News & Events

Below is a press release from the American Philosophical Association. Check out all of the 2020-21 Fellows on the APS website.

The American Philosophical Society’s Library & Museum announces its latest round of fellowship recipients

The American Philosophical Society’s Library & Museum is excited to announce that Katrina Ponti, a PhD Candidate in Early American History at the University of Rochester, has received a Friends of the American Philosophical Society Fellowship. These funding opportunities provide 1- to 3- months of support for researchers in residence and are open to scholars in all fields who show a demonstrated need to use the Library & Museum’s collections for their project.

This fellowship will allow Katrina to further her project, “Agents of Exchange: Public Diplomats of the Early American Republic, 1783-1818.”

We look forward to working with Katrina and learning more about her research efforts. As the Society's Librarian Patrick Spero said, “We are thrilled to welcome a new class of fellows to the Library & Museum. Our fellows conduct cutting edge research in a wide range of fields, and every year they make new discoveries in our collections that change what we know about our past.”

The American Philosophical Society (APS), the oldest learned society in the United States, was founded in 1743 by Benjamin Franklin for the purposes of “promoting useful knowledge.” In the 21st century, it serves to advance knowledge and promote scholarship in the humanities and social, mathematical, life, and physical sciences. Members of the Society are elected from among the most eminent scholars and civic and cultural leaders in North America and abroad. More than 100 living APS Members are Nobel laureates.

The APS Library & Museum collections make it among the premier institutions for documenting and exhibiting the history of the American Revolution and founding, the history of science from Newton to NASA, Native American languages and culture, and the development of American anthropology. The Library houses over 14 million manuscripts, 275,000 volumes and bound periodicals, 250,000 images, fine art, and other objects. Museum exhibitions interpret these extensive collections for the regional, national, and international visitors who come to Philadelphia’s historic district. In doing so, the exhibitions aim to nurture the spirit of inquiry, promote critical thinking, and engender enthusiasm for object-based learning by using primary source documents and authentic objects. The Library & Museum also hosts a robust fellowship program, offering over 25 short-term and 10 long-term fellowships each year to scholars using its collections.

You can connect with the APS by subscribing to our e-newsletter or by following us on social media to receive updates on our fellows (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter). For a full list of this year’s fellowship recipients, click here.