Cromwell Fellowships

Criteria

Early-career scholars researching and writing in American legal history.

Amount

$5,000

Deadline

June 1, 2024

The William Nelson Cromwell Foundation makes available a number of $5,000 fellowships to support research and writing in American legal history by early-career scholars. Early-career generally includes those researching or writing a PhD dissertation (or equivalent project) and recent recipients of a graduate degree working on their first major monograph or research project.

The Committee for Research Fellowships and Awards of the American Society for Legal History (ASLH) reviews the applications and makes recommendations to the Foundation. The number of awards made, however, is at the discretion of the Foundation. In the past several years, the trustees of the Foundation have made five to nine awards.

Scholars who are not at the early stages of their careers may seek research grants directly from the Foundation. For more information, please click here.

Application Process
The Committee for Research Fellowships and Awards of the American Society for Legal History (ASLH) reviews the applications and makes recommendations to the Foundation. (The Cromwell Foundation was established in 1930 to promote and encourage scholarship in legal history, particularly in the colonial and early national periods of the United States. The Foundation has supported the publication of legal records as well as historical monographs.)

In order to apply please send a PDF which includes (in this order): your name, contact information, description of your proposed project (double-spaced, maximum 6 pages including notes; please include a working title), a budget, a timeline, a short c.v. (no longer than 3 pages), and the names and contact information of two academic referees from whom the applicant has requested letters of recommendation. The PDF should be sent to jane.manners@temple.edu. Recommenders should separately submit letter of recommendation to the above address.

Applications must be completed and recommendations received no later than midnight on June 1, 2024.

Your application should make clear the relevance of law to your project. The most successful applicants demonstrate how law (broadly construed) is at the center of their projects, and how their research will tell us something new about law.

Your proposal should engage with relevant scholarship in the field. While this discussion can be brief, the most successful applicants explain how their projects tell us something new.

Your application should have a clear budget that is specific about how and where you plan to spend research funds.

You will receive a confirmation email within a few days of submitting your application; if you do not receive such an email, please follow up by sending an email to jane.manners@temple.edu

Please direct any questions to jane.manners@temple.edu and include “Cromwell” in the subject line.

During the pendency of their application, candidates for Fellowships should keep the Committee apprised of any change of address. Successful applicants will be notified by early November. An announcement of the awards will also be made at the annual meeting of the American Society of Legal History.

Committee Members

Jane Manners, Chair
Temple University
Doris Morgan Rueda
Stanford University
Jane Dailey
University of Chicago
Evan Taparata
Harvard University
Kara Swanson
Northeastern University

Criteria

Amount

Deadline

Committee Members

Past Recipients

Related Awards

Max Planck-ASLH Dissertation Prize for European Legal History in a Global Perspective

Cromwell Book Prize

Cromwell Article Prize