Are you a rising senior, on track to graduate at the end of Spring Quarter 2025? Are you a recent graduate or a current grad student interested in archival research collections? Are you working on your doctorate or thinking about a Master’s thesis? Consider applying for one of these fellowships!
Following a short description of the Library Company’s fellowships program, each fellowship category is outlined at the bottom of this page.
(The information below has been copied from the Library Company of Philadelphia’s website.)
The Library Company of Philadelphia is now accepting applications for postdoctoral, dissertation, and short-term fellowships. The application deadline is January 15, 2025, and decisions will be announced by March 15.
Fellowships support on-site research in the collections of the Library Company and our partner organization, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, in any field or discipline relating to the history and culture of the United States and the Atlantic world, including (but not limited to) African American history, economic history, visual culture, the history of health and medicine, women’s history, material culture, literature, and book and publishing history.
Several categories of research support are available: long-term postdoctoral fellowships, long-term dissertation fellowships, and short-term fellowships. Some fellowships support research in the following areas of study: African American history, women’s history, medical history, economic history, visual culture, and book history and bibliography.
We have awarded more than 1,200 fellowships over the program’s history and our many program alums have published more than 350 books and hundreds of articles that draw on their fellowship research. Visit our YouTube page to view archived public programs, many of which feature alums of our fellowships program, and visit our Events page to learn about upcoming programs.
The Library Company’s fellowships program, founded in 1987, supports collections-based research in the humanities and fosters intellectual community. Fellows participate in the Philadelphia region’s vibrant intellectual life while conducting research in the print, graphics, manuscript, and art and artifacts collections held by the Library Company and the significant archival resources held by our fellowships program partner, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, located in adjacent quarters on Locust Street.
Founded by Benjamin Franklin in 1731, the Library Company now holds over half a million rare books and graphics that are capable of supporting research in a variety of fields and disciplines relating to the history of the United States in its Atlantic world context in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. The holdings, which continue to grow, include the nation’s second largest collection of pre-1801 American imprints, one of the largest collections of 18th-century British books in the United States, and much more. Information about the subject strengths of the collections can be found here.
Short-Term Fellowships
Short-term LCP fellowships support dissertation, postdoctoral, and independent scholarly research. For the 2025-26 cycle, fellowships associated with the Library Company’s four academic programs (African American History, Early American Economy and Society, Visual Culture, and Women’s History) will be offered, as will those in the fields of the history of the book/publishing industry, history of medicine (particularly popular medicine), and the Innovation Fellowship for Independent Researchers (artist, author, public historian, or other independent researcher).
Historically, the Library Company of Philadelphia and the Historical Society of Pennsylvania have jointly offered many opportunities for support in the form of one-month fellowships for advanced research in residence in either or both institutions. For this year, the two programs will be administered separately. (To learn about fellowships made available separately by The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, please visit the HSP website.)
Located adjacent to each other in Center City Philadelphia, the two independent research libraries have complementary collections capable of supporting research in a variety of fields and disciplines relating to the history of the United States in its Atlantic world context from the 17th through the 19th centuries, as well as Mid-Atlantic regional history to the present.
Short-term Fellowships Awarded by the Library Company of Philadelphia:
- The Program in Early American Economy and Society (PEAES) awards short-term fellowships that support research into the origins and development of early American political economy, broadly conceived, to roughly 1850. Fellows may investigate such topics as the history of commerce, finance, technology, manufacturing, agriculture, internal improvements, and economic policy making.
- The Program in African American History (PAAH) awards short-term fellowships to support research in any aspect of African American history prior to 1900.
- The Davida Tenenbaum Deutsch Program in Women’s History awards a short-term fellowship to support research on any aspect of women’s history up to 1880.
- The William H. Helfand Fellowship for American Visual Culture, awarded by the Visual Culture Program, supports research on pictorial imagery in printed and graphic works from the colonial era to the early 20th century.
- The James N. Green Research Fellowship in the History of the Book in America and The William Reese Company Fellowship in American Bibliography support research relating to print culture up to 1900.
- The William H. Helfand Fellowship for American Medicine, Science, and Society and The Charles E. Rosenberg Fellowship in the History of Health and Medicine support research in that subject area to about 1920.
- The Innovation Fellowship for Independent Researchers supports the research of artists, authors, public historians, or other independent researchers. Funding for the Innovation Fellowship Program has been used to endow a new short-term Innovation Fellowship for Independent Researchers, which aims to engage artists, writers, public historians, teachers, or other researchers who are not academic scholars. To apply for a short-term Innovation Fellowship for Independent Researchers, please visit the Short-Term Fellowships page of our website.
Application Info for Short-Term Fellowships:
The stipend is $3,000 for a four-week period between June 1 and May 31, with flexible scheduling available.
Application instructions are available here.
Dissertation Fellowships
Long-term dissertation fellowships support one or two semesters of research in residence in the collections of the Library Company and those of The Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
We welcome applications from PhD students and candidates who would benefit from support for archival research rather than those who are in the final stages of writing.
Davida Tenenbaum Deutsch Dissertation Fellowship in Women’s History
Offered by the Davida Tenenbaum Deutsch Program in Women’s History, this one-semester fellowship supports dissertation research on any aspect of women’s history (broadly defined) documented in the Library Company’s collections.
Program in Early American Economy and Society Dissertation Fellowship
The Program in Early American Economy and Society (PEAES) Dissertation Fellowship supports research in residence in early American political economy and society, broadly defined, from its colonial beginnings to the 1850s. Either a nine-month fellowship (September to May) or a one-semester fellowship may be awarded.
Program in African American History Dissertation Fellowship
The Program in African American History (PAAH) Dissertation Fellowship supports research in African American history and culture (broadly defined) of the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. Either a nine-month fellowship (September to May) or a one-semester fellowship may be awarded.
Application Info for Dissertation Fellowships:
Applicants may submit a single application to be considered for all long-term dissertation fellowships for which their projects are eligible. Applicants who do not receive a long-term dissertation fellowship award may choose to be considered for a short-term (one-month) award; there is no need to submit a separate application for a short-term fellowship.
The stipend is $30,000 for a nine-month award or $15,000 for a one-semester award.
For full application instructions, visit this page.
Postdoctoral Fellowships
National Endowment for the Humanities Postdoctoral Fellowships
National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Postdoctoral Fellowships support advanced humanities research in residence at the Library Company on any subject relevant to its collections, which encompass rare printed, graphic, and manuscript material, art, and artifacts relating to the history of the United States and the Atlantic world from the 17th through the 19th centuries. Applicants may also make clear how the collections of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania will support their research.
NEH Postdoctoral Fellowships may be awarded for a period of four to nine months. The stipend is $5,000 per month.
Doctoral candidates must have completed all degree requirements, except for the actual conferral of the degree, by the application deadline. PhD scholars at later stages of their career are also welcome to apply. Applicants must be United States citizens or foreign nationals who have lived in the United States for the three years immediately preceding the application deadline.
For full application instructions, visit this page.
Program in Early American Economy and Society Postdoctoral Fellowships
Program in Early American Economy and Society (PEAES) Postdoctoral Fellowships support research in the collections of the Library Company, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and other nearby institutions into the origins and development of early American political economy, broadly conceived, to roughly 1850. The fellowships provide scholars the opportunity to investigate such topics as history of commerce, finance, technology, manufacturing, agriculture, internal improvements, and economic policy making.
The stipend is $50,000 for the academic year (September to May) or $25,000 for the fall or spring semester. Fellows must reside in the Philadelphia area for the duration of their fellowship. Fellows may avail themselves of the opportunity for a book manuscript workshop to be held remotely or in Philadelphia as conditions allow.
Scholars at any stage of their career are welcome to apply. Doctoral candidates must have completed all degree requirements, except for the actual conferral of the degree, by September 1 of the year of residency. While applicants may be citizens of any country, the Library Company is not able to provide visa sponsorship.
For full application instructions, visit this page.
Please note that the eligibility requirements for our two postdoctoral fellowship opportunities differ: applicants for the NEH postdoctoral fellowship must have completed all requirements for the PhD by the time of application, while applicants for the PEAES postdoctoral fellowship must complete all degree requirements by the time they plan to begin the fellowship.
As noted above, the stipend for NEH Postdoctoral Fellows is $5,000 per month; the stipend for PEAES Postdoctoral Fellows is $25,000 for a semester or $50,000 for the nine-month academic year.
We also offer a monthly health insurance stipend supplement to long-term postdoctoral fellows who are not eligible to receive health insurance coverage through an employer or spouse/partner’s plan.
For more info on all fellowships:
For general information about fellowships and application procedures, email fellowships@librarycompany.org.
See the Fellowships FAQ page for additional information and contact details.
To view the homepage of the Library Company’s fellowships website, click here.