Scholars Selected for Research Fellowships at George Washington's Presidential Library

Topics of Study Range from Slavery and Art to Early American Foreign Policy

MOUNT VERNON, VA – Mount Vernon has selected fifteen leading history scholars who will receive fully-funded research fellowships at the Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington (Washington Library) for the 2017-18 academic year. These fellows will study on site at the Washington Library for up to six months beginning this fall. 

Now in its fifth year, the Washington Library’s fellowship program has become a highly sought-after honor for academics researching topics related to George Washington, his life, and the founding era.  While in residence, the fellows become an important part of the Mount Vernon community. They take part in day-to-day activities at the estate and library. The scholars are frequently called upon to share their findings in formal settings and casual gatherings for staff, other visiting scholars, and special guests.

“There is no better place to study George Washington and the era in which he lived than here at Mount Vernon,” said the Washington Library’s founding director, Dr. Doug Bradburn. “But even better than the opportunity of the fellows to learn at Mount Vernon—we learn from them, and they learn from each other.  Solid scholarship remains as important as ever and we’re delighted to play a role in patronizing new thinking.”

Research fellowships less than three months provide a stipend of $3,000 per month, three-month fellowships provide $10,000, and six-month fellowships provide $20,000. All awards include onsite housing, as well as round-trip airfare or mileage reimbursement for one trip to and from Mount Vernon.  For more information, please visit mountvernon.org/researchfellows.

The 2017-18 Mount Vernon Research Fellows include the following scholars, listed with their topic of study:

Zara Anishanslin, Ph.D.
The Prince and the Pines: Art, Slavery, War, and Freedom in the American Revolutionary Era

Krysten Blackstone
The Hardest Conflict: Morale and Identity in the Continental Army during the American Revolution, 1775-1783.

Kristen Brill, Ph.D.
"The Presence of a Lady”: The Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association and Confederate Loyalty in the American Civil War

Steven Elliott
The New Jersey Highlands War: Soldiers, Civilians, and Environment in Northern New Jersey, 1777-1781

Rachel Engl
America’s First Band of Brothers: Friendship, Camaraderie, and Collusion within the Continental Army during the Revolutionary Era

Michael D. Hattem
Past and Prologue: History Culture and the American Revolution

Lawrence B.A. Hatter, Ph.D.
Negotiating Independence: American Overseas Merchant Communities in the Age of Revolution

Stephanie Lawton
In Memory of the Best: The Classical Commemoration of American Presidents in the Nineteenth Century

Mark Edward Lender, Ph.D.
Cabal! The Challenge to General Washington Revisited

Charlene Boyer Lewis, Ph.D.
The Traitor’s Wife: Peggy Arnold and Revolutionary America

Robert Paulett, Ph.D.
The Proclamation of 1763 and the Idea of a Beautiful America

Alyssa Penick
The Fate of the Parish: Religion and Government in the Chesapeake, 1720-1820

Samantha Seeley, Ph.D.
Race and Removal in the Early American Republic

Elisa Vargas, Ph.D.
George Washington: His First Years in Office and the Beginning of the Bilateral Relations with Spain as Reported by Diego María de Gardoqui, Spain’s First Diplomatic Envoy to the United States

James Vaughn, Ph.D.
A Very British Revolution?: The Crisis of the Empire of Liberty and the Origins of the American Republic

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