About Research Fellowships

Charleston Research Fellowships 2025-2026

The Pearlstine/Lipov Center for Southern Jewish Culture at the College of Charleston invites applications for its annual research fellowship program. Charleston Fellows will receive research grants to cover the cost of travel and residency while conducting archival research in Special Collections at the College of Charleston.

The CSJC grants approximately $5,000 to researchers annually. Individual fellowships typically range from $1000-$2500. Please keep these limitations in mind when making your request. The CSJC will reimburse fellows for the cost of travel and lodging. It does not support indirect costs for items such as salaries of existing employees, utilities, office space, etc.

Applicants must be working on projects of scholarship, public history, or artistic production that would benefit from research in Special Collections at the College of Charleston. Preference will be given to candidates coming from out of state and those using materials from the Jewish Heritage Collection at the College’s Addlestone Library. Recipients may include scholars at all stages of their career including graduate students, independent researchers, as well as journalists, filmmakers, artists, and exhibition curators.

Applicants are invited to apply beginning September 1, 2024 at the following link. For any inquiries regarding the fellowship, please contact Ashley Walters at waltersa1@cofc.edu.

The fellowship committee will begin reviewing applications on March 1, 2025.

Upon completing the fellowship, recipients will be asked to submit a blog post of 300–500 words describing their work in Charleston and how it impacts their overall project. Posts will be featured on the center’s blog, which can be found here.

Highlights of the Jewish Heritage Collection

Congregational records, including:

• Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim, Charleston, SC (1798–2002)

• Temple Sinai, Sumter, SC (1789–2012)

• Brith Sholom Beth Israel, Charleston, SC (1888–2012)

• Beth Israel Congregation, Beaufort, SC (1905–1961)

• Synagogue Emanu-El, Charleston, SC (1943–2014)

Organizational records, including:

• Hebrew Orphan Society (1850–2000)

• Hebrew Benevolent Society (1867–1984)

• National Council of Jewish Women Charleston Section (1906–2012)

• Jewish Community Center papers (1920–1998)

• Kalushiner Society minute book (1925–1936)

• Aiken, SC, Jewish community collection (1923–1995)

• Florence Hebrew Benevolent Association records (1887–1991)

• Anderson Sisterhood minutes book (1931–1939)

• Young Judaea (1946–1993)

• Chapter #143 of Aleph Zadek Aleph (1947–1958)

• Post 237 of the Jewish War Veterans of the United States (1947–1969)

• Jewish Community Relations Committee (1958–1967)

• Southern Jewish Historical Society (1958–2010)

Oral History Archives: approximately 600 recordings of Jewish South Carolinians, with almost 300 online at the Lowcountry Digital Library.

Holocaust Archives: dozens of manuscript collections and oral histories from survivors, liberators, and eye-witnesses.

William A. Rosenthall Judaica collection (1493–2002): thousands of images documenting the Jewish people—their lives, history, religious ceremonies, dress, and customs.

A wealth of family papers, business records, correspondence, unpublished memoirs, genealogical material, rabbinical records, photographs, postcards, albums, scrapbooks, and more.

For more about the Jewish Heritage Collection, go to: https://jhc.cofc.edu/

Archivist Sarah Dorpinghaus and intern Gillian Rogers sort postcards from the William A. Rosenthall Judaica Collection in Special Collections, Addlestone Library, College of Charleston, 2011.

Photo: Leslie McKellar/College of Charleston