Colonial Williamsburg Research Fellowships

Colonial Williamsburg’s John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library is home to an extensive collection of seventeenth-, eighteenth-, and nineteenth-century books and manuscripts. The library also has a 60,000-volume circulating assortment of monographs and other secondary sources. Fellows will have access to the museums’ material culture collections, in addition to Colonial Williamsburg’s librarians, historians, archeologists, and curators. Williamsburg is conveniently located near Richmond, home to the Virginia Museum of History and Culture (formerly Virginia Historical Society), and the Library of Virginia, institutions that also hold significant collections of period documents.

The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation is pleased to invite applications for a range of short-term residential fellowships. Fellowships are an important component of the work of the Education, Research and Historical Interpretation Division at Colonial Williamsburg. Fellowships primarily support research on topics related to Early America, eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Virginia, the histories of marginalized people, and the history of Colonial Williamsburg, all broadly defined. Scholars in the fields of history, African American Studies, Women’s Studies, American Studies, anthropology, and other allied fields are encouraged to apply.

Preference will be given to projects rooted primarily in the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library collections. The committee will consider the clarity and viability of your project and its contributions to the scholarly community when assessing your application. Additionally, we will consider this project’s potential benefit to the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. This includes, but is not limited to, the project’s application to programming, training, and exhibit creation.

Fellows are expected to be in continuous residence at Colonial Williamsburg and to actively participate in the intellectual life of the Foundation's research, educational, and interpretive campus. Fellowships carry a stipend of $2,500 per month and are available to researchers with strong qualifications.

The application deadline for the Coffelt Fellowship is July 16, 2023. Decisions will be announced by mid-August 2023.

The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation– EXARC Fellowship is intended to advance the investigation and interpretation of archaeological and experimental archaeological heritage by supporting research and scholarship through a partnership between EXARC, the international organization of Archaeological Open-Air Museums (AOAM) and Experimental Archaeology, and the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.

This fellowship will fund a one month of scholarship in residence at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. Successful proposals will demonstrate potential to advance the understanding and practice of reconstructive and experimental archaeology and its interpretation through structured experimentation to recreate material culture, technology, or life-ways of the past. Applicants need experience in ancient technology, experimental archaeology, or interpretation, applicable to the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation or 18th century America. Fellows are expected to be in continuous residence at Colonial Williamsburg and to actively participate in the intellectual life of the Foundation's research, educational, and interpretive campus. Fellowships run for one month totaling $2,500.

The application deadline is June 15th, 2023. Decisions will be announced July 1st, 2023.

To apply for either fellowship, please submit your proposal in a single document, submitted electronically as a PDF or Word file via email to fellowships@cwf.org

The document should include:

• The fellowship to which you are applying
• A succinct project abstract (maximum 250 words)
• A project description (not to exceed 1,000 words)
• A Resume (C.V.) (not to exceed 2 pages).
• The names and contact information for two professional references who could provide a letter of recommendation at the request of the committee.

Please indicate in your proposal whether you are a U.S. Citizen, or if you are eligible to visit the U.S. for the required amount of time. Fellows are expected to be in continuous residence at Colonial Williamsburg and to actively participate in the intellectual life of the Foundation's research, educational, and interpretive campus. This will include a presentation of the Fellow’s research to staff and the public.