Guidelines for Proposing an Institute Scholarly Program

[N.b., This process is under revision by the Consortium Executive Committee and its Program Planning Subcommittee. An updated process will be announced in early June 2023.]

There are several pathways by which programs find their way to the Folger Institute’s annual scholarly programs roster. Some are presented as programmatic offerings tied to partnerships, while others are written into grant proposals or planned under the two Centers operating under the Institute: the Center for Shakespeare Studies and the Center for the History of British Political Thought. The majority are suggested by recent program participants, nominated by the Institute’s Consortium Executive Committee (made up of representatives from over forty campuses), or proposed by the members of the CEC’s program planning subcommittee. We should emphasize that these sources always provide many more program ideas than we can schedule and offer.

When considering which programs fit best into the offerings in a given academic year, the Folger Institute CEC and its program planning subcommittee weigh a number of different variables, including the mix of topics, formats, and expected resources. With occasional exceptions, provisional slates of Folger Institute programs are generally scheduled two to three years in advance of the academic year in which they are offered. In other words, if a proposed program is welcomed, it will usually be at least two years before it is offered.

Should you be interested in proposing a program to be offered by the Folger Institute's Scholarly Programs, there is a multi-step process. The first is to supply the information below. The collected information will be forwarded to the CEC’s program planning subcommittee as a proposal to be considered. That group meets twice a year—in late fall and late spring—to vet possible programs for further consideration by the full CEC. Therefore, if you would like for your program idea to be considered by the program planning subcommittee and potentially circulated to the full CEC, be sure to submit responses no later than 1 October or 15 April in any given year.

Required Information

Provisional title, location, and date of program

Name of proposed director or organizer (and co-director or co-organizer, if applicable)

Proposed program format (indicate faculty weekend seminar, monthly colloquium, semester-length seminar, weekend workshop, conference, etc.)

150-word description of proposed program. Please indicate the goals of this program and why it is suitable for the affiliates of the Folger Institute and the intended scholarly field to which it relates. For example, are there particular rare materials or collections that will be drawn upon? Heritage sites that will be involved?

Sources of potential funding or partnerships, if any (N.B., conferences normally require significant non-Folger funding)

Send questions and the initial proposal to the attention of Dr. Owen Williams, Associate Director of Scholarly Programs, via institute@folger.edu. He is available to answer questions at any point in the proposal process.