Medieval Academy: Belle Da Costa Greene Award Grant

Medieval Academy: Belle Da Costa Greene Award Grant

Status: ACTIVE
Funder: Medieval Academy Of America
Amount: US $2,000
Last Updated: January 03, 2026

Summary

The Belle Da Costa Greene Award, offered by the Medieval Academy of America, provides $2,000 annually to a medievalist of color for research and travel. This grant supports visits to archives, conferences, and facilitates writing projects. Priority is given to graduate students and junior scholars. Named after the first woman of color elected as a Fellow of the Academy, this award aims to enhance diversity and inclusion within the field of medieval studies.

Overview

About The Medieval Academy of America is the largest organization in the United States promoting excellence in the field of medieval studies. It was founded in 1925 and is based in Boston, Massachusetts. The academy publishes the quarterly journal Speculum, and awards prizes, grants, and fellowships. The Medieval Academy supports research, publication, and teaching in medieval art, archaeology, history, law, literature, music, philosophy, religion, science, social and economic institutions, and all other aspects of the Middle Ages. Belle Da Costa Greene Award The Belle Da Costa Greene Award of $2,000 will be granted annually to a medievalist of color for research and travel. The award may be used to visit archives, attend conferences, or to facilitate writing and research. The award will be granted on the basis of the quality of the proposed project, the applicant's budgetary needs (as expressed by a submitted budget and in the project narrative), and the estimation of the ways in which the award will facilitate the applicant’s research and contribute to the field. Special consideration will be given to graduate students, emerging junior scholars, adjunct, and unaffiliated scholars. Belle Da Costa Greene (1883-1950) was a prominent art historian and the first manuscript librarian of the Pierpont Morgan collection. She was also the first known person of color and second woman to be elected a Fellow of the Medieval Academy of America (1939). According to the Morgan Library & Museum website, "Greene was barely twenty when Morgan hired her, yet her intelligence, passion, and self-confidence eclipsed her relative inexperience, [and] she managed to help build one of America's greatest private libraries." She was, just as importantly, a Black woman who passed as White in order to gain entrance and acceptance into the racially fraught professional landscape of early twentieth-century New York. Her legacy highlights the professional difficulties faced by medievalists of color, the personal sacrifices they make in order to belong to the field, and their extraordinary contributions to Medieval Studies. This Grant will be adjudicated by the Academy's Inclusivity and Diversity Prize Committee, and preference will be given to student, junior, adjunct, and unaffiliated scholars.

Eligibility

You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website. The Award will be given to a medievalist of color for research and travel.Applicants must be members in good standing of the Medieval Academy as of 15 January of the year in which they apply. You must be a member of this organization to apply for this award - become a member. Applicants must be members in good standing of the Medieval Academy as of 15 January of the year in which they apply.