THE NEW ENGLAND REGIONAL FELLOWSHIP CONSORTIUM, a collaboration of 30 major cultural agencies, will offer at least two dozen awards in 2020-2021. Each grant will provide a stipend of $5,000 for a minimum of eight weeks of research at participating institutions. Awards are open to U.S. citizens and foreign nationals who hold the necessary U.S. government documents. Grants are designed to encourage projects that draw on the resources of several agencies.
NERFC grants support work in a broad array of fields, including but not limited to: history, literature, art history, African American studies, American studies, women’s and gender studies, anthropology, sociology, philosophy, religious studies, environmental studies, oceanography, and the histories of law, medicine, and technology. Member institutions hold collections that offer a historical perspective on topics in all of these fields and more. For information on each member's resources, see its listing in “Participants” and contact the institution.
Each NERFC itinerary must:
- be a minimum of eight weeks
- include at least three different member institutions, and
- include at least two weeks at each of these institutions.
NERFC expects fellows to visit all the repositories they list in their proposals for the length of time they specify. The Consortium’s policy is to ensure that each member with collections hosts fellows every year. An applicant’s proposed itinerary may be a factor in the decision whether to award a fellowship. In keeping with NERFC’s regional interests, the Consortium may also favor applications that draw on institutions from more than one metropolitan area. Grants in the upcoming cycle are for the year June 1, 2020–May 31, 2021. Please click here for a one-page flier describing the NERFC research grants.
Special Awards
THE COLONIAL SOCIETY OF MASSACHUSETTS each year underwrites a project on the history of New England before the American Revolution. The 2019-2020 fellow is Jared Lucky, a graduate student at Yale University. His project is entitled "Cattle, Empire, and 'Cowboys' in Colonial New England," a comparative study of cattle frontiers in the Spanish and British empires.
Application Process
Candidates must apply online, and the submission deadline is February 1, 2020. The NERFC is managed by the Massachusetts Historical Society. Online applications links will bring you to the MHS website.
Winners of the Annual Colonial Society of Massachusetts Fellowship
2002-2003 Sally E. Hadden, Florida State University
2003-2004 John Wood Sweet, University of North Carolina
2004-2005 Heather Miyano Kopelson, University of Iowa
2005-2006 Wendy Warren, Yale University
2006-2007 Nian-sheng Huang, California State University Channel Islands
2007-2008 James Roberts, Johns Hopkins University
2008-2009 Strother Roberts, Northwestern University
2009-2010 Eileen Botting, University of Notre Dame
2010-2011 Christopher Pastore, University of New Hampshire
2011-2012 Lisa Brooks, Harvard University
2012-2013 John Dixon, Harvard University
2013-2014 Steven Pitt, University of Pittsburgh
2014-2015 Amy Ellison, Boston University
2015-2016 Cynthia Bouton, Texas A & M University
2016-2017 Mary Draper, University of Virginia
2017-2018 Hannah Anderson, University of Pennsylvania
2018-2019 Andrew Rutledge, University of Michigan
2019-2020 Jared Lucky, Yale University