Summer Fellowships for Yale Graduate Students

Image of a drawing by Richard Bentley of an Initial letter 'Y' with a castle in the background from "Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College"

The Lewis Walpole Library is delighted to announce applications are now open for the residential Summer Fellowship program for Yale Graduate Students.

The program affords students the opportunity to spend two, four, or eight weeks during June through August in residence at the library in Farmington, Connecticut to delve into its rich collections of eighteenth-century materials (mainly British), including important holdings of prints, drawings, manuscripts, rare books, and paintings.
 
Students applying for a fellowship should be at an advanced stage in their research and propose a fully conceptualized project related to their degree program and on a topic relevant to the Lewis Walpole Library’s holdings. Students are required to be in residence and focus their research on the library collections.
 
Fellowship awards include
 
a supplement to your graduate student stipend, depending upon the duration of your Fellowship:
                  8 weeks: $4000
                  4 weeks: $2000
                  2 weeks: $1000 
 
a bedroom at the Timothy Root House, an eighteenth-century residence on the Library’s campus, adjacent to the main Library building. There is a shared self-catering kitchen and lounge, and each bedroom has a desk and an attached full bathroom.
 
To Apply
Applicants should upload the following materials directly via an online application (link below):
A résumé
A statement expressing preferred duration and dates of residency
A brief research proposal (not to exceed three double-spaced pages), explaining the relevance of the Lewis Walpole Library’s collections to the applicant’s research objectives  
A list of relevant Lewis Walpole Library sources that the applicant expects to consult
An approved dissertation prospectus or equivalent statement outlining the scope of the proposed project as it relates to the applicant’s degree program
The applicant must also request, via the online application portal, a confidential letter of recommendation from the applicant’s dissertation advisor (for PhD students) or  primary advisor (for other graduate students). 
 

Application materials must be submitted directly through Interfolio Please note you will need to login to access the application. The deadline for applications is May 1.

APPLY

For more information, please contact Susan Walker, Head of Public Services, 860-677-2140, or susan.walker@yale.edu

See also the Fellows’ Guide for further details on the Fellowship experience in Farmington. 

See what past LWL Summer Yale Grad Student Fellows have to say was the most valuable aspect oftheir fellowship:

  • There were so many great qualities to the Fellowship: the first, and perhaps most obvious, was having uninterrupted time to pour over the texts; the second, was socializing in the evenings with other fellows. It’s surprising how the Root House kitchen can transform into a London coffee house!
  • The Lewis Walpole fellowship enabled me to look at material from a different time period and geographical location than is my “niche.” This was incredibly valuable as it allowed me to understand some of the origins of the material I specialize in, and how these types of visual material developed and changed over time. 

  • The most valuable aspect of my fellowship was the materials I found that are relevant to my dissertation. 

  • The ability to have dedicated 4 weeks of research while staying on the library’s campus.

Frequently Asked Questions

How will my LWL Summer fellowship funding work with my Graduate School funding?

For students awarded any length of fellowship (two, four, or eight weeks), the Lewis Walpole Library Summer fellowship for graduate students at Yale will supplement your Graduate School stipend for the period of the fellowship.

Do I have to take my fellowship all at once?

It is preferable to take your fellowship in one uninterrupted period, however in certain circumstances you may be permitted to take part of your fellowship early on and resume it later in the summer. At any rate, you are expected to complete your fellowship all in the same summer, and you should be free from other commitments.

             a group of adults seated around tables on the terrace of a whitel colornial house; researchers seated at the long table in the reading room, each with collection material in front of them; a group of three men playing croquet.