Bourses de l'American Philosophical Society

2023-2024 Fellowship Opportunities in the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine, Library & Museum of the American Philosophical Society

Call for applications


The Library & Museum of the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia invites applications for sabbatical, postdoctoral, predoctoral, and short-term research fellowships for scholars in the history of science, technology, and medicine working on research projects utilizing its collections.

The APS's Library & Museum’s collections make it among the premier institutions for documenting and exhibiting the history of the history of science from Newton to NASA. The Society’s collections include more than 14 million pages of manuscripts, 275,000 bound volumes, 250,000 images, thousands of hours of audio tape, and 3,360 three-dimensional artifacts and fine art objects. It is home to three research centers: the Center for Native American and Indigenous Research (CNAIR), which has worked with over 80 Native American and Indigenous communities since 2014; the Center for Digital Scholarship, which interprets and expands access to APS collections through digital projects and open source data; and the David Center for the American Revolution, a partnership with the David Library of the American Revolution that formed a new research center for the American Revolution at the APS and brought the David Library’s collection of Revolutionary-era manuscripts, hundreds of rare books and pamphlets, 8,000 reference volumes, and 9,000 reels of microfilm to Philadelphia.

Comprehensive, searchable guides and finding aids to our collections are available online at https://www.amphilsoc.org/library/search-collections and http://amphilsoc.pastperfectonline.com/.

See individual fellowship descriptions below for more information and instructions on how to apply. For a complete listing of all APS grant and fellowship opportunities, visit www.amphilsoc.org/grants/fellowships.

APS-NEH Sabbatical Fellowships

Deadline: January 20, 2023

This fellowship supports mid-career or senior scholars in all fields seeking sabbatical support for the completion of a book project. These opportunities are funded by The National Endowment for the Humanities and provide six or twelve months of research support in the Society’s collections for persons who have already completed their formal professional training.

To apply, please submit materials to https://apply.interfolio.com/116133



Friends of the American Philosophical Society Predoctoral Fellowship

Deadline: January 20, 2023

This 12-month fellowship offers $25,000 to support twelve months of work on dissertation topics in all fields reflected in the APS’s Library & Museum’s collections.

To apply, please submit materials to https://apply.interfolio.com/116313



John C. Slater Predoctoral Fellowship in the History of Science

Deadline: January 20, 2023

This 12-month fellowship offers $25,000 to support twelve months of work on dissertation topics pertaining to the history of science, broadly defined.

To apply, please submit materials to https://apply.interfolio.com/116305



Short-Term Resident Research Fellowships

Deadline: March 3, 2023

One- to three-month fellowships are available for Ph.D. candidates, holders of the Ph.D., and degreed independent scholars, within any field of study that requires using the collections of the APS's Library & Museum.

To apply, please submit materials to https://apply.interfolio.com/116937



Digital Humanities Fellowships

Deadline: March 3, 2023

The American Philosophical Society offers fellowships to scholars working to interpret archival materials through emerging technologies for up to 2 months to advance a digital research project.

To apply, please submit materials to https://apply.interfolio.com/116950

Contact regarding the residential fellowship program at the Library & Museum of the American Philosophical Society may be directed to Adrianna Link, Ph.D., Head of Scholarly Programs, at alink@amphilsoc.org or by phone at 215-440-3415.

The American Philosophical Society is committed to maintaining the highest standards of scholarly excellence while supporting a working and intellectual environment that fosters an inclusive atmosphere for learning, prizes diverse origins and points of view, advances equal opportunities to learn and communicate, and encourages the widest possible access to its collections. The APS has titled these goals the APS IDEA (Inclusivity, Diversity, Equality, and Access) for its enduring institutional commitment to these values