yale institute of sacred music: short-term fellowships

Each year the short-term fellows’ program enables scholars to engage in research in non-circulating collections at Yale that focus on the aural, material, visual, ritual, and textual cultures of religions. Fellows may be senior scholars or Ph.D. students working on interdisciplinary projects in sacred music, worship, and the arts. Spanning virtually every age and region of the world, Yale’s collections are among the deepest and widest ranging of any university. They form an integral part of Yale’s mission of teaching and research and are accessible to students, scholars, and the public.

Short-term fellowships are available for doctoral students at the dissertation stage, and for scholars who hold the Ph.D or an equivalent terminal degree. These one to three month residential fellowships are restricted to work in Yale’s non-circulating collections, notably at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, the special collections of the Divinity Library, the Morris Steinert Collection of Musical Instruments, the Yale Center for British Art, the Yale Peabody Museum, and the Yale University Art Gallery. Fellows have full access to all of Yale’s libraries and will be granted space to conduct their work. Fellows are encouraged to involve themselves in the life of the university while at Yale.

General Expectations

Researchers must free themselves of most other work during the fellowship period (including not holding other fellowships simultaneously) and are expected to reside in the vicinity of Yale. Yale faculty, staff, and students are not eligible for these fellowships. Split fellowships will not be granted, and only one application per candidate is allowed in a given academic year. Please note that attendance will be monitored and grants will be adjusted to reflect shortened fellowship periods. Only J-1 visas will be granted to fellows requiring immigration assistance to undertake research.