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Apply for a Fellowship

In keeping with the central value the Society places on bibliography as a critical framework, the BSA funds a number of fellowships to promote inquiry and research in books and other textual artifacts in both traditional and emerging formats.

Application Guidelines & Eligibility

The deadline for applications for fellowships to be awarded in 2024 is Monday, October 2, 2023. All applications must be completed and letters of recommendation submitted to the Society by this date.

The BSA uses Kaleidoscope to manage applications to our programs, and all candidates and recommenders are required to submit materials through that website. Applicants are asked to submit the following when applying for any BSA Fellowship, including the Pantzer Senior Fellowship:

  1. Project title
  2. Applicant’s curriculum vitae
  3. Project proposal of no more than 1,000 words
  4. Project budget
  5. Project timeline, including a list of materials to be consulted.
  6. Two letters of recommendation submitted via Kaleidoscope. The committee will not accept letters of recommendation by any other means.

The fellowship committee will match proposed projects to suitable fellowships, and the awards will be announced at the annual meeting of the Society in January of each year. All fellowships require a project report within one year of receipt of the award, and copies of any publications resulting from the project are to be sent to the BSA.

We regret that we cannot consider late or incomplete applications. Applicants are advised to request recommendation letters well in advance.

Eligibility

With the exception of The BSA-Harry Ransom Center Pforzheimer Fellowship in Bibliography, eligibility is limited to:

  1. US Citizens and Residents
  2. Citizens of other nations without US residency who wish to conduct research outside of the United States only

The BSA-Harry Ransom Center Pforzheimer Fellowship is open to non-US residents who wish to conduct research at the Harry Ransom Center, which will sponsor their visas and assist with the visa application process.

All fellowships except for the BSA-Harry Ransom Center Pforzheimer Fellowship are open applications from research pairs or groups. Special instructions for joint or group applications are provided in the application form.

For more information, please contact the BSA Fellowship program at bsafellowships@bibsocamer.org.

Start Your Application

The deadline for applications for fellowships to be awarded in 2023 is Monday, October 2, 2023. All applications must be completed and letters of recommendation submitted to the Society by this date.

The BSA uses Kaleidoscope to manage applications to our programs, and all candidates and recommenders are required to submit materials through that website. The form will open on June 15, 2023. Applications for ALL BSA Fellowship Awards are collected through the single form linked below.

Start your Fellowship application on Kaleidoscope.

We advise applicants to start early and alert recommenders
well before the October 2, 2023 deadline.

We urge you to communicate early and often with your recommender about your fellowship application and to share with them the “For Recommenders” information below. Kaleidoscope sends prompts to every recommender entered into the system by an applicant. Unfortunately, institutional firewalls sometimes prevent Kaleidoscope’s messages from being delivered. If your recommender has not received a prompt to submit a letter of recommendation, please ask them to follow the instructions below and contact the Kaleidoscope help desk if you need further assistance. Your recommender needs to know the email address that you submitted to Kaleidoscope as their primary contact.

For Recommenders

If you are submitting a recommendation on behalf of a Fellowship applicant you will receive an automated message from Kaleidoscope prompting you to set up an account and submit your materials through their website. If you do not receive such an email check your junk or spam folder. You can also email help@mykaleidoscope.com for tech support.

Letters of recommendation should be written specifically in support of this application by persons who are competent to judge the significance of the project.

How to Submit a Letter of Recommendation

Kaleidoscope sends prompts to every recommender entered into the system by an applicant. Unfortunately, institutional firewalls often prevent Kaleidoscope’s messages from being delivered. If you (or your recommender) have not received a prompt to submit a letter of recommendation, please follow the instructions and contact the Kaleidoscope help desk if you need further assistance.

Recommenders: Follow the instructions below to create and/or login to your Kaleidoscope account to submit the letter of recommendation. This process should take no more than 15 minutes if your letter is ready for upload.

  • Visit the Kaleidoscope login page: https://apply.mykaleidoscope.com/login
  • If the recommender has never used Kaleidoscope to submit a recommendation letter: Follow the prompt below the login fields (email address, password) reading, “Are you a nominator, endorser, reference, school counselor, third party contributor or review board member? An account has already been created for you! Click here to set your password.” Click “click here” and follow the prompts to set a password to access your account. (Here’s a picture of that screen.)
  •   If the recommender has used Kaleidoscope to submit a recommendation letter: Login with your existing username and password, as long as it is the same email address as that submitted by the applicant. If you have used Kaleidoscope in the past but registered with a different email address, you will need to follow the process outlined for first-time users above.
  • Once the recommender has logged in: The recommender dashboard will display the recommendation request awaiting completion. Click on the prompt and follow the instructions to complete the upload.

Tech Support for Applicants and Recommenders

Applicants and recommenders experiencing technical difficulties with Kaleidoscope are encouraged to contact the Kaleidoscope help desk by email at any time. Someone from their tech support team replies to emails within 24-hours; most emails receive a response within 3 hours.

Kaleidoscope Tech Support: help@mykaleidoscope.com