The Dumbarton Oaks Humanities Fellowships are a unique and innovative program, offering nine months of professional development at outstanding cultural institutions of Washington, DC, to graduating seniors and recent graduates of Harvard College. The fellowship enables exceptional students to project themselves into careers in the humanities, whether inside or outside the academy, by acquiring skills, broadening their interests, and connecting with influential practitioners and leaders. Dumbarton Oaks hopes that humanities fellows will also benefit by participating in its lively socio-intellectual life.
Recipients of these postgraduate fellowships will reside at Dumbarton Oaks and split their time between the research institute and a collaborating institution in Washington, DC. (Partnering institutions have included the Folger Shakespeare Library, the George Washington University Museum and the Textile Museum, the National Gallery of Art, the National Museum of Natural History, and Smithsonian Folkways Recordings.) Following an orientation week at Dumbarton Oaks, fellows join the collaborating institution for four to five months to acquire new skills and work on projects that include curation and exhibit preparation, research and publication, collection development or conservation, marketing and communication, and education and public outreach initiatives. During the second part of the fellowship, fellows return full-time to Dumbarton Oaks to share and apply their knowledge by proposing and implementing a new idea or contributing to an ongoing project.
Humanities fellows are chosen for their outstanding scholarly achievements, broad cultural engagement, desire to gain and use new skills, and potential to contribute to dynamic humanities communities. The fellowships benefit individuals who may not be intent on pursuing another degree immediately after graduating, would like to learn while contributing to the advancement of group projects, and would gain from spending an academic year in Washington, DC. Recipients of the fellowship need not have been concentrators in the humanities, but should have demonstrated a strong and sustained commitment to the humanities through coursework or extracurricular activities. Their ability to communicate to their own peers their vision of what the humanities mean will be given weight in making the award.
Candidates should possess:
- Strong writing and organizational skills
- Demonstrated curiosity about and commitment to the work and impact of cultural organizations
Harvard College seniors and Harvard College alumni who have graduated within a year of the fellowship deadline are eligible. US citizens and permanent residents only (graduating seniors eligible for OPT may also apply).
To be considered for the fellowship, applicants should submit the following by February 1 via the Embark application portal:
- Résumé
- Transcript (an unofficial transcript from Registrar’s Office is acceptable)
- An example of the applicant’s work (a written paper, article, portfolio, or project)
- A statement of purpose that describes your academic background and interests, and explains how a fellowship in the Humanities will further your intellectual and professional goals.
- Two letters of recommendation to be sent by recommenders
Interviews of short-listed candidates will be held in the spring of 2023. The fellowship term runs from the beginning of September to the end of May. Fellows will be provided with accommodations on the Dumbarton Oaks campus, complimentary weekday lunch in the Refectory when at Dumbarton Oaks, and access to the library and garden. They will receive a stipend of $23,000 and will be eligible for medical insurance through the Dumbarton Oaks fellows’ plan. Up to six fellowships will be offered.
Dumbarton Oaks is an Equal Opportunity Employer (EOE).
Former Fellows
2021–2022
Anna Kate Cannon, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings
Anna Kate Cannon is a 2021 graduate of Harvard College, where she earned a degree in history and literature, a secondary in ethnicity, migration, and rights, and a citation in Spanish. She contributed to institutional humanities initiatives at Dumbarton Oaks and Smithsonian Folkways Recordings.
Natalie Joy Gale, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
Natalie Joy Gale (they/she) graduated in May 2021 from Harvard College with a joint degree in history and literature and art, film, and visual Studies. She contributed to institutional humanities initiatives at Dumbarton Oaks and the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.
Campbell Hannan, Folger Shakespeare Library
Campbell Hannan graduated cum laude from Amherst College in May 2021, majoring in political science and history. She contributed to institutional humanities initiatives at Dumbarton Oaks and the Folger Shakespeare Library.
Nam Hyun Kim, The George Washington Museum and The Textile Museum
Nam Hyun Kim graduated from Harvard College with a joint degree in anthropology (archaeology) and history, as well as a language citation in Korean. She contributed to institutional humanities initiatives at Dumbarton Oaks and the George Washington University Museum and the Textile Museum.
Emily Orr, National Gallery of Art
Emily Orr graduated from Harvard College in 2021 with a degree in history and literature and a secondary in theater, dance, and media. She contributed to institutional humanities initiatives at Dumbarton Oaks and the National Gallery of Art.
2020–2021
Julianna Kardish, The George Washington Museum and The Textile Museum
Julianna Kardish graduated from Harvard University in 2020 with a joint degree in social anthropology and art, film, and visual studies. At Dumbarton Oaks, she contributes to the online publication of Byzantine Collection records.
Elizabeth Mann, National Gallery of Art
Elizabeth Mann graduated from Harvard College in May 2020 with an AB in history and literature and a secondary concentration in history of art and architecture. At Dumbarton Oaks, Mann helped with K–12 educational programming centered on the museum’s world-class collections and historic garden. This includes developing online resources for teachers, students, and families and delivering virtual lessons that actively engage students through close-looking at art, facilitated discussions, and activities.
Dominique Manuel, Folger Shakespeare Library
Dominique Manuel graduated from Amherst College, receiving a BA in history with a concentration in social justice, rights, and inequality. At Dumbarton Oaks, Manuel split her time at Dumbarton Oaks between two projects. For the Byzantine Oral History Project, she works on recently recorded interviews, editing the transcripts and processing them for publishing on the Dumbarton Oaks website, as well as interviewing other Byzantinists. She also catalogs and provides online access to images of Dumbarton Oaks’ fieldwork preserving Byzantine church frescoes in Cyprus in the 1960s and 1970s, as well as uploading those images to Wikimedia Commons and creating and enhancing Wikipedia articles on Cypriot churches.
Kate Moran, National Museum of Natural History
Kate Moran is a 2020 graduate of Harvard College, where she received her BA in English with a secondary in Spanish. Moran researches and catalogs archival visual materials pertaining to Roman and late antique Syria for online access. She supports open access by uploading new images to Wikimedia Commons and creating or enhancing Wikipedia articles for sites in Syria, and she assists in the creation of an online interpretive portal to contextualize the collection within the broader scope of architectural history and the region.
Ben Roy, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings
Ben Roy holds a bachelor in classical languages and literatures, with a secondary in European histories, politics, and societies and a citation in Modern Greek from Harvard College. At Dumbarton Oaks, Roy contributes to the ongoing cataloging of Byzantine lead seals.
2019–2020
Isabella Beroutsos, National Gallery of Art
Isabella Beroutsos received her BA from Harvard College in 2019 with a concentration in the history of art and architecture and secondary studies in French, focusing primarily on American photography. At the National Gallery of Art, she is contributing to the 2020 exhibition New Woman Behind the Camera in the Photographs Department. At Dumbarton Oaks, she is based in Image Collections and Fieldwork Archives (ICFA), cataloging Frank Kidner’s photograph collection, which depicts late antique architectural ruins of the Belus Massif region in northwestern Syria.
Julia Fine, Folger Shakespeare Library
Julia Fine graduated summa cum laude with a degree in history and literature, a secondary in social anthropology, and a citation in Hindi-Urdu. At the Folger, Julia works with the Mellon-funded “Before Farm to Table” project, putting together an online exhibition of recipes collected during the First Chefs exhibit, which ran there in 2019. At Dumbarton Oaks, she works with the Mellon-funded Urban Landscapes Initiative, compiling annotated bibliographies, curating pedagogical tools and syllabi, and planning K-12 educational programming.
Anna Jaysing, National Museum of Natural History
Anna Jaysing graduated from Harvard College in 2019 with a degree in economics and a secondary in molecular and cellular biology. With an interest in using the humanities to enhance the sciences, she spends much of her time volunteering in the child life departments of local children’s hospitals. At the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Jaysing will work with their education team to develop a new school program in the museum’s deep time fossil hall that leverages augmented reality. Back at Dumbarton Oaks, she will compile a report centered around the museum’s accessibility in all its forms for its visitors and staff.
Ilgin Nas, The George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum
Ilgin Nas graduated from Harvard College in 2019 with a degree in Romance languages and literatures, with a focus on Italian studies, and a secondary in Near Eastern languages and civilizations. At Dumbarton Oaks, Ilgin is conducting research on the Image Collections and Fieldwork Archives (ICFA) holdings related to Hagia Sophia to propose a scholarly project in which these holdings will be presented alongside related material from various institutions worldwide. At the George Washington University Museum and the Textile Museum, Ilgin is assisting with the current exhibit Woven Interiors through public outreach initiatives, as well as participating in content development for a future exhibit on prayer rugs.
Norman Storer Corrada, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings
Norman Storer Corrada graduated from Harvard College in 2019 with a degree in archaeology and Romance languages and literatures, and a secondary field in medieval studies. He wrote his senior thesis on material culture in the Decameron, focusing on gendered objects in the Second Giornata. At Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, he is working on the development of a series of musical educational initiatives for both college and K–12 students. His work at Dumbarton Oaks focuses on an upcoming online exhibit of ephemera relating to the Aztec emperor Moctezuma II.
2018–2019
Ariana Chaivaranon, National Gallery of Art
Ariana Chaivaranon received a BA in visual and environmental studies, with a minor in history of art and architecture from Harvard College. At the National Gallery of Art, Ariana worked on a variety of education division activities, including community programs, high school workshops, and the Mini-Multiple-Visit Program for Art Around the Corner. At Dumbarton Oaks, Ariana worked on organizing public programming for current and future exhibitions for the museum.
Julie Estrada, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings
Julie Estrada graduated from Harvard College in 2018 with a degree in the comparative study of religion, focusing on gender and sexuality in the Christian tradition with interest in medieval mysticism. At Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, Julie worked on an education project to make world music culture more accessible in the classroom, and at Dumbarton Oaks, she contributed to an exhibit featuring the Ephemera Collection as a window into the Byzantine revival in the early 20th century.
Lindiwe Makgalemele, National Museum of Natural History
Lindiwe Makgalemele graduated from Harvard College with a degree in history and science, and a secondary in French. At the National Museum of Natural History, Lindiwe worked with the Education Department on curricula generation designed to bring forward the work of the museum’s scientists and to make the sciences and science careers accessible to all. At Dumbarton Oaks, Lindiwe researched and cataloged Frank Kidner’s photographs of the Dead Cities outside Aleppo, Syria, in the Image Collections and Fieldwork Archives.
Catherine Polik, The George Washington Museum and The Textile Museum
Catherine Polik graduated from Harvard College in 2018 with a degree in earth and planetary sciences and a research focus in reconstructing past climates. As a Humanities Fellow, Catherine prepared for an upcoming special exhibition on furnishing textiles from Late Antique Egypt, a joint effort of Dumbarton Oaks and the Textile Museum.
Charles Webb, Folger Shakespeare Library
Charles Webb graduated from Harvard College in 2018 with a degree in classics and computer science, focusing on Ancient Greece and data science. At the Folger Shakespeare Library, Charles worked with their Digital Media and Publications Department to assist with the development of Miranda, their new digital asset platform. Back at Dumbarton Oaks, he worked with the Byzantine Seals Collection to create a digital map that will be used to visualize the catalogue for exhibition.
2017–2018
Andrés Álvarez Dávila, Folger Shakespeare Library
Andrés Álvarez Dávila concentrated in Romance studies with a focus on French and Spanish Literature and completed significant coursework in the Graduate School of Design and the Classics Department. He spent his fellowship year working on exhibitions at the Folger Shakespeare Library. At Dumbarton Oaks, he worked on the rare book exhibition Seeing Cherries as a part of the Mellon Initiative in Urban Landscape Studies.
Erica Eisen, The George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum
Erica Eisen graduated from Harvard College with a degree in the history of art and architecture, after which she earned an MA in Buddhist art history and conservation from the Courtauld Institute of Art as a Frank Knox Memorial Fellow. Erica’s work as a fellow focused on preparations for an upcoming special exhibition on Byzantine textiles from Egypt, a joint effort of Dumbarton Oaks and The Textile Museum.
Michael Kennedy-Yoon, National Museum of Natural History
Michael Kennedy-Yoon graduated from Harvard College with a degree in visual environmental studies, and a secondary degree in economics. He worked on curricula generation in the paleontology department at the National Museum of Natural History. While at Dumbarton Oaks, he assisted with outreach projects designed to make the institution’s extensive collections available to all.
Adela Kim, National Gallery of Art
Adela Kim received her AB from Harvard College in the history of art and architecture with a secondary in Germanic studies. At the National Gallery of Art, she worked in the department of photography for the exhibition The New Woman Behind the Camera. At Dumbarton Oaks, she helped catalogue Frank Kidner’s photographs of the Dead Cites region outside Aleppo, Syria.
Abby Westover, Folger Shakespeare Library
Abby Westover graduated from Harvard College with a degree in history and literature, focusing on medieval Britain and France. At the Folger Shakespeare Library, Abby worked on exhibitions and conservation efforts. At Dumbarton Oaks, she worked on the Ephemera Collection to create an exhibition focusing on French and Italian garden designs.
Faye Yan Zhang, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings
Faye Yan Zhang studied English literature and creative writing at Harvard College. She also studied and worked in the visual arts with a focus on sequential art (comics), painting, and documentary. At the Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, she worked with ethnomusicology and the Folkways record label. She contributed to the Mapping Cultural Philanthropy project while at Dumbarton Oaks.
Faye received a Fulbright Award in 2018 to work on a project on Chinese healthcare at the University of Manchester.
2016–2017
Priyanka Menon, Folger Shakespeare Library
Priyanka Menon concentrated in mathematics and completed a secondary in history. At the Folger, Menon worked as a research assistant to the Director, Michael Witmore, and investigated the relationship between social justice and the humanities. At Dumbarton Oaks, she worked on the Mapping Cultural Philanthropy project, which documents the history of cultural philanthropy in Washington, DC.
Rebecca Rosen, The George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum
Rebecca Rosen graduated from Harvard College with a degree in neurobiology. In her work at the Textile Museum, Rosen assisted with exhibition planning and curatorial research. In her time at Dumbarton Oaks, she was a part of digitization projects related to the textiles and coins in the Byzantine Collection and helped with the reinstallation of the museum.
After her fellowship, Rebecca received the 2017 Dufresne Scholar Award Intern at the C. M. Russell Museum in Great Falls, Montana.
John Wang, National Gallery of Art
John Wang graduated with a concentration in history of art and architecture from Harvard College, where he also worked as a student guide at the Harvard Art Museums. As a Humanities Fellow, Wang worked at the National Gallery of Art, where he was a research assistant in the department of exhibition programs for the exhibitions on Andrea del Verrocchio and Genoa in the Baroque age. At Dumbarton Oaks, he organized the rare book exhibition City Water/City Life as a part of the Mellon Initiative in Urban Landscape Studies.
In 2016, John was the first undergraduate to win the Radcliffe Institute’s 2016 Public Art Competition, for his installation design 100+ Years at 73 Brattle.