Winterthur Research Fellowships

Explore, research, create! Through short- and long-term research fellowships, Winterthur offers unparalleled access to a wealth of library, museum, and garden collections supporting material culture research for a wide range of disciplines. For more than five decades, Winterthur research fellows have produced new and innovative projects, advancing interdisciplinary scholarship and creative projects. We enthusiastically welcome scholars and creative professionals at all stages of their careers and particularly encourage researchers from historically underrepresented communities who bring critical perspectives to collections research.

At Winterthur, research fellows can:

• Utilize the hundreds of thousands of American and European imprints, manuscripts, trade literature, ephemera, photographs, and archives of the Winterthur Library, an independent, world-class research collection.
• Examine Winterthur Museum’s expansive object collections of more than 90,000 artifacts that help us broadly understand four centuries of everyday life in America in a global context.
• Look at these collections with specialists and experts and consult with conservators and scientific staff.
• Explore 7,500 plant specimens and more than 1,000 acres of landscape and gardens, using these spaces and materials for research, or for respite and recharging.

FELLOWSHIP TERMS:

• Present one Research Fellowship Program lunchtime talk/lecture about your research at Winterthur (length: 20–25 minutes). We prefer that you present during your residency; if that is not possible, we will work to schedule this afterward.
• Attend weekly Research Fellowship Program lunchtime talks and take part in discussion, contributing to the collegial atmosphere of our scholarly community.
• Share one post about your research on your own social media and tag #researchatwinterthur and @winterthurmuse. Please make this shareable so we can repost it.
• If you would like to present a public program or engage Winterthur’s visitors, please share your idea with Academic Programs staff before your fellowship begins. Our public programs are scheduled nine to twelve months in advance.
• Fellows cannot accept teaching assignments or undertake any other major work or research activities during their fellowship tenure.
• Fellows are expected to be on site at least four days a week. Short-Term, Postdoctoral, Dissertation, and Maker-Creator fellows may complete part of the fellowship remotely, for the equivalent time. We cannot support fully remote fellowships, but we will work with you on a flexible schedule as needed.
• Fellows may use sabbaticals and grants from your own institutions during your fellowship tenure so long as they do not prevent you from meeting Winterthur’s fellowship requirements.

FELLOWSHIPS AVAILABLE:

National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Postdoctoral Fellowship
Stipend: $5,000 per month.
Fellowship must be completed by February 28, 2028.

This 4-month fellowship supports residence at Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library as a junior or senior scholar whose project holds the potential for wider impact upon the humanities rooted in research using Winterthur’s collections.

NEH fellowships are for scholars who have already completed their formal professional training. Degree candidates and individuals seeking support for work in pursuit of a degree are not eligible. Candidates for advanced degrees must have completed all requirements, except for the actual conferral of the degree, by January 15, 2027. This includes the dissertation defense. Foreign nationals who have been residents in the United States for at least three years immediately preceding the application deadline for the fellowship are eligible. 

NEH Fellows are significant contributors to Winterthur’s intellectual community and are expected to be in regular and continuous residence at Winterthur for the entirety of their fellowship. They must devote full time to their study and may not accept teaching assignments or undertake any other major activities during the tenure of their award. Fellows may hold other major fellowships or grants during fellowship tenure, in addition to sabbaticals and supplemental grants from their own institutions. Recipients may not hold any other NEH-funded grants concurrent to the NEH Postdoctoral Fellowship; holding an additional NEH-funded grant before or after the fellowship is permitted.

Winterthur Postdoctoral Fellowship
Stipend: $4,500 per month.

This 4-month fellowship is designed for advanced research or for revising research for publication and is open to all applicants regardless of nationality. You may apply if you will have completed your Ph.D. before September 1, 2027. You may still be a Ph.D. candidate when you apply (applications are due January 15, 2027). If you are unsure whether your degree timing qualifies, please contact us.

Dissertation Fellowships
Stipend: $2,500 per month.

These 4-8-month fellowships support doctoral candidates who are researching or writing their dissertations. If you are completing your Ph.D. independently, without enrollment at a university, you are not eligible for a dissertation fellowship, but you may apply for a Short-Term fellowship. If you are unsure which fellowship is appropriate, please contact us.
 

Short-Term Fellowships
Stipend: $3,000 per month.

These 4-6-week fellowships are open to independent or institutional researchers and scholars of all levels, including graduate students completing Ph.D. and M.A. degrees. You do not need to apply for a particular named fellowship (e.g., Faith Andrews, William Seale, ESA). We consider every Short-Term application for the following awards:  

• Faith Andrews Fellowships for the study of Shaker life and material culture.
• William Seale Fellowship for research related to architectural, landscape and gardens, and White House/Presidential history.
• Ephemera Society of America for projects that reflect a scholarly interest in ephemera and make use of Winterthur’s extensive ephemera holdings.
• The American Trust for the British Library (ATBL) Research Fellowship: Winterthur short-term applicants can elect to be considered for an ATBL fellowship if they receive a Winterthur fellowship. This fellowship offers a $2,500 stipend that supports research using collections in any department in the British Library.  

Maker-Creator Fellowships
Stipend: $3,00 per month.

These 4-6-week fellowships are designed for artistic and creative professionals to examine, study, and immerse themselves in Winterthur’s vast collections to inspire their practices. Past fellows have utilized the museum’s landscape, gardens, museum collections, and library for inspiration, precedent, instruction, and material for their creations. These fellowships are designed to enhance artists’ practices through time with the institution’s collections. Winterthur has no dedicated studio space and there is no expectation that new work will be produced on site during the fellowship. Occasionally, modest on-site creation may be possible depending on the practice, and program staff are available to talk through your goals prior to applying.

Conservation Residency
Stipend: $3,000 per month. All travel and lodging is generously supported by alumni of the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation.

Open to conservation professionals with an established project in alignment with a departmental priority detailed below, the program supports visiting experts for up to 4 weeks, hosted at Winterthur by a member of the Conservation Department. These residencies are designed to foster meaningful exchange, bring fresh perspectives and specialized expertise that can accelerate research, advance strategic projects, and enrich student learning—while also offering Winterthur staff the rare opportunity to pause, reflect, and reinvest their energy in the work they do best.

For the 2027–2028 term, we welcome projects that support expertise in the following areas:

• upholstery conservation
• stain reduction of ceramics
• quantitative analysis of historical glass
• mechanics and structural treatments of paintings
• 20th-century synthetic textiles
• dye analysis
• instrumental analysis of leather tanning processes
• microscopy of plant materials
• conservation of photo albums and scrapbooks

Visiting experts will have access to Winterthur’s full conservation facilities, analytical equipment at both the museum and the University of Delaware, and Winterthur’s museum, garden and library collections. In addition to the Winterthur Fellowship requirements, the Conservation Residency recipient will be expected to engage in sharing with faculty, staff, and students in their identified area of expertise. 

Thank you for considering Winterthur Museum job opportunities.

Powered by JazzHR