Harvard Library’s Pforzheimer Fellowships provide an opportunity for Harvard graduate students to learn about library careers, advance their own research skills, and get to know the library from the inside. Students choose from a list of library projects (see below) and submit an application. Fellowships are awarded every winter/spring and run during the summer.
Fellows are awarded up to $6,000 to complete a library project under the guidance and mentorship of a librarian or archivist.
How to Apply
Any graduate student who is currently enrolled at Harvard is encouraged to apply.
A small committee, chaired by Carl H. Pforzheimer University Professor Ann Blair, selects fellows for the program with input from the Harvard Library.
- Choose a Project: Review the proposed fellowship projects (see projects) and choose which you'd like to apply to work on. You may submit more than one application.
- Contact your References: You will be asked to include two references on your application. Your references should be two people you've worked with while at Harvard, one of which must be a Harvard faculty member. Your references must send their letters of support to Hannah Hack at hannah_hack@harvard.edu.
Application Deadline
February 21, 2025
Fellowship dates
Fellow Selection Announcement: spring 2025
Fellowship runs June through August 2025
Award
up to $6,000
APPLY
Things to know
- Fellows are assigned a mentor from the library and work on defined projects under the mentor's supervision.
- Fellows are expected to assume full responsibility for their projects.
- Each fellow must submit a final report of this work describing and evaluating their experiences.
- Graduate students currently enrolled at Harvard are eligible to apply (not incoming or outgoing).
- Fellows acknowledge that the project is based in Massachusetts and work must be completed while physically in Massachusetts.
- The fellowship runs for approximately 10 weeks, for a total of ~150 hours.
- The fellowship is an hourly, paid role; fellows will be responsible for submitting hours weekly (details to be provided once selected).
- Students holding a concurrent exempt (salaried) position are ineligible for this fellowship as it is a non-exempt position.
- Applicants understand the information on the Student Employment Office site, particularly that students can work no more than 40hr/week when classes are not in session.
- If applicable, students are responsible for discussing this fellowship opportunity with their financial aid advisor.
- International students are responsible for having the necessary work authorization to work at Harvard University in an administrative role (not a research or teaching role) that is paid hourly.
- Fellows understand that if any of their eligibility criteria changes during the fellowship their eligibility will be reviewed and may result in an early end of the fellowship.
Library Projects Summer 2025
Projects are created from across Harvard's libraries and range from digitizing materials to working on exhibits or taking a deep dive into a collection. Students can read through and find a project that's right for them.
Preserving Academic Legacy: A Study of Thesis and Dissertation Stewardship of Harvard
Open Scholarship and Research Data Services (OSRDS) & Harvard University Archives, Harvard Library
The current process for theses and dissertations submission, approval, and archiving are decentralized and school specific. To ensure consistent acquisition, discovery, access, and preservation, OSRDS and HUA proposes a project to investigate and document the current workflows and processes for dissertations and theses in both paper and electronic formats across Harvard’s schools. This includes examining the existing workflows in the University Archives, OSRDS, and individual schools, identifying issues, assessing service needs, and making recommendations. During the project, the incumbent will consult library staff in the University Archives and OSRDS about the unit’s roles, services, and functions, document Dissertation and Theses processes at each school, and gather required data from students and academic administrators in identifying needs and service gaps.
About the Preserving Academic Legacy Project (PDF)
Widener Discovery Center: Centering Student Engagement
Widener Library, FAS
Widener Library is an iconic institution within Harvard’s extensive library system, serving as a central hub for academic research and inquiry. The forthcoming Discovery Center, set to open in 2026, will highlight Harvard Library's unique collections and resources in a publicly accessible space for the university community, neighbors, and visitors. Students are crucial stakeholders in the center's creation and utilization, with the aim of enhancing their academic experiences through deeper engagement with the library's offerings.
As the Widener Discovery Center prepares for its 2026 launch, this project will lay the groundwork for effective student engagement. The fellow will analyze existing data and consult with library staff and Harvard faculty to develop informed recommendations that form the basis of a strategic engagement plan. This plan will ensure the Discovery Center becomes a vibrant and integral part of the student academic experience at Harvard. Additionally, the fellow will design surveys and focus group frameworks, preparing for implementation in the 2025-2026 academic year to gain a detailed understanding of student needs and interests.
About the Widener Discovery Center Project (PDF)
Translating Yakut Fieldwork Description from Russian to English
Eda Kuhn Loeb Music Library, FAS
The Archive of World Music holds commercial recordings and unpublished sound archives including ethnographic collections from major figures in the field of ethnomusicology and folklore studies. This project focuses on translating documentation of videos in the Eduard Alekseyev Fieldwork Collection of the Musical Culture of Yakutia, 1957-1990. As a result, the finding aid will be updated with bi-lingual description and value-added elements.
This is a jointly supervised fellowship that will enhance the finding aid of the Eduard Alekseyev Fieldwork Collection of the Musical Culture of Yakutia, 1957-1990 with bi-lingual description, transcripts, and a note on related materials. Addition of the translated description to the finding aid will enable discovery of and access to the already digitized videos. The production of transcriptions of audio portions of the collection will be an important added value for researchers. The bibliography will be the basis of a “related materials” note and will be of use for other curatorial activities including reference questions. Finally, if the fellow completes these elements of the project, there are other collections with documentation in Slavic scripts that would be available for appraisal, if not translation.
About the Translating Yakut Fieldwork Description Project (PDF)
Hollis Hall: Its History and People
Harvard University Archives, Harvard Library
Hollis Hall is one of the oldest buildings on the Harvard campus. Built as a student dormitory in 1763, Hollis served as temporary lodging for a wide variety of individualism including colonial soldiers during the American Revolution and distinguished alumni such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau.
Over the course of the summer, the Pforzheimer Fellow will research the history of Hollis Hall and the various individuals who have lived there, as well as collect any information available about the builders of the structure and its interiors. This research will be collected, organized, and presented in a report for the University Archives, with the potential to develop an interpretive history of the building and its various occupants for use by visitors to the University, students, faculty, scholars and the general public interested in Harvard’s campus.
About the Hollis Hall Project (PDF)
Survey of Houghton Library's Native American Collections
Houghton Library, FAS
Houghton’s collections related to Native American history and culture have been receiving increasing interest and research use, particularly as Harvard is working to establish partnerships with Native tribal organizations. The goal of this project is to survey Houghton’s collections of Native American materials with the goal of creating a public guide to the collection, as a way of welcoming and orienting new users.
The Fellow will explore Hollis and related collection databases, and consult with Houghton staff, to identify as fully as possible the relevant materials in the collection, documenting them for internal use. The Fellow will then synthesize that information into a shorter public guide that identifies key highlights of the collection and offers researchers strategies for further investigation.
About the Survey of Houghton Library's Native American Collections Project (PDF)
Uncovering Tozzer Library's Mesoamerican Codex Facsimiles
Tozzer Library, FAS
Indigenous codex facsimiles are one of the cornerstones of Tozzer Library’s special collections. This collection includes vibrant examples of Aztec, Maya, and Mixtec codices that are consulted by scholars around the world. These facsimiles contain valuable information about the religious beliefs, worldviews, lanaguges, and artwork of pre-colonial and colonial-era Mesoamerican Indigenous communities.
As part of this project, a student will work with the Librarian for Tozzer Library to conduct an updated survey of the facsimiles in Tozzer’s collection. This survey will seek to understand the historical background behind the creation of each codex, as well as information that is unique to Tozzer’s specific copy or copies. Knowledge of Spanish, French, and/or German will be helpful for the student engaging in this research. Using the information gathered during the survey, the student will then create a CURIOSity digital exhibit to make these resources available more widely to both scholars and descendant communities.
About the Uncovering Tozzer Library's Mesoamerican Codex Facsimiles Project (PDF)
Gore Vidal Centenary Exhibition
Houghton Library, FAS
This year, 2025, marks the centenary of the birth of novelist and public intellectual Gore Vidal (1925-2012). Known for his acerbic wit, Vidal did not hesitate to express often controversial opinions. His third nove, The city and the pillar (1948), was the first post-WWII novel to with a sympathically portrayed gay antagonist, and it established Vidal as a gay icon. His highly successful novels, including Myra Breckinridge and his “Narratives of Empire” series, which included Burr and Lincoln explored themes of national identiy in American history. His archive, and his estate, was bequeathed to Harvard University.
To mark the centenary of this important American novelist and Harvard benefactor, the library will create a web exhibition in CURIOSity to provide and in-depth view of the writer through his archive at Houghton Library.
About the Gore Vidal Centenary Exhibition Project (PDF)
Mapping the World Music Industry: Geographic Perspectives on the Archive of World Music
Eda Kuhn Loeb Music Library, FAS
The Archive of World Music holds commercial recordings and unpublished sound archives including ethnographic collections from major figures in the field of ethnomusicology.
This project combines archival description with a “collections as data” approach to gain new perspectives on the world music industry. A graduate student will work with materials in the AWM to contextualize them and derive metadata that will be used in mapping materials selected from a single collection or a sub-set of items from the commercial holdings of the Archive of World Music.
About the Mapping the World Music Industry Project (PDF)
About the fellowship
Librarianship in the 21st century engages with some of the liveliest areas of intellectual activity, yet most graduate students have little idea of the exciting professional opportunities available in libraries.
During these fellowships, the Pforzheimer Fellows are assigned a mentor from the library and work on Harvard Library projects under the mentor's supervision. While getting to know librarians and librarianship firsthand, they will be expected to assume responsibility for their projects. Each Pforzheimer Fellow will be awarded up to $5,000 to complete the project.
At the end of the project, the fellows will be asked to submit a final report of this work describing and evaluating their experiences. Fellows will also participate in discussions with each other about their experiences.
These fellowships are in honor of Carl H. Pforzheimer III for his generous contributions to Harvard and its libraries.
Past Fellows
Summer 2024 Fellows
- C.R. Elliott: Wadsworth House: Its History and People
- Lauren Ehrmann: Thomas Jacoby Photographs of Early Christian Churches of Syria
- Johannes Makar: Thomas Jacoby Photographs of Early Christian Churches of Syria
- Ana Luiza Nicolae: Geospatial Data and Archival Research
- María Alejandra Privado: Celebrating the Radcliffe Choral Society at 125: An Archives-Focused Exhibit
Learn more about the 2024 Pforzheimer Fellows' projects.
Summer 2023 Fellows
- Brett Donohoe: Documenting the War in Ukraine with Internet-based primary sources
- Morgan Forde: connecting the Gutman Collections to the Black Teacher Archive
- Masoud Ariankhoo: Indigenous Studies of Near East, Middle East and North Africa
- Angélica María Sánchez Barona: The Legacy of Slavery in Houghton Library's Collection
Learn more about the 2023 Pforzheimer Fellows' projects.
Spring 2022 Fellows
- Donald Brown: Harvard and HBCUs
- Gangsim Eom: Urban Segregation
- Julia Harris: ACT UP Collection
- Johannes Makar: Finding Aids for Middle East Collections
- Kabl Wilkerson: Indigenous Peoples and Native American Exhibit
Learn more about the 2022 Pforzheimer Fellows' projects.
Spring 2021 Fellows
- Jessica Carbone: Women, Enterprise and Society: A Web Guide to Resources Project
- Sharri Hall: The Music of Black Americans Project
- Kate Mancey: Boston Rock City Project
- Meg Weeks: Hot-Button Issues Project
Contact
Practical questions concerning the application process should be addressed to Hannah Hack at hannah_hack@harvard.edu.
More general, academic questions concerning the program may be addressed to Professor Ann Blair at amblair@fas.harvard.edu.