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SUMMER PUBLIC HISTORY FELLOWSHIPS

The CCHS is able to support summer research for graduate students working in non-profit organizations, such as museums, history centers, theatres, etc. We have had summer research projects affiliated with the Chicago History Museum, the Evanston History Center, Chicago Leather Archives and Museum, Chicago Council on Global Affairs, and Chicago theatres. We encourage Chicago/Evanston projects, but are open to projects in areas other than Chicago, as well as remote work on digital projects. If you have identified an organization for which you would like to work on a specific research project and need financial support, please contact us as soon as possible.

The months suitable for the summer fellowship are June, July, August, and the first weeks of September. The Center can offer several fellowships and will pay up to $3,000  as a non-taxable STIPEND (if the student is supported by Northwestern in the summer) or as taxable SPECIAL PAY (if without summer support from the university). The CCHS summer fellowship funds available would presume work @ $30 per hour, so a maximum of 100 hours over the course of the summer, i.e. some 25 hours/week for 4 weeks or 10 hours/week for 10 weeks. If you wish to do summer research for a non-profit public service organization and need support, let us know. Please send inquiries to Assistant Director Elzbieta Foeller-Pituch at efp@northwestern.edu as soon as possible. Summer fellowships are accepted on a rolling basis, with a deadline of Wednesday, MAY 15 by 4 p.m.

For the application, please provide the following:

  1. Current resume with contact information (email and phone #)
  2. Short letter (1-2 pp) describing the organization and the type of work, as well as the reasons for your wishing to work there and information on when you are available (planned dates of work)
  3. Short email statement of approval from your primary advisor
  4. Email message to efp@northwestern.edu from your planned supervisor at your designated organization, stating what work you will be conducting.

2024 Summer Public History Fellowships


 2023 Summer Public History Fellowships

  1. Elizabeth BARAHONA—Chicago History Museum
  2. John Miles BRANCH—Shorefront Legacy Center (Evanston)
  3. Alexandra DE LEON—OBON Society (remote)
  4. Jose GALVAN MORA—Chicago History Museum
  5. Mila KAUT—Newberry Library (Chicago)
  6. Heather MENEFEE—DOI (Dakhóta Iápi Okhódakičhiye)
  7. Christopher MONTAGUE (AFAM)—Frances Willard House (Black Women of the WCTU)
  8. Victoria PHAM—Vietnamese Association of Chicago
  9. John POLLARD—Gerber/Hart Library and Archives (Chicago)
  10. Mary Kate ROBBETT— Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum (ALPLM) in Springfield, IL (Sept.-Oct.)
  11. Kenneth SALTER— Frances Willard House (Black Women of the WCTU)
  12. Melody SHUM—FIT (Friends for International Tuberculosis Relief)
  13. Hannah SIMMONS—Feminist Campus Tour (NU Women’s Center)
  14. Mikala STOKES— Frances Willard House (Black Women of the WCTU)
  15. Marquis TAYLOR—Watch the Yard

Summer 2022 graduate fellowships

  1. Alison CHOI—Korean-American organization GYOPO
  2. Dexter FERGIE—Parkway Village Oral History project
  3. Matthew FOREMAN—Dui Hua organization
  4. Bennett HERSON-ROESER—Omohundro Institute for Early American History and Culture
  5. Caitlin MONROE—AHA project on “Teaching Things: Material Culture in the History Classroom”

 Summer 2021 fellowships:

  1. Hope McCAFFERY—Colored Conventions Project (CCP) with Prof. Kate Masur
  2. Mikala STOKES—Colored Conventions Project (CCP) with Prof. Kate Masur
  3. Marquis TAYLOR—Colored Conventions Project (CCP) with Prof. Kate Masur
  4.  Lois HAO—Chicago History Museum
  5. Alexandrea KEITH—South Side Community Art Center (SSCAC)
  6. Emily LYON—Rogers Park and West Ridge Historical Society
  7. Heather MENEFEE—Dakhóta Iápi Okhódakičhiye
  8. John POLLARD—Gerber/Hart Library and Archives in Chicago
  9. Melody SHUM—East-West Center in Hawaii
  10. Rita VELASCO—Arizona Historical Society (AZHS)

Summer 2020 fellowships:

  1.  Anisha BHAT at Illinois Humanities, Guangshuo YANG at Chicago Leather Archives and Museum
  2.  Colored Conventions Project (with Prof. Kate Masur): Hope McCAFFREY and Emiliano AGUILAR 
  3.  Classicizing Chicago Project (with Prof. Sara Monoson): Brian FORMAN, Robin POKORSKI, John SULLIVAN 

Summer 2019

Holly DAYTON at Timeline Theatre (working on the play Oslo), Gideon COHN-POSTAR at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, and Guangshuo YANG at the Chicago Leather Archives and Museum.

Summer 2018

Three fellowships at the Chicago History Museum, working on online projects at www.chicago00.org : Alvita AKIBOH—on the Ferris Wheel and /or Union Station, Ryan BURNS—on the World’s Columbian Exposition, and Charlotte ROSEN— on the DNC 1968. 

Summer 2017

Beth HEALEY working on the Evanston Digital Newspaper project (for the Evanston History Center, formerly the Evanston Historical Society: http://evanstonhistorycenter.org/), Yuri DOOLAN working oral history at the Chicago History Museum (http://www.chicagohistory.org/), Gideon COHN-POSTAR and Ana ROSADO working on a Civil War theatrical project at the Chicago House Theatre (http://www.thehousetheatre.com/)

Summer 2016

Bonnie ERNST working on the Evanston Digital Newspaper project (for the Evanston History Center), Bennett JONES (History) and Will CALDWELL (Religious Studies) working on oral history at the Chicago History Museum (Muslim Chicago project, Amanda KLEINTOP creating a Post Civil War Reconstruction timeline (for an exhibition on transitions after civil wars, set up by Art Works Projects for Human Rights in Chicago)

Summer 2014 and 2015

In the summer of 2014 Samuel KLING started the Evanston Digital Newspaper project, while Andrew BAER won a 2015 summer graduate internship at the Chicago History Museum, where in collaboration with the CHM and Google Cultural Institute he curated the online exhibit “Chicago 1968: Law and Disorder,” which presents photographs, primary documents, and images of physical artifacts related to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August 1968.