Bancroft fellowships and awards
Graduate fellowships
- The Bancroft Library Hill Study Award assists advanced graduate students from any University of California campus and is funded by the Kenneth E. and Dorothy V. Hill Fellowship Fund.
- The Bancroft Library Meylan Study Award assists advanced graduate students from any recognized institution of higher education in the United States or abroad, and is funded by the Edward F. and Marianne E. Meylan Fellowship Fund.
- The Bancroft Library Summer Study Award assists advanced graduate students from any University of California campus and is funded by the Friends of the Bancroft Library.
- The Arthur J. Quinn Memorial Fellowship, established in memory of Professor of Rhetoric Arthur Quinn (1942-1997), supports research by doctoral candidates in the history of California.
- The Gunther Barth Fellowship supports undergraduate or graduate students researching the 19th-century history of the North American West. $2,500
- The Reese Fellowship, available to qualified researchers, supports research relating to print culture in any part of the Western Hemisphere, or any investigation of the history of the book in the Americas. $2,500
- The Donald Sidney-Fryer Fellowship, available to qualified researchers, supports research relating to the Clark Ashton Smith’s literary circle. $2,500
- The Robert E. Levinson Fellowship, available to qualified researchers, supports original research relating to the depth and breadth of the Jewish experience in California from 1848 to 1915. $1,000
Undergraduate fellowships
- The Meyers-Putnam Family Bancroft Library Fellowship supports research at The Bancroft Library by undergraduates enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley. $1000
- The Hill-Shumate Book Collecting Prize was established by Kenneth E. Hill and Albert Shumate to encourage Berkeley undergraduate students to collect books.
- The Gunther Barth Fellowship supports undergraduate or graduate students researching the 19th-century history of the North American West. $2,500
- The Reese Fellowship, available to qualified researchers, supports research relating to print culture in any part of the Western Hemisphere, or any investigation of the history of the book in the Americas. $2,500
- The Donald Sidney-Fryer Fellowship, available to qualified researchers, supports research relating to the Clark Ashton Smith’s literary circle. $2,500
- The Robert E. Levinson Fellowship, available to qualified researchers, supports original research relating to the depth and breadth of the Jewish experience in California from 1848 to 1915. $1,000
Independent scholar fellowships
- The Reese Fellowship, available to qualified researchers, supports research relating to print culture in any part of the Western Hemisphere, or any investigation of the history of the book in the Americas. $2,500
- The Donald Sidney-Fryer Fellowship, available to qualified researchers, supports research relating to the Clark Ashton Smith’s literary circle. $2,500
- The Robert E. Levinson Fellowship, available to qualified researchers, supports original research relating to the depth and breadth of the Jewish experience in California from 1848 to 1915. $1,000
Affiliated fellowships
All affiliated fellowship opportunities listed here have their own separate deadlines and application process. Refer to their respective pages for further details.
- Carmel and Howard Friesen Prize in Oral History Research is awarded to the Berkeley undergraduate student who submits the best essay that draws upon The Bancroft Library’s Oral History Center interviews.
Fellowships and prizes
How to apply
Application forms and submission instructions
The Fellowships and Prizes Forms may be requested from The Bancroft Library Administrative Office, 510-642-3782, or downloaded below.
The application deadline is the first Monday in February by 5 p.m. Be sure to include your name and contact info on all elements of your submission.
Applications for The Bancroft Study Award and assorted Fellowships require submission of:
1. Fellowship application form
2. Letters of recommendation
- For undergraduate fellowships: ONE letter of recommendation directly from recommender with Bancroft’s Cover Letter Form
- For graduate fellowships: TWO letters of recommendation directly from recommender with Bancroft’s Cover Letter Form
- For independent scholar fellowships: TWO letters of recommendation directly from recommender with Bancroft’s Cover Letter Form
3. Statement of purpose (1,000 words or less, one-sided, double-spaced, 12 size font, your name and page numbers on all pages)
4. Transcripts
- For undergraduate fellowships: Unofficial transcript
- For graduate fellowships: Sealed official transcripts of all college and university work
- For independent scholar fellowships: No transcripts needed
Note: Some fellowships require additional material for application submission. Refer to their respective pages for further details.
Submit your application in writing to
Bancroft Library Fellowship Committee
The Bancroft Library
University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-6000
Attn: Diana Vergil
Or by email to dvergil@library.berkeley.edu.
All applications and awards will be made within the framework of existing fellowship programs. Awards will be announced each spring at the Annual Meeting of the Friends of The Bancroft Library. Winners should plan to attend the Annual Meeting.
For all other questions please call Diana Vergil at 510-642-3782.
Hill study award
The fellowship
Fellowship offered for academic year 2022-2023. Application deadline is the first Monday in February by 5 p.m.
Eligibility for awards
The Kenneth E. and Dorothy V. Hill Fellowship Fund provides one year-long fellowship to graduate students from any campus of the University of California who are conducting research that would benefit from the use of source materials in The Bancroft Library. This fellowship is not offered every year.
The holders of the fellowships, designated as Bancroft Fellows, will conduct their research in The Bancroft Library during the fellowship and must therefore be registered during the academic year at Berkeley or their home campus under the inter-campus exchange program.
Students must be beyond the first year of graduate study; in the past, awards have generally gone to students who have passed their qualifying examinations, have exhausted other forms of support, and are engaged in dissertation research.
The applicant's statement of purpose must describe how the research project will make use of The Bancroft Library's collections.
For applicants
Completed applications must include: statement of purpose, 1000 words or less; official transcripts of all undergraduate and graduate coursework; two letters of recommendation from instructors, and, for summer fellowships, the estimated length of time that the applicant would be in residence. The selection committee will balance all of these factors in determining the recipients of the full year fellowships as well as the summer fellowships.
All awards are made by The Bancroft Library Fellowship Committee. All applications and awards will be made within the framework of existing fellowship programs. The applicant will conduct the research project within one year of notification.
For further instructions on how to apply for a Bancroft Library Study Award, please see How to apply.
Winners
Meylan study award
The fellowship
Fellowship offered for academic year 2022-2023. Application deadline is the first Monday in February by 5 p.m.
Eligibility for awards
The Edward F. and Marianne E. Meylan Fellowship Fund provides one year-long fellowship to graduate students from any recognized institution of higher education in the United States or abroad who are conducting research that would benefit from the use of source materials in The Bancroft Library. This fellowship is not offered every year.
The holders of the fellowships, designated as Bancroft Fellows, will conduct their research in The Bancroft Library during the fellowship and must therefore be registered during the academic year at Berkeley or their home campus under the inter-campus exchange program.
Students must be beyond the first year of graduate study; in the past, awards have generally gone to students who have passed their qualifying examinations, have exhausted other forms of support, and are engaged in dissertation research.
The applicant's statement of purpose must describe how the research project will make use of The Bancroft Library's collections.
For applicants
Completed applications must include: statement of purpose, 1000 words or less; official transcripts of all undergraduate and graduate coursework; two letters of recommendation from instructors, and, for summer fellowships, the estimated length of time that the applicant would be in residence. The selection committee will balance all of these factors in determining the recipients of the full year fellowships as well as the summer fellowships.
All awards are made by The Bancroft Library Fellowship Committee. All applications and awards will be made within the framework of existing fellowship programs. The applicant will conduct the research project within one year of notification.
For further instructions on how to apply for a Bancroft Library Study Award, please see How to apply.
Winners
Summer study award
The fellowship
Application deadline is the first Monday in February by 5 p.m.
Eligibility for awards
The Friends of The Bancroft Library award $15,000 in fellowships for summer study to graduate students from any University of California campus in the form of stipends ranging from $1,000 (1 week residence) to $3,000 (3 weeks residence).
The holders of the fellowships, designated as Bancroft Fellows, will conduct their research in The Bancroft Library during the fellowship and must therefore be registered during the academic year at Berkeley or their home campus under the inter-campus exchange program.
Students must be beyond the first year of graduate study; in the past, awards have generally gone to students who have passed their qualifying examinations, have exhausted other forms of support, and are engaged in dissertation research.
The applicant's statement of purpose must describe how the research project will make use of The Bancroft Library's collections.
How to apply
Completed applications must include: statement of purpose, 1000 words or less; official transcripts of all undergraduate and graduate coursework; two letters of recommendation from instructors, and, for summer fellowships, the estimated length of time that the applicant would be in residence. The selection committee will balance all of these factors in determining the recipients of the full year fellowships as well as the summer fellowships.
All awards are made by The Bancroft Library Fellowship Committee. All applications and awards will be made within the framework of existing fellowship programs. The applicant will conduct the research project within one year of notification.
For further instructions on how to apply for a Bancroft Library Study Award, please see How to apply.
Winners
Gunther Barth
The fellowship
Application deadline is the first Monday in February by 5 p.m.
Eligibility for awards
The Gunther Barth Fellowship, established in memory of Gunther Barth, Professor of History, supports projects at The Bancroft Library by formally enrolled college and university students, regardless of academic degree sought.
Such projects will generally be in the area of nineteenth-century history of the North American West, with preference given to areas of special interest to Professor Barth: the environment, exploration, immigrants, urban history, cultural landscapes, and built environments (such as city or memorial parks).
Size of awards
This fellowship is offered for short term research projects. Awards may be used to defray travel expenses, living expenses, or research costs.
For applicants
All awards are made by The Bancroft Library Fellowship Committee. All applications and awards will be made within the framework of existing fellowship programs. The applicant will conduct the research project within one year of notification.
For more details on applying for the Gunther Barth Fellowship, please see How to apply.
Winners
2021-2022 academic year
Cycle cancelled due to Covid-19
2020-2021 academic yearr
Laura Gómez, Farmworkers’ Labor Camps: Race, Gender and the Family in California’s Central Valley, 1880-1940
Cooper Weissman, Invasive Bodies, Natural Borders: Eugenics, Conservation and Eco-nativism in the U.S. 1918-1988
2019-2020 academic year
Yoav Hamdani, Uncle Sma's Slaves: Slavery in the United States Regular Army, 1797-1865
Lorraine Dias Herbon, "Give 'em Jessie": The Life of Jessie Benton Frémont
Mark Jordan Keagle, Cold Commodities: Ice and the Building of the American West, 1848-1945
2018-2019 academic year
Charnan Williams, Slavery and Freedom in the City of Angels: Black and Indian Angelenos from the Mexican Period to the United States Civil War, 1820–1865
2017-2018 academic year
William Cowan, The Pacific Slope Megaflood of 1861-1862
2016-2017 academic year
Richard Soash, Tempered Inclusion: Syrian-Lebanese and Armenian Mobility in the U.S. Progressive Era
2015-2016 academic year
John Suval, Dangerous Ground: Squatters, Statesmen, and the Rupture of American Democracy, 1830–1860
Laura Fravel, Gazing Westward: The Quest for Unity in American Art Displays at the World's Fairs, 1876–1916
2014-2015 academic year
Darren Raspa, Pacific Policeways: Grassroots Control and Power in San Francisco, 1850-1950
2013-2014 academic year
Travis Ross, Machines of Memory: Hubert Howe Bancroft's History Company and the Making of Western History
2012-2013 academic year
Daniel Lynch, The Lost Cause of the Californio: Southern and Californio Convergence in Southern California, 1846-1920
2011-2012 academic year
Michael Caires, Greenbacks in the Golden State: California, Legal Tender and the State Resistance during the Civil War
2010-2011 academic year
Christina Salerno, Fire: Not a Natural Disaster
Mackenzie Moore, Our Hearts Are Unalienated from the Land of Our Birth: Isolation and the Americanization of Oregon, 1834-1859
2009-2010 academic year
Alexander Olson, Scars and Signs: Natural History at the University of California, 1869-1906
2008-2009 academic year
Richard Welker, The Culture of Agrarian Capitalism: Farmers, Neighbors, and Economic Relationships in Nineteenth Century California
Hill-Shumate
The prize
Application deadline is the first Monday in February by 5 p.m.
Eligibility for awards
Prizes are open to undergraduates currently enrolled at UC Berkeley. Kenneth E. Hill and Albert Shumate established the prizes to encourage Berkeley students to collect books, to build their own libraries, to appreciate the special qualities of the printed word, and to read for pleasure and education.
The Hill-Shumate Prize awards $1,500 to the winning entry and $1,000 for second place. In addition, all entrants will receive one-year gift memberships in the Friends of The Bancroft Library.
To be considered for the Hill-Shumate Prizes, collections must include at least 50 items. Collections may:
- Cover specific authors or subjects, contemporary or historical
- Stress bibliographical features (edition, illustrations, binding, etc.)
- Include paperbacks and ephemeral material, as long as they significantly reflect the purposes of the collection
Modern textbooks should not be submitted.
Judges will give special consideration to how well the collection reflects the student's stated goals and interests. Age, rarity, or monetary value of material in the collections submitted is less important than the thought, creativity, and persistence demonstrated in defining a collection and bringing it into being.
For applicants
The statement of purpose section of your Hill-Shumate Book Collecting Prize application should include:
A brief essay of up to 1,000 words describing:
- The nature and character of the collection
- How and why it was assembled
- When it was begun
- Its significance
- The future direction(s) the collection may take.
An informal list of the items in the collection, citing:
- Author
- Title
- Place and date of publication
- Type of binding
- Condition
- Optional annotations on the importance of individual pieces.
After reviewing the essays and lists, the judges may ask finalists to bring selected items from their collections to The Bancroft Library for final judging.
For further instructions regarding how to apply for The Hill-Shumate Book Collecting Prize, and to download the application form referenced above, please see the How to apply section of this page.
Winners
2021
Cycle cancelled due to Covid-19
2020
First Place
Nicole Su-Wen Lee, A Library of Dragons: Friend not Foe
Second Place
Geraint R. H. Hughes, Historical Fiction from Alexander to Napoleon
2019
Ian Stevens Erickson, Geometry: The Diagram and The Description
2017
Henry Weikel, Visual Legacy of Late 20th Century Science Fiction
2016
Elise Levin-Guracar, Education in America: Policy, Practice, Theory, and History
2015
Samuel Diener, Down to the Sea in Ships:Voyage Narratives and the Epistemic Power of Fictionality
2014
No award granted
2013
First Place
Reginald James, Oakland, California: The Epicenter of the Black Radical Imagination
Second Place
Rebecca Peters, Water, Rights, and the Spirit of Resistance in Latin America
Third Place
Hunam Rostomyan, A Logico-Philosophical Collection
2012
Luciano Concheiro, Becoming Mexican: A Collection
2011
Kathleen O'Connell, Library of Books in Warfare: Military History and Fiction
2010
Anthony James Wright, Traditions of the University of California: Yearbooks
2009
First Place
Kathleen O'Connell, Library of Books in Myths, Legends, and Fantasy
Second Place
Candace Cunard, Science Fiction Through the Years: A Critical/Historical Collection
Third Place
Steven Broderick, Classical Latin and Greek Literature
2008
Rhae Lynn Barnes, The Print Culture of American Amateur Minstrelsy, Blackface Plays, and Dialect in Black Literature (circa 1890s-1940s)
2007
First Place
Sudev Jay Sheth, Library of Books in Northern Indian Classical Vocal and Percussion Music
Second Place
Ashley Fiutko, Library of Books in Ancient Egypt
Third Place
Christopher Montes, Library of Books in Modern American Military History
2006
First Place
Alexis Ashot, Library of Books in Russian Published in the 20th Century
Second Place
Gustavo Buenrostro, Encountering Mexico: History, Politics, and Culture
Third Place
Matt Werner, Jorge Luis Borges and the McSweeney's School
2005
No award granted
2004
First Place
Raul Diaz, Evolutionary Biology and Herpetology
Second Place
Billy Chen, Feminist and Queer Cultural Studies and Psychoanalysis
Third Place
David Singer, Jewish Religion and History
2003
First Place
Danielle Peterson, The Poet, John Ashbery
Second Place
Anobel Odisho, Ancient Near Eastern Archaeology
Third Place
Mai Der Vang, Hmong Culture
2002
No award granted
2001
First Place
David Weinrich, Classics
Second Place
Ken Chen, Modern Poetry
2000
Sean Nye, Scottish Literature
1999
First Place
Lyubov Golburt, Poetry
Second Place
Carolyn Babauta, Beat Poets
Third Place
Christina Tran, World Literature
Levinson
The fellowship
Application deadline is the first Monday in February by 5 p.m.
Eligibility for awards
The program will support original research relating to the depth and breadth of the Jewish experience in California from 1848, the beginning of the Gold Rush era to 1915, the opening of the Pan Pacific Exposition in San Francisco, with preference for the relation to the California Gold rush experience. The research must include investigation of the original and related secondary materials of the Bancroft Library
Robert E. Levinson, PhD, was an historian and pioneer scholar in the study of the Jewish experience in the California Gold Rush. His doctoral thesis, The Jews in the California Gold Rush, University of Oregon, 1968, and subsequent book of the same title, published by the Judah L. Magnes Museum, Berkeley, 1978, opened an exciting chapter for researchers to examine the complexity, diversity, and impact of the Jewish experience in early California history.
The Robert E. Levinson Fellowship for the study of the history of Jews in California has been established by the Commission for the Preservation of Pioneer Jewish Cemeteries and Landmarks in the West. This fellowship has been established to encourage the further exploration of primary and related secondary resources to further expand the original research of Dr. Levinson.
Size of awards
The fellowship is offered in the amount of $1000. Awards may be used to defray travel expenses, living expenses or research costs.
For applicants
Please see the How to apply section of this page for further instructions.
On the application form, applicants should describe the purpose and scope of the proposed project, detailing sufficient information about relevant holdings of the Bancroft Library that would support the project. Indication of qualifications of the applicant to undertake the proposed work will help the review committee evaluate the proposal.
All awards are made by the Bancroft Library fellowship committee. No awards are made directly by the donor, The Commission for the Preservation of Pioneer Jewish Cemeteries and Landmarks. The applicant will conduct the research project within one year of the notification. The recipient will be asked to write a report for the Bancroft Library and the Commission for Preservation of Pioneer Jewish Cemeteries and Landmarks on their research.
Winners
2019
Michel Sunhae Lee, Contesting the Sabbath: A History of the Weekly Sacred Times in America, 1848–1920
2018
Benjamin Steiner, Ketubot from Early California: Jewish Acculturation in the American West
2017
Lori Harrison-Kahan, The Deghettoization of American Jewish Literature: Pioneering Women Writers in the Progressive Era
Meyers-Putnam
The fellowship
Application deadline is the first Monday in February by 5 p.m.
Eligibility for awards
Meyers-Putnam Family Bancroft Library Fellowship established in 2007 celebrates the important role of the University of California, Berkeley in the lives of its family members: Leslie O. Meyers (BS Mechanical Engineering, 1922), Kathryn P. Meyers, Peggy Jane Meyers Putnam (BA Physics, 1948; C.LS 1949), and Malcolm G. Putnam (BA Labor/Industrial Relations, 1953; MBA 1955). Leslie O. Meyers served as Captain of the 1921 Cal baseball team. Jane Meyers Putnam was employed as a UC Berkeley technical reference librarian from 1949 through 1955.
This fellowship supports research at The Bancroft Library by undergraduates currently enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley.
Size of awards
This fellowship is offered in the amount of $1000. Awards may be used to defray travel expenses, living expenses, or research costs.
For applicants
All awards are made by The Bancroft Library Fellowship Committee. All applications and awards will be made within the framework of existing fellowship programs. The applicant will conduct the research project within one year of notification.
To apply for the Meyers-Putnam Family Bancroft Library Fellowship, please see the How to apply section of this page.
Winners
2021-2022
Cycle cancelled due to Covid-19
2020-2021
Gitika Nalwa, Strange Fruit: Male Racial Identity and the American Wilderness, 1830-1950
2019-2020
Emma Bianco, What are They Doing to your Children? Examining Orange County's Right-Wing War on Progressive Education in the 1960s
Quinn memorial
The fellowship
Application deadline is the first Monday in February by 5 p.m.
Eligibility for awards
The Arthur J. Quinn Memorial Fellowship was established in memory of Arthur Quinn (1942-1997), Professor of Rhetoric. These fellowships support research by doctoral candidates (i.e., those who shall have been advanced to candidacy by the time the fellowship is taken up) in the history of California from any recognized institution of higher education in the United States or abroad, with a preference for students carrying out research in The Bancroft Library. Applicants must be enrolled in an accredited university.
Size of awards
This fellowship is offered for short term research projects. Awards may be used to defray travel expenses, living expenses, or research costs.
How to apply
Applicants should indicate the scope and purpose of their proposed projects and how collections at The Bancroft Library will support their research. All awards are made by The Bancroft Library Fellowship Committee. All applications and awards will be made within the framework of existing fellowship programs. The applicant will conduct the research project within one year of notification.
For more details on applying for an Arthur J. Quinn Memorial Fellowship, please see the How to apply section above.
Winners
2021-2022 academic year
Cycle cancelled due to Covid-19
2020-2021 academic year
Nicholas Anderman, Anachronic Ocean: Automation and the Time of Labor in Maritime Shipping
Kyle DeLand, Land Monopoly and the Crisis in California Settler Society 1860-1890: Liberalism, Law and Empire
Kevan Malone, Borderline Sustainability: Urbanization and Environmental Diplomacy at the Tijuana-San Diego Boundary 1919-1999
2019-2020 academic year
Grace Morrison Goudiss, California Converts: New Religious Movements and American Politics, 1965-1989
Arang Ha, Free Labor, Free Trade, Free Immigration: The Vision of the Pacific Community After the Civil War
Lauren Paige Hunter, Meals of Change: San Francisco Food Activism in the 1960s and 1970s
Antonina Griecci Woodsum, Fiesta Immemorial: Native and Settler Political Economies in Southern California
Tian Xu, Navigating Worthiness in America: White Attorneys, Chinese Immigrants, and African American Civil War Pensioners, 1873-1910
2018-2019 academic year
Ivon Padilla-Rodriguez, Hidden in the Fields: The Racial Politics of Laboring Childhoods in California and the Limits of Reform
Calvin Snyder, The State and the Underworld, Los Angeles, 1919–1973
2017-2018 academic year
Richard Elliott, A Nation of Silver and Gold: Comstock Mines, California Finance, and the Business of Making Money in America, 1860-1879
Rosario Vasquez Montano, Tras los pasos de Ethel Duffy Turner: La Mujer que Recuperó su Propia Sombra / In the Footsteps of Ethel Duffy Turner: The Woman Who Recovered her Own Shadow
2016-2017 academic year
Julia Lewandoski, Surveying Settler Treaties and Indigenous Land Tenure in North America, 1763-1856
Emilie Raymer, Evolution for the Twentieth Century: Carl Sauer and the Development of Cultural Geography, 1920-1950
2015-2016 academic year
Kevin Waite, The Slave South in the Far West: California, the Pacific, and Postslavery Visions of Empire
Josi Ward, A Place for Our Landless Farmers: Recovery and Reform in the FSA Migratory Labor Camps
2014-2015 academic year
Alanna Hickey, The Forms of National Belonging: Cherokee Poetry in Gold-Rush California
Minyoung Lee, The California Gold Rush, American Empire, and the Transformation of a Pacific World, 1848-1898
Thomas Richards, The Texas Moment: Breakaway Republics and Contested Sovereignty in North America, 1836-1846
2013-2014 academic year
Gregory Rosenthal, Work, Body, and Environment in the Hawaiian Diaspora, 1786-1876
Simone Diender, Expert Power in the Knowledge Economy: Clark Kerr, The University of California, and Private Citizenship in the 1940s-60s
2012-2013 academic year
Jessica Christian, Return to the Mission: Gendered Bonds, Women, and Colonization in San Diego, 1769-1910
2011-2012 academic year
Emmanuelle Perez, Between the United States of Mexico and the United States of America: Californios and Politics, 1821-1879
Reese
The fellowship
Application deadline is the first Monday in February by 5 p.m.
Eligibility for awards
The Reese Fellowship in American Bibliography and the History of the Book in the Americas have been established by the William Reese Company to encourage research on material printed in or related to the Americas. The fellowships support qualified individuals at the institutions participating in the fellowship program, regardless of academic degree, who are pursuing research in the areas listed below.
The program will support research relating to print culture in any part of the Western Hemisphere, or any investigation of the history of the book in the Americas. Preference will be given to projects in materials printed prior to 1920. Projects may investigate any printed genre (e.g. books, prints, pamphlets, photographs intended for publication, broadsides). They may be purely bibliographical, or they may address any issues of ownership, readership, or use of printed materials. Support for work in manuscript collections will be limited to projects related to printed materials (e.g. annotations in books, publishers' business archives, etc.). They are not intended to support the editing of an author's papers.
Size of awards
The fellowship is offered in the amount of $2,500, to support a month of study. Awards may be used to defray travel expenses, living expenses, or research costs. It is assumed that the recipient of the award will be in residence for whatever term is set by the awarding institution.
For applicants
To apply for the Reese Fellowship, please see the please see the How to apply section of this page.
Indication of qualification of the applicant to undertake the proposed work will help the review committee evaluate the proposal.
All awards are made by The Bancroft Library Fellowship Committee. No awards are made directly by William Reese Company. All applications and awards will be made within the framework of existing fellowship programs. If applying for a Reese fellowship at more than one institution in one year, this should be clearly stated in the application.
The applicant will conduct the research project within one year of notification. All recipients will be asked to write a brief report on their research for The Bancroft Library and the William Reese Company.
Winners
2021-2022 academic year
Cycle cancelled due to Covid-19
2020-2021 academic year
Rafael Cerpa, Exploring the Sources of the Enlightenment in Hispanic America
2019-2020 academic year
No award granted
2018-2019 academic year
Carla Fumagalli, The Editorial and Paratextual Representation of Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz and Her Work in Her First Editions (1689, 1692, and 1700)
2017-2018 academic year
No award granted
2016-2017 academic year
No award granted
2015-2016 academic yearr
Albert Palacios, Preventing "Heresy": Publishing in Sixteenth-Century Mexico
2014-2015 academic year
Maria Belen Bistue, Multilingual-Translation Practices and Multi-Version Texts Printed in Colonial Spanish America, 1530-1800
2013-2014 academic year
Garrett Morrison, The Place of Print: Publication and the Regional Imagination in the Mining West, 1849-1869
2012-2013 academic year
Bert Emerson, Local Rules: The Alternative Democracies of Mid-19th Century American Fiction
2011-2012 academic year
Benjamin Reed, Devotion to Saint Philip Neri in Colonial Mexico City, 1657-1821
2010-2011 academic year
Christina Cruz Gonzalez, The Published Sermon as Reflection and Extension of Faith and Politics in Nineteenth-Century Queretaro
2009-2010 academic year
Daniel Wasserman, Translating the Words of God: Evangelization and the Politics of Language in the Spanish World, 1524-1700
2008-2009 academic year
Andrina Tran, Resurrecting the Forgotten Cookbook
Sidney-Fryer
The fellowship
Application deadline is the first Monday in February by 5 p.m.
Eligibility for awards
Donald Sidney-Fryer is a surviving member of Clark Ashton Smith's literary circle, having been his student at the end of Smith's life. In the realm of scholarship, Sidney-Fryer's bio-bibliography of Clark Ashton Smith, Emperor of Dreams (1976) remains the cornerstone of all Smith studies.
The Donald Sidney-Fryer Fellowship, funded by the Aeroflex Foundation, supports scholarly use of primary source materials at The Bancroft Library related to the works of writers, poets, artists and their community collectively referred to as the West Coast Romantics. Notable members of this group, located in Northern California, include Ambrose Bierce, Jack London, Robinson Jeffers, Mary Austin, George Sterling, Clark Ashton Smith, Nora May French, Henry Lafler, James Marie Hopper, Gelett Burgess, Sinclair Lewis, and Xavier Martinez.
The Fellowship is intended to support qualified researchers regardless of academic degree.
Size of awards
The fellowship is offered in the amount of $2500, to support a month of study. Awards may be used to defray travel expenses, living expenses, or research costs. It is assumed that the recipient of the award will be in residence for whatever term is set by the awarding institution.
For applicants
The Fellowship is intended to support qualified researchers regardless of academic degree. Indication of qualification of the applicant to undertake the proposed work will help the review committee evaluate the proposal. All awards are made by The Bancroft Library Fellowship Committee. All applications and awards will be made within the framework of existing fellowship programs.
The applicant is expected conduct the research project within one year of notification. All recipients will be asked to write a brief report on their research for The Bancroft Library and the Aeroflex Foundation.
To apply for a Donald Sidney-Fryer Fellowship, please see the How to apply section of this page.
Winners
2021-2022
Cycle cancelled due to Covid-19
2020-2021
No award given
2019-2020
Erik Russ Davis, Clark Ashton Smith and the California Weird
2018-2019
Ian Fetters, Icy Portents of Doom: Clark Ashton Smith’s Hyperborean Cycle and the Polar Mythos