The Clio Fellowship for Archival Research
The Clio Fellowship for Archival Research supports biographers with travel to archival collections and related research costs to access primary documents essential to book-length biographies.
Funder: Biographers International Organization
Due Dates: March 1, 2026 (2026 fellowship) | January 15, 2027 (Annual deadline)
Funding Amounts: Approximately $5,000 total annually, awarded to one recipient or divided among several
Summary: Supports biographers’ travel to archival collections essential to researching a book-length biography.
Key Information: Applicants must be current BIO members writing in English; memoirs and autobiographies are ineligible.
Description
The Clio Fellowship for Archival Research, administered by Biographers International Organization (BIO), helps biographers access primary documents essential to their book projects. It supports travel to collections holding letters, manuscripts, personal papers, and other archival materials, reducing the financial barriers that documentary research can present. Its focus is exclusively on archival research, rather than travel to other places significant to a subject’s life.
Endowed by Linda Leavell, a Plutarch Award-winning biographer and past BIO president, the fellowship takes its name from Clio, the Greek muse of history and memory. It supports book-length biographies of individuals or groups, with innovative approaches welcomed at the selection committee’s discretion.
