2026 Call for Submissions
Provides $500 towards the completion of outstanding scholarly work on Emerson and the influence of his ideas. The award supports archival research, costs associated with publishing an article, book, or other project-related expenses. We welcome applications from junior scholars and independent scholars as well as established scholars. Please submit a confidential letter of recommendation, and a carefully crafted 1-2 page single-spaced project description, including, where relevant, a summary of project expenses. Please submit applications to thomas.howard@bilkent.edu.tr by May 1, 2026.
2026 Winner: Jacob B. Castleberry
We are delighted to award the 2026 Research Award to Jacob B. Castleberry (Independent Scholar) for his project, “Emerson, the Cabots, and the Continuation of Transcendentalist Method.”
Castleberry’s work recovers how Richard Clarke Cabot and Ella Lyman Cabot — members of Emerson’s immediate circle — carried his philosophical method into new domains, from clinical medicine to moral philosophy and ethics education. Drawing on the Cabots’ unpublished essays on “Circles,” “Self-Reliance,” and “The Over-Soul,” the project argues that Emerson’s method is more disciplined and portable than prevailing readings suggest. The award will support an archival visit to the Papers of Richard Clarke Cabot at the Harvard University Archives.
Previous Award Recipients
- 2026: Jacob B. Castleberry, Independent Scholar
- 2019: Zachary Tavlin, Art Institute of Chicago
- 2017: Krissie West, University of Reading (U.K.)
- 2016: Christina Katopodis, Graduate Center, CUNY
- 2015: Nicholas Guardiano, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale
- 2014: Keiko Ogata, SUNY Buffalo