Call for Proposals: Scholars Working Groups 2025–2027

Application deadline for scholars working groups starting in September 2025: March 3, 2025, 11:59 PM EST.

The Center for Jewish History (CJH), located in New York City, is the largest and most comprehensive archive of the modern Jewish experience outside of Israel. The collections at the Center for Jewish History (CJH) and its partner organizations (American Jewish Historical Society, American Sephardi Federation, Leo Baeck Institute, Yeshiva University Museum, and YIVO Institute for Jewish Research) span three thousand years, with tens of millions of archival documents, more than 500,000 volumes, as well as thousands of art and cultural objects. The Center is a widely recognized public venue for academic symposia, conferences, and a wide array of cultural, educational, and genealogy programs.

The Center for Jewish History (CJH) invites proposals for a new Scholars Working Group to begin in September 2025. Building on the success of previous working groups, the CJH aims to provide a forum where scholars at all career stages can share their research and ideas and ultimately create an interdisciplinary community. The Center welcomes proposals on a particular topic or question to be explored in the scholars working group from a variety of historical, disciplinary and contextual perspectives.

Working Group Requirements

• The new working groups are expected to commit to a two-year cycle of six meetings per academic year. To be as inclusive as possible, most of these meetings could be held virtually, with one meeting per academic semester taking place in-person at the CJH.
• The meetings will consist of scholars presenting works-in-progress or completed but unpublished works of scholarship. The Center for Jewish History will cover the cost of each session including refreshments, technical, and administrative expenses. Working groups should also consider how to engage the broader CJH public, e.g., by sponsoring a public symposium or a public lecture series, developing a digital platform, print publication, or other forms of disseminating the group’s results.
• Proposals must identify two group conveners, one of whom is expected to be a resident of the New York metropolitan area.
• Conveners will determine the specific composition of the group, but both junior and senior scholars as well as advanced graduate students (ABD) should be invited to participate. Participation is by invitation only. Groups should consist of 15-20 invitees (including convenors).

How to apply:
Proposals of 1500 words are welcome from established scholars in the field of Jewish Studies and should identify:

• The names of the two group conveners and their full contact information as well as a list of potential participants. One of the two group conveners is expected to be a resident of the New York metropolitan area.
• The proposed theme and its significance to Jewish Studies
• Schedule for the two-year cycle
• Possible session topics that reflect a multidisciplinary perspective
• Proposals should address the potential afterlife of the working group
• Application deadline for scholars working groups starting in September 2025 is March 3, 2025, 11:59 PM EST.

Please submit inquiries and final proposals with the subject heading “Scholars working group” to fellowships@cjh.org