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McNeil Center for Early American Studies Records
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Held at: University of Pennsylvania: University Archives and Records Center [Contact Us]3401 Market Street, Suite 210, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the University of Pennsylvania: University Archives and Records Center. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
The McNeil Center for Early American Studies was founded in 1978 as the Philadelphia Center for Early American Studies with a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The Center's mission is to "promote basic research in all areas of early American history and culture" through fellowships, seminars, assistance with publication of research, and other special projects. It is organized as a consortium of academic institutions and historical repositories in the Philadelphia area. The Center started to use its current name in honor of its benefactor Robert L. McNeil, Jr., in 1998. Currently, the Center is endowed by gifts from the Robert L. McNeil, Jr., Charitable Trust, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Barra Foundation, the University of Pennsylvania, and other donors. Founding consortium members include the American Philosophical Society, Bryn Mawr College, the David Library of the American Revolution, Fordham University, Haverford College, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the Johns Hopkins University, the Library Company of Philadelphia, Swarthmore College, Millersville University, Princeton University, Rider University, Rutgers University, the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, Stony Brook University, Temple University, the University of Delaware, the University of Pennsylvania, and Ursinus College. Administratively, the Center consists of an Advisory Council and staff. The Advisory Council of the Center is composed of distinguished scholars in the field from comparable research institutions as well as one representative, serving ex-officio, from each institution participating in the consortium. The staff consists primarily of a director, an associate director, and an administrative assistant.
The McNeil Center's work includes fellowships, seminars, conferences, and publications. Fellowships are awarded to advanced graduate students conducting dissertation research, or scholars engaged in post-doctoral research, in early American history and culture; the period of research typically does not extend beyond 1850. Research projects using archival holdings in the area for studies in aspects of the Delaware Valley have a priority, though some fellowships are awarded to scholars who have done their major research elsewhere and need to use local sources only for part of their work. Scholars in the writing stage of a project seeking scholarly support and criticism are also eligible for support. The fellowships are awarded for a period from nine months to two years. From 1978 to 2008, the Center granted Dissertation Fellowships to over 150 graduate students from American and British universities. Seminars are presented up to more than twenty times each year and serve a broad range of scholars. Each fellow is responsible for presenting a paper during his or her year in residence. Additional papers are solicited from outside scholars who are doing related work. The publication and special projects of the Center have included the Papers of William Penn, the Biographical Dictionary of Early Pennsylvania Legislators Project, the Transformation of Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley, 1750-1850 Project, and many national conferences. In addition, the Center started publishing the journal Early American Studies in 2003, and a book series in partnership with the University of Pennsylvania Press in 1996.
Since its founding the Center has had three directors: Richard Slator Dunn (1978-2000), Daniel K. Richter (2000-2021), and Emma Hart (2021-present).
The records of the McNeil Center for Early American Studies document the efforts of a consortium of local archival and educational institutions to "promote basic research in all areas of early American history and culture" through fellowships, seminars, assistance with publications, and other special projects. The collection will serve as a valuable resource to researchers interested in early American history and culture as well as those interested in the corporate structure of this and other consortia.
The Administrative series consists of two subseries, General Files and Financial Files. The General files include correspondence, annual reports, announcements, brochures, personnel information, and mailing lists. The Financial files include development records, budgetary files, and miscellaneous expenditure files. The development records contain a wealth of information on the Mellon Foundation and the National Endowment of Humanities, the two major funding agencies for the Center, as well as other corporate sponsors and fund-raising efforts.
The Fellowship files constitute the bulk of the collection. This series contains files on all applicants for fellowships, dissertation fellowships, and post-doctoral fellowships. Applicant files normally contain statements of purpose, letters of recommendations, and writing samples, often in the form of research papers, speeches, articles, and book chapters. As a result, there is a wealth of scholarly research in this series. The Seminar series also holds a variety of scholarly work. The files are closed for 75 years from date of creation.
The Seminar series is organized into two subseries, Documentation and Papers. The Documentation subseries consists of notices, sign-in sheets, and works in progress papers. The Papers subseries contains papers given by historians, and is arranged alphabetically.
The Projects series includes information on the various national conferences and projects supported by the Center. These conferences and projects include the Papers of William Penn; the Biographical Dictionary of Early Pennsylvania Legislators Project; the Transformation of Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley, 1750-1850 Project; "The World of William Penn" Conference, 1981; "The World Turned Upside Down: Working People in England and America, 1660-1790" Conference, 1981; "The Founding of Pennsylvania, 1682-1800" Conference, 1982;"The Creation of the American Constitution" Conference, 1984; and the Graduate Student Conference, 1999-2001.
This collection is organized into four series: Administration, Fellowships, Seminar, and Projects. The Administration is further organized into two subseries: General Files and Financial Files; The Fellowships series is organized into three subseries: Fellowship applicants, Dissertation Fellowships, and Post-Doctoral Fellowships; the Seminar series is organized into two subseries: Documentation and Papers; and the Projects series is organized by project topics. Each subseries is arranged alphabetically except for Fellowships which is arranged chronologically. Many of the series have been rearranged electronically, researchers are advised to note the specific box and folder number as material for one topic might not appear within the same box.
Transferred to the University Archives, 1991 and 2007.
People
- Flavel, Julie M.
- Frost, J. William (Jerry William)
- Gilbert, Daniel R., 1924-2012
- Gilje, Paul A., 1951-
- Gratz, Rebecca, 1781-1869
- Gray, Brenda E. (Brenda Ellen)
- Guenther, Karen, 1959-
- Klein, Randolph Shipley
- Klepp, Susan E.
- Kloos, John M., 1950-
- Landsman, Ned C., 1951-
- Lee-Whitman, Leanna
- Oaks, Robert F., 1942-
- Offutt, William M. (William McEnery), 1956-
Subject
- Abolitionists
- African American women -- History
- Agriculture -- Social aspects
- American loyalists
- Anglicans
- Antislavery movements
- Archaeology
- Architecture, Domestic -- Designs and plans
- Butter trade
- Cemeteries
- Child labor -- Law and legislation
- Child rearing
- Clock and watch making
- Constitutional history -- United States
- Consumption (Economics)
- Deforestation
- Delaware Indians
- Divorce--Pennsylvania
- Drinking customs
- Emigration and immigration -- History
- Environmental engineering
- Evangelicalism
- Executions and executioners
- Families -- Folklore
- Family farms -- Management
- Farm life
- Farm tenancy
- Fertility
- Folk art
- Freed persons
- Freemasonry
- Furniture designers
- Germans -- Pennsylvania
- Great Awakening
- Illustrators
- Indians of North America
- Indians -- Warfare
- Investments
- Irish Americans
- Landscapes
- Law -- History
- Lutherans
- Meteorology -- Observations
- Methodists
- Minutemen (Militia)
- Music -- Instruction and study
- Nativism
- Patriarchy
- Pietism
- Popular culture
- Portrait painting, American
- Prisons -- Missions and charities
- Puritans
- Quaker women
- Quakers
- Rhetoric
- Science -- Social aspects
- Science -- Societies, etc
- Scots -- United States
- Sexism in language
- Shipping
- Shipwrecks
- Slave trade--United States
- Social classes -- United States
- Spelling reform
- Tableware
- Textile industry
- Transportation -- History
- Upper class
- Weather forecasting
- Wheat trade
- Widows
- Witchcraft
- Women in medicine
- Women's rights -- United States
- Women -- History
- Women -- Social conditions
- Working class
Place
- Boston (Mass.) -- History -- Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775
- Chesapeake Bay Region (Md. and Va.)
- Kent County (Md.)
- Kentucky -- History
- Long Island (N.Y.) -- Social life and customs
- Manayunk (Philadelphia, Pa.)
- New York (N.Y.) -- Politics and government -- War of 1812
- North Carolina -- Politics and government -- 1775-1783
- Northern Ireland -- Social conditions
- Pennsylvania -- Economic conditions
- Pennsylvania -- History -- Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775
- Pennsylvania -- History -- French and Indian War, 1754-1763
- Pennsylvania -- History -- Revolution, 1775-1783
- Pennsylvania -- Politics and government -- 1775-1783
- Pennsylvania -- Politics and government -- To 1775
- Pennsylvania -- Social life and customs -- To 1775
- Philadelphia (Pa.) -- Commerce
- Philadelphia (Pa.) -- Economic conditions -- 19th century
- Philadelphia (Pa.) -- Social life and customs
- South Carolina -- Politics and government -- 1775-1783
- Southern States -- Politics and government -- 1775-1865
- Southern States -- Social life and customs
- United States -- Economic conditions
- United States -- Foreign relations -- To 1775
- United States -- Politics and government -- 1775-1783
- Virginia -- Politics and government -- To 1775
- York (Pa.) -- History
- Baltimore (Md.)
Occupation
- Publisher
- University of Pennsylvania: University Archives and Records Center
- Finding Aid Author
- Finding aid prepared by Theresa R. Snyder, revised by Kaiyi Chen
- Finding Aid Date
- 1992, revised 2010
- Access Restrictions
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Access to collections is granted in accordance with the Protocols for the University Archives and Records Center.