Bourse Stanley B. Burns

Stanley B. Burns M.D. Fellowship for the Study of Medical and Postmortem Photographic History at Yale 
 

Call for applications



The Medical Historical Library of the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University is pleased to announce its fourth annual Stanley B. Burns M.D. Fellowship for the Study of Medical and Postmortem Photographic History, which supports the study of the history of medical and postmortem photography at Yale. This fellowship maximizes the research potential of the Stanley B. Burns, MD, Historic Medical Photography Collection and the Stanley B. Burns, MD, collection of postmortem and memorial photography and ephemera, along with related visual collections at the Medical Historical Library. Dr. Burns donated his postmortem and memorial photography collection in 2025, which is now included under the parameters of the fellowship.

Burns—an ophthalmologist, research professor of Medicine and Psychiatry, and professor of Medical Humanities at New York University—began collecting historic photography in 1975 and amassed more than a million images that he curated in multiple books, articles, and exhibitions.

There is a single award of up to $2,000 for one week of research during the academic fiscal year July 1, 2026 - June 30, 2027. Funds may be used for transportation, housing, food, and photographic reproductions. The award is limited to residents of the United States and Canada. Applicants should send a completed application form, including a curriculum vitae and a description of the project including the relevance of the collections of the Historical Library to the project, and two references attesting to the particular project. Preference will be given to applicants beyond commuting distance to the Historical Library. Applications are due by April 26th, 2026 at 11:59 p.m. EST. An application form can be found on our website: https://library.medicine.yale.edu/historical/research/fellowships-grants/burns-fellowship.

Applications are welcome both from scholars who utilize traditional methods of archival and bibliographic research and also from those who pursue creative, interdisciplinary, and nontraditional approaches to conducting research.

Additional information about the Library and its collections may be found at: https://library.medicine.yale.edu/historical

Contact Information

Melissa Grafe, Ph.D
John R. Bumstead Librarian for Medical History
Head of the Medical Historical Library
Cushing/Whitney Medical Library
Yale University
333 Cedar Street
New Haven, CT 06510

Contact Email

historical.library@yale.edu

URL

https://library.medicine.yale.edu/historical/research/grants-fellowships/burns-…