Postdoctoral Fellowships
Long-term postdoctoral fellowships support advanced research in residence in the collections of the Library Company and The Historical Society of Pennsylvania. PhD scholars at later stages of their career are also welcome to apply.
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.
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.
Applications
Applications for the 2025-26 postdoctoral fellowships cycle will be accepted from September 1, 2024, until the submission deadline of January 15, 2025. Decisions will be announced by March 15.
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 information
For general information about fellowships and application procedures, email fellowships@librarycompany.org.
See the Fellowships FAQ page for additional information and contact details.