Hearst Foundations Fellowship

Hearst Foundations Fellowships are fellowships for creative and performing artists and writers. They support historical research by creative and performing artists, writers, film makers, journalists, and other persons whose goals are to produce imaginative works dealing with pre-twentieth-century American history, literature, and culture.

Application Procedure

All applicants are considered for both the Hearst Foundations Fellowship and Robert and Charlotte Baron Fellowship. 

In addition to completing the online application form, the elements listed below are required for the completion of your application. Information about the required elements is given within the online form.

  • STATEMENT
  • CURRENT RÉSUMÉ
  • WORK SAMPLES and REVIEWS 

 

Application Deadline
Contact Person
Nan Wolverton

Fellows

Date Name Affiliation Position
2025 Robbie Wilson Sturbridge, MA Composer Research for a narrative song cycle or chamber opera using the letters of black and white Civil War soldiers
2025 Stacia Pelletier Dahlonega, GA Author Research about Jemima Wilkinson, also known as the Public Universal Friend, for a novel
2024 Tina Spangler Narrowsburg, NY Documentary Filmmaker Research for her historical film about the life, work, and massive influence of artist Frances Flora “Fanny” Palmer (1812-1876)
2024 Alison Clarke Edmonton, AB Poet Research on Harriet E. Wilson for a historical fiction trilogy
2023 D. Lance Marsh Oklahoma City, OK Playwright Research for “Macbeth/Forrest/Macbeth” a radical reworking of the text of Shakespeare’s Macbeth as seen through the lens of the Astor Place Riots
2023 Danielle Legros Georges Boston, MA Poet Research for “Acts of Resistance to New England Slavery by Africans Themselves in New England,” a series of poems about Black self-determinism and articulations of freedom within and against the context of Northern slavery
2022 Darryl Lauster Arlington, TX Sculptor Research for a series of bronze sculptures that will visually identify with scrolls and parchment manuscripts
2022 Shirley Hunt Boston, MA Musician Research for concert/lecture which focuses on early 19th-century lutherie in New England
2020 Melanie Cataldo Worcester, MA Illustrator The Making: An illustrated novel that focuses on the struggle of two young girls living by 19th century standards in mid 20th century New England
2020 Michael Schlitt Los Angeles, CA Storyteller The Pursuit of Happiness podcast: a multi-episode audio series about Americans' quest for an elusive, aspirational ideal of happiness
2019 David Mills Long Island City, NY Poet After Mistic: A poetry manuscript that focuses on slavery in Massachusetts and New York
2019 Brece Honeycutt Sheffield, MA Mixed Media Artist A series of artworks that demonstrate at their core a respect for the natural world in ages past
2018 Brian Mullin London, U.K. Playwright Play inspired by the community of freed African-American slaves who lived freely in an abandoned British garrison in the West Florida territory following the end of the War of 1812
2018 Lisa Bielawa New York, NY Composer, Producer, Performer Sanctuary & Centuries in the Hours: A series of small works for the violin and voice, focusing on immigration
2017 Shana Youngdahl Farmington, ME Poet and Author Research for poems about women in the early New England tin ware industry
2017 Arielle Ballard Brockton, MA Poet Research on interactions between black and indigenous people for a full-length book of poetry
2016 Denise Miller Texas Township, MI Creative Writer Travelogos: African Americans and the Struggle for Safe Passage
2016 Susan Stinson Northampton, MA Novelist Research for a novel about Elizabeth Tuttle Edwards
2015 Stephanie Carpenter Hancock, MI Fiction Writer Many and Wide Separations: Two novellas that focus on fictional female artists in mid-nineteenth-century New England
2015 Erin Lyons Washington, DC Fiction Writer Historical novel about Anne Hutchinson and the Massachusetts Bay Colony, from 1630-1638, told from the point of view of a servant girl
2014 Carolyn Kras Los Angeles, CA Writer, Screen (TV, Theater, Stage) Research for a TV pilot script to take place in 1871 after the Great Chicago Fire
2014 Sarah Stern Red Hook, NY Playwright Research for play tentatively called "The Spectator," which deals with the intersection of politics and theatre in New York City during the 1730s
2013 Aimee Parkison Stillwater, OK Fiction Writer Sister Seance: A historical literary novel set in Concord, MA in the 19th century, that explores the hidden sexual implications in parlor games and holiday courtship rituals of Victorian Americans
2013 Amina Gautier Chicago, IL Fiction Writer Band of Gideon
2012 Anne Harley Claremont, CA Musician, Soprano True Witness: A multi-choral civil rights cantata inspired by the texts of Charlotte Forten
2012 Ansel Elkins Greensboro, NC Poet A collection of poems about the lives of 19th-century conjoined twins Chang and Eng Bunker and Millie-Christine McKoy
2011 Kelle Groom New Smyrna Beach, FL Poet Memoir about Thomas Greenough, the last surviving Wampanoag Indian on the Bass River reservation in South Yarmouth, MA
2011 Brian Teare Charlottesville, VA Poet Inter-disciplinary project including poetry and photographs, with focus on spirit photography and spiritualism
2010 Sean Hill Bemidji, MN Poet Dangerous Goods: A series of poems about two African American men who immigrated with their families from Milledgeville, GA to Liberia in the 1870s
2010 Kathryn Nuernberger Minneapolis–St. Paul, MN Poet A collection of poems that merges poetic and academic impulses through special attention to performance art from the 19th century as well as games, plays, and librettos
2009 Robert Strong Maine Poet Bright Advent: A work of poetry set in the years leading to King Philip's War
2009 Ann Lovett New Paltz, NY Photographer Artist book about the textile mills of Lowell and other Massachusetts mill towns and the "mill girls" who worked in them
2008 Sandra Jackson-Opoku Chicago, IL Novelist God's Gift to the Natives: A novel that explores one musician's enigmatic life and tragic death, while also charting the history and movement of the African diaspora
2008 Celeste Roberge South Portland, ME Sculptor Granite Sofa (sculpture)
2007 Kimberly Elkins New York, NY Fiction Writer What is Visible: A novel about the lives of Laura Bridgman and Julia Ward Howe
2007 Laurie Block Conway, MA Filmmaker Documentary about Helen Keller
2006 Kriota Willberg New York, NY Choreographer and Cartoonist Updated version for a performance of the 1866 Broadway production of 'The Black Crook' 
2005 Camille T. Dungy Colorado State University Poet Suck on the Marrow
2005 Nancy Rubin Stuart New York, NY Writer The Muse of the Revolution; The Secret Pen of Mercy Otis Warren and the Founding of a Nation
2004 Alyson Pou New York, NY Performance Artist A Slight Headache (solo performance)
2004 Martha Morss Mount Vernon, OH Writer Mary Katherine Goddard, colonial printer
2003 Lavonne Mueller Chicago, IL Playwright A collection of short one-story plays about six notable American women, Abigail Adams, Dolly Madison, Sacagawea, Lucy Stone, Harriet Tubman, and Martha Washington
2003 Ruth Lopez Chicago, IL Writer Research in the McLoughlin Brothers archive toward a social history on the artists who helped create children's literature in America
2002 Ellen Wiener Princeton, NJ Painter, Printmaker, Book Artist A new 'Book of Hours' using imagery from nineteenth century sources
2002 Deborah Dancy Storrs, CT Painter The Conjurer's Apprentice or The Legend of Yellow Mary: A Slave Girl's Tale of Survival by her Wit and Extraordinary Powers, as written by herself
2001 Geoffrey Brock Fayetteville, AK Poet Voices Bright Flags: Poems based on American historical events
2001 Hallie Hobson New York, NY Playwright Watchnight: A play on the eve of Emancipation
2000 Maureen Cummins Bearsville, NY Book Artist Anthro(A)pology
2000 Katrina Browne Berkeley, CA Filmmaker Traces of the Trade: Research on the history and legacy of the slave trade in New England