Research Fellowships

A group of 8 fellows look at a woman in black delivering a lecture in a conservation lab
Join Our Community of Scholars

SAAM hosts a number of fellows each year through the Smithsonian Institution Fellowship Program (SIFP), and also awards its own named fellowships to candidates from this general pool. The deadline for applications is November 1, 2022. Residencies are available at the graduate, doctoral, postdoctoral, and senior levels.

In this informative how-to video, SAAM Chair of Academic Programs, Amelia Goerlitz, introduces prospective fellows to SAAM's fellowship program and demystifies its application process.

SAAM Fellowships: Celebrating Fifty Years

For fifty years, the Smithsonian American Art Museum has fostered new scholarship through its preeminent fellowship program, the oldest and largest in the world for the study of American art.

Fellows Directory

SAAM has hosted fellows and visiting scholars from more than 230 institutions in 43 states and 26 foreign countries. The alumni directory is searchable by year, type, and affiliation.

See Where Our Scholars Are Now

SAAM fellows and visiting scholars go on to shape the global art world as museum directors, curators, professors, critics, artists, and conservators. Alumni of our program are active in 30 foreign countries, 40 US states, and the District of Columbia. Learn how SAAM’s fellowship program impacted their scholarship and career paths.

A map showing where fellows are in the United States
Map of Fellows and Visiting Scholars

SAAM fellows and visiting scholars go on to shape the global art world as museum directors, curators, professors, critics, artists, and conservators. Alumni of our program are active in 30 foreign countries, 40 US states, and the District of Columbia. Learn how SAAM’s fellowship program impacted their scholarship and career paths

A group of fellows pose in front of a large abstract blue and white painting
Fellowship Timeline

Established in 1970 by former director Joshua C. Taylor, the museum’s fellowship program traces its origins to the dynamic leadership of Smithsonian Secretary S. Dillon Ripley. Learn more about the program’s 50-year-long history and the events and figures key to its formation and development through our interactive timeline.

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Research and Scholars Newsletter

Sign Up to receive news and notice of upcoming scholarly programs from Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Renwick Gallery.

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Make A Gift To The Next Generation

Contribute to SAAM’s 50th Anniversary Fellowship Campaign and help advance the study of American art—now and for the future.

A group of over a dozen fellows pose outside the Smithsonian American Art Museum
Annual Fellows Lectures

Each year, SAAM's research fellows present new scholarship on a range of topics and time periods, media and messages. Listen to presentations by this new generation of American scholars.

A man lectures in front of a Frank Romero painting
A Half Century of Fellowship: Wyeth Foundation Symposium

This 2020 symposium chronicled the development and impact of the oldest and largest fellowship program in the world for American art. Watch the webcast to hear research talks by distinguished former fellows and listen to a series of PechuKucha-style fast-paced presentations that highlight efforts to expand the field in the age of Black Lives Matter, decolonization, climate change, globalization, and digital scholarship.

For More Information

Amelia Goerlitz, Chair of Academic Programs
Telephone (202) 633-8353
Email SAAMFellowships@si.edu