The John Hope Franklin Dissertation Fellowship will not be awarded in 2008. New forms and instructions will be posted in June 2008 for the 2009 competition, for which the deadline will be April 1, 2009.
Tax information | Information on Individual Programs
Last updated February 2008
Be sure to follow our instructions and use our prescribed application forms. The APS has assisted thousands of scholars in the past and encourages all eligible current candidates to apply for our grants and fellowships. We have revised our application forms to make them as simple and as clear as possible, but we do require that applicants and referees use these forms.
Changes to Programs
- Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field Research
- This program is open only to Ph.D. students. The deadline for submission of applications is February 15, 2008. Applicants who have received Lewis and Clark Fund grants may reapply after an interval of two years.
- Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field Research in Astrobiology
- The deadline for submission of applications is February 15, 2008.
- Phillips Fund Grants for Native American Research
- The maximum award has been increased to $3,500.
- APS/British Academy Fellowship for Research in London
- In collaboration with the British Academy, the APS offers an exchange post-doctoral fellowship for up to three months' research in the archives and libraries of London during 2008. This award includes travel expenses between the United States and United Kingdom paid by the APS and a monthly subsistence of £1,350 paid by the British Academy. Candidates should use the Franklin application form, specifying that they are asking for the British Academy Fellowship, and apply by October 1; applicants not selected for the British Academy Fellowship will be considered for a Franklin Research Grant.
Scope and Purpose of Programs
Since 1933 the American Philosophical Society has awarded research grants to more than 15,000 scholars. In 2006-2007 the Society awarded more than $1.4 million to 185 scholars, and we expect to continue this level of support in 2007-2008. We maintain seven grant or fellowship programs in a wide range of fields. Our Franklin, Lewis and Clark, Library Fellowship, and Phillips programs award small grants ($1,000 to $6,000) for modest research purposes. Our Daland, John Hope Franklin, and Sabbatical Fellowship programs award much larger amounts ($25,000 to $50,000) in highly selective competitions.
Awards are made for non-commercial research only. The Society makes no grants for academic study or classroom presentation, for travel to conferences, for non-scholarly projects, for assistance with translation, or for the preparation of materials for use by students. The Society does not pay overhead or indirect costs to any institution or costs of publication.
Who Is Eligible?
Applicants may be residents of the United States or American citizens resident abroad. Foreign nationals are eligible to apply for projects to be carried out in the United States. Grants are made to individuals. Institutions are not eligible to apply.
Deadlines
The deadlines for the following programs are RECEIPT deadlines for all
materials, including letters of support. If the posted deadline falls on a weekend or a holiday, the deadline is the
following business day.
- Daland Fellowships
- September 1; notification in January
- Franklin Research Grants
- October 1 and December 1; notifications in February and April
- The John Hope Franklin Dissertation Fellowship
- April 1, 2009 (no award in 2008)
- Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field Research
- February 15; notification in May
- Library Resident Fellowships
- March 1; notification in May
- Phillips Fund Grants
- March 1; notification in May
- Sabbatical Fellowships
- October 15; notification in March
Contact Information
Questions concerning the DALAND, FRANKLIN, JOHN HOPE FRANKLIN, LEWIS AND CLARK, PHILLIPS, and SABBATICAL
programs should be directed to Linda Musumeci, Research Administrator, at
LMusumeci@amphilsoc.org or 215-440-3429.
Questions concerning the LIBRARY RESIDENT Research Fellowships should be directed to Earle Spamer, Library Programs Coordinator, at libfellows@amphilsoc.org or 215-440-3443.
Electronic Transmission
Electronic transmission of the completed form is encouraged for the Franklin Research Grants, the John Hope Franklin Dissertation Fellowship, the Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field Research, the Library Resident Research Fellowship, the Phillips Fund Grants, and the Sabbatical Fellowships.
Completed forms and letters of support should be attached to an email. Forms for all but the Library Resident Research Fellowship should be submitted to applications@amphilsoc.org and letters for all but the Library Resident Research Fellowship to lettersofsupport@amphilsoc.org. Forms and letters for the Library Resident Research Fellowship should be submitted to libfellows@amphilsoc.org. Attached documents must be compatible with Microsoft Word for Windows software. Our system does not always receive mac, jpeg, tiff, rtf, and dat files.
Tax Information
Grants and fellowships are taxable income, but the Society is not required to report payments. It is recommended that grant and fellowship recipients discuss their reporting obligations with their tax advisors.
Information about Individual Programs
Click on the name of the program for complete information and forms.
For patient-oriented research in internal medicine, neurology, pediatrics, psychiatry, and surgery.
Eligibility
Candidates are expected to have held the M.D. or M.D./Ph.D. degree for less than eight years. The fellowship is intended to be the first post-clinical fellowship; but each case will be decided on its merits. Preference is given to candidates who have had not more than two years of post-doctoral training. Applicants must expect to perform their research at an institution in the United States, under the supervision of a scientific advisor. Foreign nationals must provide assurance that direct contact with patients will be authorized.
Stipend
$50,000 for the first year, and $50,000 for the second year.
This is a program of small grants to scholars intended to support the cost of research leading to publication in all areas of knowledge. The Franklin program is particularly designed to help meet the cost of travel to libraries and archives for research purposes; the purchase of microfilm, photocopies or equivalent research materials; the costs associated with fieldwork; or laboratory research expenses.
Eligibility
Applicants are expected to have a doctorate or to have published work of doctoral character and quality. Predoctoral graduate students are not eligible, but the Society is especially interested in supporting the work of young scholars who have recently received the doctorate.
Award
From $1,000 to $6,000.
The John Hope Franklin Dissertation Fellowship will not be awarded in 2008. New forms and instructions will be posted in June 2008 for the 2009 competition, for which the deadline will be April 1, 2009.
This fellowship, named in honor of a distinguished member of the American Philosophical Society, is designed to support an outstanding doctoral student at an American university who is conducting dissertation research. There are two special features to this fellowship. First, the objective of the John Hope Franklin Dissertation Fellowship is to help remedy the serious shortage of faculty of color in core fields in the arts and sciences by supporting the Ph.D. projects of minority students of great promise (particularly African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Native Americans) as well as other talented students who have a demonstrated commitment to eradicating racial disparities and enlarging minority representation in academia. Second, the John Hope Franklin Fellow is expected to spend a significant amount of time in residence at the APS Library and therefore all applicants should be pursuing dissertation topics in which the holdings of the Library are especially strong. The APS Library's extensive collections in these and many other fields are fully described at www.amphilsoc.org/library.
Candidates must have completed all course work and examinations preliminary to the doctoral dissertation and be prepared to devote full time for twelve months-with no teaching obligations-to research on their dissertation projects or the writing of their dissertations. The John Hope Franklin Fellow will also be expected to spend a minimum of three months in Philadelphia, in residence at the APS Library with full encouragement to conduct research at other libraries and archives in and around the city. Attractive office space will be provided for the Fellow.
Stipend
$25,000 for a twelve-month period, plus $5,000 to support the cost of residency in Philadelphia, for a total award of $30,000.
The Lewis and Clark encourages exploratory field studies for the collection of specimens and data and to provide the imaginative stimulus that accompanies direct observation. Applications are invited from disciplines with a large dependence on field studies, such as archeology, anthropology, astrobiology and space science, biology, ecology, geography, geology, linguistics, and paleontology, but grants will not be restricted to these fields.
Eligibility
Grants will be available to doctoral students who wish to participate in field studies for their dissertations or for other purposes. Undergraduates, master's candidates, and postdoctoral fellows are not eligible.
Award
Grants will depend on travel costs but will ordinarily be in the range of several hundred dollars to about $5,000.
The American Philosophical Society and the NASA Astrobiology Institute have partnered to promote the continued exploration of the world around us through a new program of research grants in support of astrobiological field studies undertaken by graduate students and by postdoctoral and junior scientists and scholars.
Eligibility
Grants will be available to graduate students, post-doctoral students, and junior scientists who wish to participate in field studies for their theses or for other purposes. Undergraduates are not eligible.
Award
Grants will depend on travel costs but will ordinarily be in the range of several hundred dollars to about $5,000.
The Library Resident Research fellowships support research in the Society 's collections.
Eligibility
Applicants must demonstrate a need to work in the Society's collections for a minimum of one month and a maximum of three months. Applicants in any relevant field of scholarship may apply. Candidates whose normal place of residence is farther away than a 75-mile radius of Philadelphia will be given some preference. Applicants do not need to hold the doctorate, although Ph.D. candidates must have passed their preliminary examinations.
Stipend
$2,000 per month.
For research in Native American linguistics and ethnohistory, focusing on the continental United States and Canada. Given for a maximum of one year from date of award to cover travel, tapes, and informants' fees.
Eligibility
Applicants may be graduate students pursuing either a master's or a doctoral degree; postdoctoral applicants are also eligible.
Award
From $1,000 to $3,500.
This program is open to mid-career faculty of universities and 4-year colleges in the United States who have been granted a sabbatical/research year but for whom financial support from the home institution is available for only part of the year. Candidates must not have had a financially supported leave at any time subsequent to September 1, 2005. The doctoral degree must have been conferred no later than 2000 and no earlier than 1987.
Stipend
$30,000 to $40,000 for the second half of an awarded sabbatical year.