Fellowships

There are a number of competitive fellowships available at Rare Book School with various requirements for eligibility. Please refer to the fellowship descriptions below for details.

RBS-awarded fellowships may be redeemed for in-person or online courses. A single scholarship or fellowship award may be redeemed for one in-person course, one 22-hour online course, or two 12-hour online courses within the same year, or three 6-hour courses, or a combination of one 12-hour and two 6-hour courses (partial awards may not be carried over to the second year). For more information, please contact your RBS-awarded fellowship administrator directly.

RBS-UVA Fellowship Program

Rare Book School invites students at the University of Virginia to apply for a fellowship designed to enhance UVA student research employing special collections, including written, printed, and born-digital materials. The RBS-UVA Fellowship Program provides UVA undergraduate and graduate students with scholarships to attend RBS’s celebrated courses on the history of books and printing—classes that are not available through UVA course offerings.

The Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship of Scholars in Critical Bibliography

In 2012, Rare Book School received a substantial grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to fund the Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship of Scholars in Critical Bibliography. The aim of this program was to reinvigorate bibliographical studies by providing focused training and mentorship for doctoral candidates, postdoctoral fellows, and junior faculty in the humanities. Fellowships included three years of support for RBS course attendance and research-related travel. [Please note, the Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship of Scholars in Critical Bibliography is no longer accepting new applicants.]

IMLS-RBS Fellowship Program

Rare Book School received a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) through their Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program in March 2014. This grant funded a fellowship program to help educate and contribute to the professional development of early-career special collections librarians, with a special emphasis on recruiting participants currently underrepresented in the field. Fellowships included funding to take a course at Rare Book School as well as to attend the annual conference of the Rare Books and Manuscripts Section (RBMS) of the Association of College & Research Libraries, a division of the American Library Association. [Please note, the IMLS-RBS Fellowship Program is no longer accepting new applicants.]

RBS Fellowships

Rare Book School’s fellowship program began with the E. Ph. Goldschmidt Fellowship in 1995, followed in 1999 by the Reese Company and San Garde Fellowships, and in 2001 by the Ian Willison Fellowship. Applications for these four fellowships are by invitation only, but RBS has a generous general scholarship program.