[Applications via Handshake are not accepted; see complete application details below.]
The Mount Vernon Hotel Museum and Garden (MVHM&G) offers two summer fellowships for graduate students, graduating seniors accepted in a graduate program, or rising seniors interested in U.S. history, humanities, the arts, art history, museum education, or other related fields. Applications from graduate students and rising seniors will be given priority over rising sophomores and rising juniors. This is a research and writing fellowship that focuses on scholarship and not on the daily operations of a historic site. Fellows complete an independent project related to the Museum’s interpretation of New York life (1826-1833) and present their research at a symposium at the conclusion of the Fellowship. Now in its forty-first year, the full-time Fellowship, funded by the William Randolph Hearst Foundation, consists of nine weeks with a $5,760 stipend. The format is virtual with occasional in-person site visits if possible for the fellows (fellows are responsible for their own housing and transportation).
One of the few surviving Manhattan buildings constructed before 1800, the Museum was constructed as a carriage house on Mount Vernon, a large country estate situated along the East River. In 1826, the building was converted into the Mount Vernon Hotel, a popular country resort for the new middle class seeking to escape the city. The MVHM&G celebrates life in 19th-century New York and educates the community through relevant interpretation and preservation of the only remaining historic day hotel in Manhattan. The Museum is owned and operated by the Colonial Dames of America, a women’s genealogical organization dedicated to historic preservation (https://cda1890.org).
New York City and America were changing rapidly in the 1820s and 1830s. The Museum engages with issues familiar to New Yorkers then and now: immigration, race relations, work, getting ahead, and how to enjoy life. With over 35 public programs a year, the Museum offers many ways to discover New York City history.
Application Procedures
The 2025 fellowship application is available at the Museum’s website, under Fellowships: https://mvhm.org/get-involved/. Questions may be sent to museum@cda1890.org.
To apply for Summer 2025, students must submit the completed application form, a short essay explaining their interest in the fellowship, writing sample, resume, and two letters of recommendation e-mailed directly from the individuals writing the recommendations. All applicants must be enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate program for both Spring and Fall of 2025. The submission deadline is March 17, 2025.
Note: The fellowship format is virtual with occasional in-person site visits if possible for the fellows (fellows are responsible for their own housing and transportation).