McFarland Fellowship

Each year the Historical Society of Pennsylvania awards one Esther Ann McFarland Fellowship in memory of Judge William Lewis for research on either 17th-century Pennsylvania, with a preference for research on New Sweden or on the influence of the early Swedish settlers on the development of Pennsylvania, or on African American history. The fellowship supports one month of residency in Philadelphia for advanced, postdoctoral, and dissertation research. The stipend is $2,000. The Library Company's Cassatt House fellows' residence offers rooms at reasonable rates, along with a kitchen, common room, and offices with internet access, available to resident and nonresident fellows at all hours

The Esther Ann McFarland Fellowship in memory of Judge William Lewis began in the 2011–2012 academic year and has been generously endowed by Esther Ann McFarland.

Current Fellow

• Dr. Richard Bell, Department of History, University of Maryland: Slavery's Black Market: A Microhistory

Past Fellows

2012–2013

• Thomas Sheeler, PhD Candidate in History, University of Delaware: Negotiating Slavery on Mason and Dixon's Line:  Race, Section, and Union in Maryland and Pennsylvania before the Civil War

2011–2012

• Dr. James J. Gigantino II, Department of History, University of Arkansas: Freedom and Slavery in the Garden of America: African Americans and Abolition in New Jersey, 1775–1861