Clements Library Research Fellowships on Early American History

The William L. Clements Library offers fellowships to help scholars access the Library’s rich primary source collections for research. A Fellowship Review Committee will assign successful applicants to a named fellowship as described below.

The four broad categories are Long-term, Short-term, Week-long, and Digital fellowships. The application requires a selection of which type of fellowship you would like to be considered for and the duration you expect your research visit to take.

Applications are due by January 15, 2025, for consideration. Please note that the 2024-2025 fellowship cycle will run from June 1, 2025 to May 31, 2026.

Please take a look at the list of past fellows to see the types of projects that have been funded. For further information, contact clements-fellowships@umich.edu.

Apply for a Fellowship

All applicants must submit materials by January 15, 2025, for research to be completed between June 1, 2025 and May 31, 2026.

To be considered for both Long-term fellowships as well as Short-Term, Week-Long, or Digital fellowships, candidates must submit separate applications using the forms and directions below.

Please note: With the exception of the Townshend, Price, Miller, and Forty-three Foundation Fellowships, all Clements Library fellowships are open to doctoral candidates, faculty, independent researchers, and scholars in public history institutions.

With the exception of the Forty-three Foundation Fellowship, we regret that applicants for Clements Library fellowships cannot be considered unless the applicant resides at least 50 miles from Ann Arbor and is unaffiliated with the University of Michigan.

Long-Term Fellowships

Applicants must submit:

• Fellowship Application Form
• Curriculum vitae of no more than three pages.
• Brief summary of the project (500 word maximum for short-term, 1,000 word maximum for long-term), including the current status of your research. Please specifically identify what Clements Library material you wish to consult.
• A one-page bibliography of secondary literature relevant to your project. This should be a list of the scholarly work that you see your project as being in conversation with, and is intended to provide a multidisciplinary selection committee with a sense of how you contextualize your work.

Short-Term Fellowships

Applicants must submit:

• Fellowship Application Form
• Curriculum vitae of no more than three pages.
• Brief summary of the project (500 word maximum for short-term, 1,000 word maximum for long-term), including the current status of your research. Please specifically identify what Clements Library material you wish to consult.
• A one-page bibliography of secondary literature relevant to your project. This should be a list of the scholarly work that you see your project as being in conversation with, and is intended to provide a multidisciplinary selection committee with a sense of how you contextualize your work.

Long-Term Fellowships

Long-term fellowships provide a monthly stipend for residencies of two, three, or four months. Applicants should specify which time frame is preferred for their project. Fellows will be selected on the basis of the applicant’s scholarly qualifications, the potential significance of the project, and the fit of the proposed research with the collections at the Clements Library.

Norton Strange Townshend Fellowship

Named for physician and educator Norton Strange Townshend (1815-1895), this fellowship offers $5,000/month in support of scholarly research on nineteenth-century American history and culture. Successful applicants are expected to spend a minimum of four months at the Clements. A completed Ph.D. or equivalent qualifications are required at the time of application.

Jacob M. Price Dissertation Fellowship

In honor of Dr. Jacob M. Price (1925-2015) and his commitment to junior scholars, this fellowship offers $3,500/month to support graduate student dissertation work on any topic of American history and culture. A four month residency is required for full-time library research.

Dorothy and Herman Miller Fellowship in Great Lakes History

Established in honor of Dorothy Miller (1923-2018) and Herman Miller (1924-2021), this long-term fellowship supports scholars conducting research on topics related to the history and culture of the Great Lakes Region. The fellowship offers a stipend of $3,500/month for graduate students and $5,000 a month for researchers with a completed Ph.D. or equivalent qualifications.

Short-Term Fellowships

Short-term fellowships offer $2,500 and require a minimum residency of one month for full-time library research. Fellows will be selected on the basis of the applicant’s scholarly qualifications, the potential significance of the project, and the fit of the proposed research with the collections at the Clements Library.

Howard H. Peckham Fellowship on Revolutionary America

Established in honor of the Clements’ second director, Howard H. Peckham (1910-1995), this fellowship supports research about American history and culture between 1764 and 1815.

Alfred A. Cave Fellowship

Established by Mary C. Koslovsky in memory of her husband Dr. Alfred A. Cave, this fellowship supports research conducted on Native American topics.

Norton Strange Townshend Fellowship

Named for physician and educator Norton Strange Townshend (1815-1895), this fellowship supports scholarly research on nineteenth-century American history and culture.

Julius S. Scott III Fellowship in Caribbean and Atlantic History

This short-term fellowship is named for Dr. Julius Scott, a Lecturer in Afroamerican and African Studies at the University of Michigan. The fellowship supports early-career researchers (postdoctoral researchers and Ph.D candidates) working in the fields of Atlantic and Caribbean history, broadly construed.

John W. Shy Memorial Fellowship

This short-term fellowship honors Professor John Shy, the preeminent American authority on the military aspects of the Revolutionary era. Professor Shy’s legacy will continue in the form of this fellowship, which provides $2,500 in support of graduate students researching any topic supported by the collections.

Ephemera Society of America Fellowship

This short-term fellowship offers $2,500 to support any project engaging with the study of pre-1900 ephemera as a primary source. Ephemera is loosely defined as vintage printed, written items, and photographs which were originally created for a specific purpose but were not expected to be retained or preserved. The ESA Fellow should plan to share their research by submitting a proposal for publication to “The Ephemera Journal” and for a presentation at the ESA Annual Conference.

McBride Rare Books Fellowship

The McBride Rare Books Fellowship supports projects in the study of bibliography, book history, and print culture in North America and the Caribbean before 1900.

Dorothy and Herman Miller Fellowship in Great Lakes History

Established in honor of Dorothy Miller (1923-2018) and Herman Miller (1924-2021), this fellowship supports scholars conducting research on topics related to the history and culture of the Great Lakes Region. 

Week-Long Fellowships

Week-long fellowships require a one-week minimum residency for full-time library research. Fellows will be selected on the basis of the applicant’s scholarly qualifications, the potential significance of the project, and the need for intensive research in materials unique to the Clements Library.

Mary G. Stange Fellowship for Creative and Performing Artists and Writers

The Mary G. Stange Fellowship offers $1,500 to support research conducted by artists, performers, creative writers, playwrights, documentarians, journalists, filmmakers, or any creative working professionally. Projects designed for public engagement will be given preference over projects created for academic or educational purposes.

Norton Strange Townshend Fellowship

Named for physician and educator Norton Strange Townshend (1815-1895), this $1,500 fellowship supports scholarly research on nineteenth-century American history and culture.

Brian Leigh Dunnigan Fellowship in the History of Cartography

Established in honor of Brian Leigh Dunnigan, Map Curator Emeritus and former Associate Director of the Clements Library, this $1,500 fellowship is open to researchers working on any topic supported by the cartographic collections.

David B. Kennedy and Earhart Fellowship

The David B. Kennedy and Earhart Fellowship offers $1,500 to support research on any topic supported by the collections.

James E. Laramy Fellowship in American Visual Culture

This week-long fellowship provides $1,500 for any researcher working on a topic supported by the library’s collection of visual and graphic materials. Creative projects welcome.

Clayton Lewis Fellowship in American Culture

This week-long fellowship provides $1,500 for any researcher working on a topic supported by the library’s collection of visual and graphic materials. Creative projects welcome.

Forty-three Foundation Fellowship

Open to junior or senior-class undergraduate and first or second year graduate students, this $1,500 award supports research on any topic in American history and culture supported by the collections. A minimum of five full research days is required for this fellowship, but they can be scheduled non-consecutively as need be.

Jacob M. Price Digital Fellowship

Digital Fellowships offer a non-residential opportunity to support researchers working remotely on any topic that can be supported by digitized library materials. We can consider proposals for items that meet all of the following criteria:

• Stable enough for standard handling on one of our scanners
• Being digitized in full (no single pages from books or selected items from manuscript collections)
• Under 900 pages or 0.5 linear feet total
• Out of copyright
• Can be added to one of our digital collections and made freely available after digitization
• Cannot be added to another institution’s holdings

Applications should identify items or small collections to be digitized in full, up to 900 pages or 0.5 linear feet total. See digitization criteria for details. Confirming that materials are eligible for digitization is strongly encouraged prior to application submission. Grants provide digital files of the materials and $1,000 to support research using them.

Transatlantic Fellowship

Through a partnership with the American Trust for the British Library (ATBL), our 2025-2026 Transatlantic Fellowship is designed to support at least four weeks of research between both the British Library and the William L. Clements Library, with at least one week of research time at each institution. The award will be $5,000 USD and is meant to be applied to transportation and lodging expenses. This Fellowship is open to graduate students at a doctoral level or post-doctoral or equivalent experience, applicants 18 years or older, resident in the U.S. or abroad.

Please Note: Applicants should apply using the same process outlined below for Clements fellowships, but should be sure to specify that they wish to be considered for the Transatlantic Fellowship. Project summaries must include descriptions of materials that the applicant wishes to view at both the Clements Library and the British Library. If the applicant wishes to apply for Clements Library-specific fellowships in addition to the Transatlantic Fellowship, they must submit a separate application for each.