Woest Fellowships

The Woest Fellowship is open to doctoral candidates, academic and museum professionals, and independent scholars. US citizenship is not required, but applicants should be fluent in English. Applicants are considered without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, gender, age, disability, or any other protected status. Close relatives of the board or staff of the Kemper and Leila Williams Foundation or the Historic New Orleans Collection are not eligible to apply for the Woest Fellowship.

Your application packet must include the following: 1.) a completed copy of our fellowship application form; 2.) a current vita; 3.) a 100-word abstract of the project; and 4.) a research proposal, not to exceed six double-spaced pages, in which you outline the scope of the project, discuss the relevance of research materials at The Historic New Orleans Collection, and discuss the anticipated product of your research (book, dissertation, exhibition, etc.). Additionally, you must submit letters of recommendation from two scholars familiar with your work. These letters may be sent under separate cover. 

Prospective applicants are encouraged to familiarize themselves with HNOC’s resources by visiting the Research & Collections page. Fellowship applications may be downloaded from the website. 

No, we do not charge any fee to apply for the fellowship.

Applications for the 2026-27 Woest Fellowship are due November 15, 2025. All materials must be received by us no later than 5 p.m. (CST) on the deadline date. Out of fairness to all of our applicants, we cannot consider applications that are incomplete at our submission deadline.

Yes. Please use our electronic form on this page to apply. Supporting letters of recommendation, preferably in PDF format, can be submitted via the form, or may be emailed directly to Rebecca Smith, Woest Fellowship Committee chair. 

No, we require only one copy of the application—which may be either paper or electronic.

The Woest Fellowship Committee notifies applicants via email when their applications are received and complete. We also make good-faith efforts to alert applicants of missing letters of recommendation in advance of the submission deadline. 

Fellows may select their period(s) of residence, but all research must commence and conclude during the specified fellowship term (April 1, 2026–March 31, 2027). Fellows are encouraged to plan on two weeks for their visit, to allow ample time for research at HNOC and other local repositories. 

We are looking for projects that would substantially benefit from research access to our institutional holdings. We encourage prospective applicants to familiarize themselves with our holdings, whether by perusing our online catalog, or connecting with our research staff by email (reference@hnoc.org). The most successful research proposals are those that complement our institutional mission and sustain the tradition of scholarly merit established by previous fellowship recipients. 

While HNOC resources should play a central role in the proposed research agenda, fellows are also encouraged to explore other research repositories in the Greater New Orleans area. These may include libraries or archives at local universities, museums, or other institutional collections, as well as private collections. 

The Woest Fellowship Committee is happy to consider creative projects, such as novels, plays, screenplays, poetry, essays, or personal narratives that pertain to or draw upon the history and culture of Louisiana and the Gulf South. All such projects should have a significant research component. 

The Historic New Orleans Collection is a publisher as well as a research center and museum. We actively seek book proposals on topics related to our institutional mission— and yet we cannot publish all of the manuscripts that come to our attention. If you plan for your research project to result in a book-length manuscript, we will be happy to share your application with our colleagues at Louisiana State University Press. They will be in touch with you if they see publication possibilities. 

US citizenship is not required, but applicants should be fluent in English. 

International scholars visiting the United States to conduct research as part of a fellowship program, and who receive stipend funds while in this country, are required to obtain a J-1 visa, regardless of the length of their stay. This visa type requires a sponsoring organization that is approved by the US Department of State. In the past, the Historic New Orleans Collection has worked with a sponsor organization called International Arts and Artists to make such arrangements. Please be advised that all fees associated with the sponsoring agency and visa will be the responsibility of the applicant. The Historic New Orleans Collection cannot undertake to be responsible for the payment of visa-related fees. 

We do not offer housing as part of the fellowship, and we generally refer prospective fellows to local real estate listing websites that offer short-term rentals of rooms or apartments, whether by the week or the month. We can certainly offer advice as to specific areas of the city that may be more convenient in terms of public transportation and other amenities. 

The fellowship includes a one-time stipend of up to $4000 to help cover travel, housing, and living expenses associated with the fellow’s research project. 

Aside from utilizing their time doing intensive research, each fellow is asked to make an initial, brief presentation to our staff regarding the nature and scope of his/her research project and anticipated results. A second presentation about the project and results is delivered at or near the end of the fellow’s residency. We also ask each fellow for a brief, concluding written report summarizing research activity and findings. This documentation helps HNOC to ensure that its Woest Fellowship program is fulfilling its intended purpose. 

Fellows will be expected to acknowledge HNOC in any published work drawing on fellowship research. We also hope fellows will consider donating a copy of their published work to our research library, for the benefit of other scholars. 

The Woest Fellowship was named in honor of Dianne Audrey Woest (1935–2003), a graduate of Southeastern Louisiana University, former president of the New Orleans Council for International Visitors, and true friend of the arts. Through a planned giving arrangement, Ms. Woest designated HNOC as a beneficiary of her estate. 

Good question! Ms. Woest’s surname is pronounced like the direction, “west.” 

The Woest Fellowship is a highly competitive program that draws applicants from around the world. We encourage interested scholars with eligible projects to reapply, particularly if their research agenda has evolved since the previous year's submission. 

Yes. The Woest Fellowship Committee does not transfer letters from previous years’ application files.