntington Fellowship | $3,000/$4,000 | 1 month | ABD or PhD | Huntington Library, San Marino, CA |
Samuel H. Kress Short-Term Research Library Fellowships for Art Historians
Thanks to a generous grant from the Kress Foundation, RSA will award one Samuel H. Kress Short-Term Research Library Fellowship to an art historian at each of the following nine host institutions. Applicants should apply for one Samuel H. Kress Short-Term Research Library Fellowship per year, but may list an alternate location if desired. For more information about application requirements specific to the host institution and details about the highlights of the collections and residency please click on the name of the fellowship. Please note that for the 2019 cycle RSA-Folger Kress fellowships must be completed by December 2019.
| Name | Stipend | Duration | Eligibility | Host |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The RSA–Kress Bodleian Library Fellowship | $3,000/$4,000 | 1 month | All art historians | Bodleian Library, Oxford University, UK |
| The RSA–Kress Centro Vittore Branca Fellowship | $3,000/$4,000 | 1 month | All art historians | Centro Vittore Branca at Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Venice, Italy |
| The RSA–Kress Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies (CRRS) Fellowship | $3,000/$4,000 | 1 month | PhD in art history | Centre for Reformation & Renaissance Studies, Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| The RSA–Kress Folger Fellowship | $5,000 | up to 2 months | PhD in art history | Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, DC |
| The RSA–Kress Newberry Fellowship | $3,000/$4,000 | 1 month | ABD or PhD in art history | Newberry Library, Chicago, IL |
| The RSA–Kress Huntington Fellowship | $3,000/$4,000 | 1 month | ABD or PhD in art history | Huntington Library, San Marino, CA |
| The RSA–Kress New York Public Library Fellowship | $3,000/$4,000 | 1 month | All art historians | New York Public Library, New York, NY |
| The RSA–Kress Beinecke Library Fellowship | $3,000/$4,000 | 1 month | All art historians | Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Yale University, CT |
| The RSA–Kress UCLA Library Fellowship | $3,000/$4,000 | 1 month | All art historians | University of California Los Angeles, Special Collections, Los Angeles, CA |
RSA research fellowships
The Renaissance Society of America will award up to thirteen RSA research fellowships in amounts of $3,000 for research travel. All applicants for a Short-Term Research Fellowship are automatically considered for the Kristeller Fellowship, and may indicate if they also wish to be considered for the Palisca and Pedretti Fellowships, if eligible. For more information about application requirements please click on the name of the fellowship.
| Name | Maximum Award | Number of fellowships | Eligibility |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paul Oskar Kristeller Fellowship | $3,000 | 3 | All |
| RSA Short-Term Research Fellowship | $3,000 | 8 | All. These are usually divided evenly between Senior, Junior, and Non-doctoral scholars. |
| Claude V. Palisca Fellowship in Musicology | $3,000 | 1 | Musicology |
| The Pedretti Fellowship | $3,000 | 1 | Leonardo da Vinci Studies |
Samuel H. Kress Mid-Career Research and Publication Fellowships in Art History
Thanks to a generous grant from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, RSA will award up to five Samuel H. Kress Mid-Career Research and Publication Fellowships of $3,000 each. These fellowships are intended especially to support the costs of publication in the history of art, but in some cases may be awarded for research travel costs for art history projects.
| Name | Maximum Award | Number of fellowships | Eligibility | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RSA-Samuel H. Kress Mid-Career Research and Publication Fellowships | $3,000 | 5 | PhD, Art History, mid-career | Primarily to subsidize publication costs; occasionally awarded for research. |
Application guidelines (click for a description)
All application materials must be written in English. Letters of recommendation are not required and are not accepted by the proposal submission software.
Applicants for all fellowships submit the following:
- Project description
- Curriculum vitae
Applicants for residential fellowships submit the following:
- Project description
- Curriculum vitae
- Relevance of collection to projec
General guidelines for residential fellowships:
- The research proposal must be relevant to specific library collections and should indicate primary collection resources that are relevant to it.
- The fellowship must be used for full-time onsite research during the period of residency at the specific library, working in its collection.
- The residency must end on or before 30 June of the following year and may not be subdivided into more than one continuous period of residency at the library.
Model proposals
Beginning in the 2015 fellowship cycle, we posted several examples of successful application essays, as well as excerpts of the evaluations provided by the Fellowships Committee. These examples are only intended to be representative; they are not to be slavishly imitated, nor do they provide a proven formula for success.
Please note that we no longer require a budget.
- Non-doctoral scholar applying for an RSA fellowship
- Junior scholar applying for an RSA fellowship (Italy)
- Junior scholar applying for an RSA fellowship (UK)
- Mid-career scholar applying for an RSA-Kress publication subvention
Testimonials from past winners
For information on how past winners used their RSA Fellowships please see here.
Webinar recording
Follow this link to view the recording of our fellowships webinar, which took place Thursday, 20 November 2014. To view the video you will need to enter your email and name; the fellowships committee will not see that information. Please note that Kress applicants do need to be Art Historians
Research fellowship award statistics
| 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Fellowships Available | 16 | 18 | 18 | 22 | 24 | 33 | 33 | 34 | 33 |
| Total Applicants | 83 | 68 | 98 | 101 | 134 | 146 | 173 | 254 | 258 |
| % winning applications | 19% | 26% | 18% | 22% | 18% | 19% | 16% | 13% | 13% |
About a third of applications are typically for residential fellowships while the rest are for research fellowships. In previous years, the Bodleian and the Cini Foundation residential fellowships consistently received a significantly higher number of applications while other residential fellowships received fewer applications, particularly for the RSA-Kress grant in Art History.
Career stage categories
Selection criteria
The RSA Executive Board will appoint a Fellowships Committee drawn from different disciplines within Renaissance studies. Applications will be evaluated using the following criteria:
- The scholarly quality of the proposal (scope, theoretical framework, and grounding in the relevant scholarly literature) and the project’s potential to make a significant and original contribution to knowledge about the Renaissance.
- The scholarly record and achievements of the applicant.
- The demonstrated need for access to research materials and the feasibility of accomplishing this research in the given time frame; or, in the case of Samuel H. Kress Mid-Career Publication Fellowships only, the worthiness of the project for publication support.
The Fellowships Committee reserves the right to award fewer or more fellowships in any one category, depending on the nature and size of the pool of applications.
Application and award timeline
- 15 September: applications due
- By 28 February 2019: all winners notified
- By 30 June 2020: winners expected to complete research trip, publication-related spending (for publication subventions only), or residency
This opportunity has expired. It was originally published here:
https://www.rsa.org/page/fellowships