Esther Ann McFarland Fellowship Grant

The Esther Ann McFarland Fellowship, awarded by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, supports advanced research in its extensive collections, focusing on 17th-century Pennsylvania, especially New Sweden, or African American history. This fellowship includes a one-month residency in Philadelphia and a stipend of $3,000. It is designed for advanced, postdoctoral, and dissertation research, allowing scholars to explore diverse historical topics, including the contributions of early Swedish settlers and the impact of African American communities.

NOTE: Candidates are strongly encouraged to inquire about the appropriateness of the proposed topic.
Historical Society of Pennsylvania
The Historical Society of Pennsylvania awards a number of four-week fellowships for research in its collections during each academic year.
Fellowship Details
Historically, the Library Company of Philadelphia and the Historical Society of Pennsylvania have 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. As part of its continued commitment to supporting researchers, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania will award a number of fellowships for research in its collections during the academic year.
The Collection ​
The Historical Society of Pennsylvania has 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. HSP collections are strong in local newspapers and printed ephemera, prints and photographs of the Philadelphia region, and graphics by local artists. They possess 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.
Now enriched by the holdings of the Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies, HSP 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 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 across the nation. Explore HSP’s library catalog.
Fellows are also encouraged to use the collections of the Library Company of Philadelphia, located next-door to HSP in Philadelphia’s Center City. 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.
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.
Funding
The stipend is $3,000.

Eligibility

Fellowships support research for advanced, postdoctoral, dissertation, independent, and creative projects.