History of Art and Architecture

Research Funding and Resources

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Research Funding and Resources

Graduate students are expected to apply for external as well as university and departmental funding to enhance their research opportunities and to introduce them to academic and curatorial communities around the world.

Funding

The department provides support and encouragement for students to become excellent grant writers, and HIAA graduate students have an impressive record of fellowship success.

Departmental Internal Awards

The Kermit Champa Memorial Fund was established in memory of Kermit Swiler Champa, who inspired generations of students during the 34 years that he taught at Brown, from 1970 until his death in 2004. He was the first Andrea V. Rosenthal Professor of art history, and a specialist in modernism and 19th-century European and American painting.

In the spirit of Professor Champa's own privileged exposure to original works of art while a beginning graduate student, this fund for travel is intended to encourage and promote art historical training. Every year students at an early stage of developing their dissertation proposals are invited to apply for grants from the Champa Fund to defray the costs of travel undertaken to build visual and critical discernment and interpretive confidence. Travel destinations might include locations where there are exhibitions, performances, museums and site-specific or ephemeral installations. The amount of the award usually ranges from $500-$1,500, and is intended to supplement other forms of graduate research funding.

The Rebecca Molholt Vanel Flexible Fund honors the memory of Professor Molholt Vanel who taught in the department from 2008 to 2014. It commemorates her deep interest in travel and museum experience.

External Grants and Fellowships

The Graham Foundation offers two Carter Manny Awards: a research award for a student at the research stage of the doctoral dissertation and a writing award for a student at the writing stage of the doctoral dissertation. The Carter Manny Award supports dissertation research and writing by promising scholars whose projects have architecture as their primary focus and the potential to shape architectural discourse. Projects may be drawn from the various fields of inquiry supported by the Graham Foundation: architectural history, theory, and criticism; design; engineering; landscape architecture; urban planning; urban studies; visual arts; and other related fields.
 
Students must be ABD. Learn more.

There are several fellowships available for students who are ABD and well-advanced in their research. The fellowships are specifically targeted at different kinds of research and require different amounts of residency in Washington (some require no residency). Please read the descriptions carefully, and along with your proposal please let us know which award you are interested in, and if possible, a runner-up if that one is not available. We may nominate you for only one of these grants.

Learn more.

This award will support your research at one of the following six institutions outside of the
United States for two years:

  • Florence, Kunsthistorisches Institut / Institute for Art History
  • Leiden, Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society (LUCAS)
  • London, Courtauld Institute of Art & Warburg Institute of Art (jointly administered)
  • Munich, Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte / Central Institute for Art History
  • Paris, Institut national d'histoire de l'art (INHA) / National Institute for the History of Art
  • Rome, Bibliotheca Hertziana 

Restricted to pre-doctoral candidates in the history of art and related disciplines (such as
archaeology, architectural history, or classics). Nominees must be U.S. citizens or individuals
matriculated at an American university. Dissertation research must focus on European art from antiquity to the early 19th century and applicants must be ABD by the time their fellowship begins.

Learn more.

The Dedalus Foundation Dissertation Fellowship is awarded annually to a Ph.D. candidate at a university in the United States who is working on a dissertation related to painting, sculpture and allied arts from 1940-1991, with a preference shown to Abstract Expressionism. Nominees should have completed all of their coursework and examinations and been advanced to Candidacy within their departments, and should be focused primarily on researching and writing their dissertations. Nominees need not be U.S. citizens.

Learn more.

The CCA offers summer residencies—ranging from four to six weeks—to support PhD
candidates in pursuing archival research based on our Collection. While candidates apply with a clearly defined research topic that will benefit from engagement with the CCA Collection, we
also see the doctoral program as an opportunity to introduce new voices into the research we do here.

Learn more.

Professional Development and Employment

Resources

Brown Graduate School

Selected Local Research Resources

Handbooks