Library Company of Philadelphia & Historical Society of Pennsylvania Short-term Fellowships

The Library Company of Philadelphia and the Historical Society of Pennsylvania offer many opportunities for support in the form of one-month fellowships for research in residence in either or both institutions. These two independent research libraries, adjacent to each other in Center City Philadelphia, have complementary collections capable of supporting research in a variety of fields and disciplines relating to the history of the United States and the Atlantic world from the 17th through the 19th centuries, as well as Mid-Atlantic regional history to the present.

Short-term fellowships support dissertation, postdoctoral, and independent research. The stipend is $2,500 for a four-week period between June 1 and May 31, with flexible scheduling available

Library Company of Philadelphia Short-term Fellowships

• The Library Company’s Program in Early American Economy and Society (PEAES) offers short-term fellowships to support research into the origins and development of the early American economy, broadly conceived, to roughly 1850. The fellowships provide researchers the opportunity to investigate such topics as history of commerce, finance, technology, manufacturing, agriculture, internal improvements, and economic policy making.
• The Library Company’s Program in African American History offers four short-term Mellon Scholars Research Fellowships for doctoral candidates, PhD holders, or independent scholars. The Mellon Scholars program is designed to increase the participation of scholars from underrepresented backgrounds and others in the field of African American history prior to 1900.
• The Davida T. Deutsch Fellowship in Women’s History (offered by the Davida T. Deutsch Program in Women’s History) supports research on any aspect of women’s history documented in the Library Company’s collections.
• The James N. Green Research Fellowship in the History of the Book in America (new for 2024–25) supports research in early American history before 1900, with preference to scholars who wish to study the history of the book or the history of American bibliography.
• The William Reese Company Fellowship in American Bibliography supports research in American bibliography and the history of the book in the Americas.
• The William H. Helfand Fellowship for American Medicine, Science, and Society supports research in that subject area to 1900.
• The Charles E. Rosenberg Fellowship (new for 2024–25) is dedicated to exploring the history of health or medicine, broadly defined. Preference will be given to scholars who wish to use resources and collections at the Library Company that have been donated by Charles Rosenberg.
• The Charles E. Rosenberg Fellowship in the History of Health and Medicine (new for 2024–25) supports research in the history of health or medicine, broadly defined. Preference will be given to scholars who wish to use a combination of resources and collections at the Library Company, the Legacy Center (archives and special collections) of Drexel University College of Medicine and/or other medical-historical or related collections in the Philadelphia community. Additional preference will be given to scholars who are interested in the history of gender and health or medicine.
• The American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (ASECS) Fellowship supports research on projects related to the 18th-century Atlantic world.
• The William H. Helfand Fellowship for American Visual Culture supports research on pictorial imagery in printed and graphic works from the colonial era to the early 20th century.
• The Anthony N.B. and Beatrice Garvan Fellowship in American Material Culture supports research in that subject area.
• The McLean Contributionship Fellowship may be awarded to support research in the history of botany, garden history, or newspaper publishing.

Historical Society of Pennsylvania Short-term Fellowships

• The Balch Institute Fellowships support research in the HSP/Balch collections on the ethnic and immigrant experience in the United States and/or American cultural, social, political, or economic history post-1875.
• The Albert M. Greenfield Short-Term Fellowship supports research in 20th-century history.
• The Indian Rights Association Fellowship funds work in the field of Native American Studies. Applicants must demonstrate a need to conduct research in the Indian Rights Association records.

Joint Library Company of Philadelphia and the Historical Society of Pennsylvania Short-term Fellowships