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2025-2026 Visual Culture Fellowship opportunity, Library Company of Philadelphia

The Visual Culture Program invites applications for a 2025–26 short-term fellowship. Past fellows have studied topics as varied as the relationship between text and images in American primers for children, the graphic arts in Philadelphia from 1780 to 1880, and the intersection of science and art in the production of daguerreotypes.

Searchable catalogs to our collections are available online at https://librarycompany.kohacatalog.com/ with a number of visual culture collections also searchable at https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/islandora%3Aroot.

See individual fellowship description below for more information and instructions on how to apply. For a complete listing of all Library Company fellowship opportunities, visit https://librarycompany.org/academic-programs/fellowships-2/.


The William H. Helfand Fellowship for American Visual Culture
The fellowship is designed to promote scholarship in visual culture through the study of textual and graphic sources from the 16th through early 20th centuries held in the Library Company’s collections. Possible research topics include the production and consumerism of printed graphics; the histories of printing and photographic processes; popular iconography; ephemera; incunabula; the illustrated book trade; and historical depictions of gender, race, and class. Fellows will have the opportunity to attend the Library Company’s public programs and events, participate in the vibrant scholarly community of Philadelphia, and present a lecture about their research.

The stipend is $2500 for a one-month fellowship, which may be fulfilled between June 1, 2025, and May 31, 2026.

Please share this announcement with those who might be interested. Application materials are due January 15, 2025.

To apply, fill out the online application form and upload a single PDF file containing a brief CV, a ca. 150-word project abstract, and a two- to four-page description of your proposed research (single-spaced, not to exceed 1,500 words). The proposal should make clear how Library Company collections will support your research. Application files should be named using this format: Lastname_Firstname_application.

In addition, one letter of recommendation in PDF format should be uploaded here; please ask your recommender to name files using this format: Lastname_Firstname_letter.

For more information about fellowships offered by the Library Company’s Visual Culture Program, contact program director Erika Piola (epiola@librarycompany.org).

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