Wolfsonian-FIU Fellowship Program

The Wolfsonian-Florida International University is a museum and research center that promotes the examination of modern visual and material culture. The focus of the Wolfsonian collection is on North American and European decorative arts, propaganda, architecture, and industrial and graphic design of the period 1885-1945. The collection includes works on paper (including posters, prints and design drawings), furniture, paintings, sculpture, glass, textiles, ceramics, lighting and other appliances, and many other kinds of objects. The Wolfsonian’s library has approximately 50,000 rare books, periodicals, and ephemeral items.

The Wolfsonian has several significant concentrations of material related to Japan. Military propaganda from the 1930s and 1940s, as well as propaganda about Japanese involvement in Manchuria, is represented by books, ephemera, posters and other items. The Wolfsonian’s library has Japanese hotel, railroad and steamship advertising, and publications about decorative arts and architecture. There are also many publications relating to Japanese participation at international expositions. The objects collection holds a notable series of prints by the artist Koizumi Kishio depicting Tokyo in the 1920s and 1930s. The collection also has rich material documenting Western interest in and depictions of Japan, including publications about Japanese art, travel writing, and anti-Japanese propaganda from the Second World War.

Besides material from Japan, the Wolfsonian also has extensive holdings from the United States, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, and the Netherlands. There are also smaller but significant collections of materials from a number of other countries, including Austria, Czechoslovakia, France, the former Soviet Union, and Hungary.

Fellowships are intended to support full-time research, generally for a period of three to five weeks. The program is open to holders of master’s or doctoral degrees, Ph.D. candidates, and to others who have a significant record of professional achievement in relevant fields. Applicants are encouraged to discuss their project with the Fellowship Coordinator prior to submission to ensure the relevance of their proposals to the Wolfsonian’s collection. For more information, visit https://www.wolfsonian.org/research-library/fellowships or email to research@thewolf.fiu.edu.

The application deadline is December 31, for residency during the 2018-19 academic year.