Introduction

Spanning virtually every age and region of the world, the Yale University collections are among the deepest and widest ranging of any university. They form an integral part of Yale’s mission of teaching and research and are accessible in various ways to students, scholars, and the public alike.

The Yale Institute of Sacred Music supports short-term fellowships in Yale collections for research on the aural, material, visual, ritual, and textual cultures of religions. These fellowships are restricted to work in Yale’s non-circulating collections, particularly at the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, the Collection of Musical Instruments, the Yale Center for British Art, the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, and the Yale University Art Gallery. The fellowships are residential for one to three months. Researchers must free themselves of most other work during the fellowship period and are expected to reside in the vicinity of Yale. Yale faculty, staff, and students are not eligible for these fellowships.

Fellowship Details

Fellowships are available both for doctoral students who are at the dissertation stage, and for any other scholars who hold the Ph.D or equivalent terminal degree. They are granted for a consecutive one- to three-month period at any time during the academic year when the collections are open to the public. For the Beinecke Library only, fellowships are restricted to Sept. 1–May 31 for post-doctoral fellows, and June 1–August 31 for doctoral candidates.

Those accepted as fellows will have access to all of Yale’s libraries and the portion of the collections they have proposed to research, where they will also be given space to conduct their work. Fellows are encouraged also to involve themselves in the life of the university during their stays.

Scholars must free themselves of other teaching or work responsibilities during the course of the fellowship and may not hold other fellowships simultaneously. Split fellowships will not be granted, and only one application per candidate in a given academic year will be allowed. Please note that attendance will be monitored and grants will be adjusted to reflect shortened fellowship periods.

Fellowships are announced by February 15.

Eligibility and Support

The ISM provides a grant toward round-trip travel (economy class) from the candidate’s home to New Haven and an honorarium for living expenses of $3,000 per month for doctoral candidates (ABD), or $4,000 per month for any scholar holding the doctorate. Fellows are responsible for locating and funding their own housing.

General Inquiries

Send any inquiries regarding the collections themselves to the following addresses:

Beinecke Library of Manuscripts and Rare Books - http://beinecke.library.yale.edu/about/staff?field_department_tid=10 (email curators directly)

Yale Center for British Art - ycba.research@yale.edu

Yale Collection of Musical Instruments - susan.thompson@yale.edu

Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History – david.heiser@yale.edu

Yale University Art Gallery – Katharine.luce@yale.edu

All other inquiries may be sent to ismfellows@yale.edu .

For more information click "LINK TO ORIGINAL" below.