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Fellowships

The Historical Society of Pennsylvania and the Library Company of Philadelphia jointly award a number of one-month fellowships for research in residence in either or both collections during each academic year. 

Fellowship Details

The stipend is $2,500 for any one-month period between June and May. Fellowships support advanced, postdoctoral, dissertation, and independent research. Candidates are strongly encouraged to inquire about the appropriateness of the proposed topic. The Library Company's Cassatt House fellows' residence offers rooms at reasonable rates, along with a kitchen, common room, and shared office.

Application Procedures

The deadline for receipt of one-month fellowship applications is February 15, 2024. 

 

Application instructions are available here. Submit a single application to be considered for all relevant short-term fellowship opportunities at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania and/or the Library Company of Philadelphia.

For more information, submit questions to Christine Nelson (cnelson@librarycompany.org) or contact Christina Larocco, Scholarly Programs Manager at HSP (clarocco@hsp.org).

 


 

 

Named HSP Fellowships

Named one-month fellowships support research in certain areas (applicants will automatically be considered for all pertinent fellowships):

  • Barra Foundation International Fellowships (which carry a special stipend of $2,500 plus travel expenses) are reserved for citizens of other countries living outside the US
     

  • Balch Institute Fellowships will 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
     

  • Richardson Dilworth Fellowship will support research on legal or political history, or on the history of reform movements
     

  • Albert M. Greenfield Fellowship will support research in HSP's collections on 20th-century American history
     

  • Esther Ann McFarland Fellowship in memory of Judge William Lewis will support research in either 17th-century Pennsylvania history (with a preference for research on New Sweden or on the influence of early Swedish settlers) or in the history of African Americans in Pennsylvania
     

  • Robert L. McNeil Jr. Fellowships will support research in early American history
     

  • Indian Rights Association Fellowship will support research in the field of Native American studies.
     

  • The Society for Historians of the Early American Republic (SHEAR) sponsors fellowships that support research in American history in the early national period.

The Collections

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 America and the Atlantic world, as well as mid-Atlantic regional history, from the 17th through the 20th centuries.

  • The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, now enriched by the holdings of the Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies, holds more than 19 million personal, organizational, and business manuscripts, as well 560,000 printed items and 312,000 graphic images concerning national and regional political, social, and family history. The Balch collections have added rich documentation of the ethnic and immigrant experience in the United States. Explore HSP's library catalog.
     

  • The Library Company, founded by Benjamin Franklin in 1731, was the largest public library in America until the latter part of the 19th century, and contains printed materials relating to every aspect of American culture and society in that period. It holds over half a million rare books and graphics, including the nation’s second largest collection of pre-1801 American imprints and one of the largest collections of 18th-century British books in America. Search LCP's catalog of its rare books and graphics.
     

Together the two institutions form one of the most comprehensive sources in the nation for the study of colonial and US history and culture. The Historical Society’s strength in manuscripts complements the Library Company’s strength in printed materials. The Library Company’s collections reflect the whole range of early American print culture, including books, pamphlets, and magazines from all parts of the country, as well as books imported from Britain and the Continent. The Historical Society’s archives richly document the social, cultural, and economic history of a region central to many aspects of the nation’s development. The Balch Institute collections bring the HSP added strength in documenting ethnic and immigrant history, with significant holdings of ethnic newspapers, records of benevolent societies and other local and national ethnic organizations, and personal papers of prominent leaders in ethnic and immigrant communities.

 

Both collections are strong in local newspapers and printed ephemera; the print and photograph collections of both libraries are rich in images of the Philadelphia region and graphics by local artists. The two libraries combined have extraordinary strength in the history of women and African Americans, popular literature, business and banking, popular medicine, philanthropy and reform, education, natural sciences, technology, art, architecture, German Americana, American Judaica, and a host of other subjects.

 

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