2026 JDC Archives Fellows Announced

The JDC Archives is pleased to announce that it has awarded six new fellowships for 2026. JDC Archives Fellowships are awarded each year to deserving scholars engaged in graduate level, post-doctoral, or independent study, who wish to conduct research in the JDC Archives.

The following scholars have received 2026 JDC Archives Fellowships:

• Dr. Jacob Beckert, a postdoctoral fellow in American Jewish Economic History at the Grant Center for the American Jewish Experience at Tulane University, is a recipient of The Fred and Ellen Lewis / JDC Archives Fellowship. Dr. Beckert’s research project focuses on the Refugee Economic Corporation which pursued refugee resettlement through market-based ventures rather than direct relief.
• Maxime Daniel, a doctoral student at the Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, is the recipient of The Nathan and Sarah Chesin / JDC Archives Fellowship. His dissertation examines the reconstruction of Jewish life in Hungary between 1945 and 1965 through a transnational lens.
• Jacob Forbes, a doctoral student at Vanderbilt University, was awarded The Ruth and David Musher / JDC Archives Fellowship. Mr. Forbes will examine JDC’s pathbreaking work in post 1945 gerontological research alongside its support for both institutional and individual care of elderly Jewish Holocaust survivors in Europe, the United States, and Israel.
• Alexia Orengo-Green, a doctoral candidate at University of Southern California, was awarded The Sorrell and Lorraine Chesin / JDC Archives Fellowship to research the experiences of children, who fled Nazi Germany for Latin America with or without their parents during the Holocaust.
• Dr. Chiara Renzo, a project manager and researcher at the Center for Contemporary Jewish Documentation (CDEC) in Milan, is a recipient of The Fred and Ellen Lewis / JDC Archives Fellowship. Dr. Renzo will explore the postwar transformation of the Jewish community of Milan.
• Dominique Stringer, a doctoral student at Indiana University, is the recipient of The Max and Cecil (Steuer) Chesin / JDC Archives Fellowship. Her project examines how a 1939 JDC-backed transfer of Danzig’s ritual objects to the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York helped finance the community’s emigration.

Read about the projects of former JDC Archives Fellows and watch their public lectures here. See our Fellowships and Grants page for further information on our fellowship opportunities.