Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance

Graduate Fellowship (3 month term)

Christ Church Preservation Trust is offering a fellowship opportunity for a Graduate Student in the Fall of 2022 to explore 17th and 18th-century ideas and beliefs regarding the education of African Americans and Native Americans in the colonies prior to the American Revolution. Particular attention can be paid to Philadelphia through the records of the various congregations now online through philadelphiacongregations.org. 

Books sent to Christ Church by Thomas Bray, as well as texts and tracts imported by Philadelphians from Great Britain, offer insights into 17th and 18th century thought on the early importance of providing access to scriptures. The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (SPG), established in Great Britain in 1701 to promote the Anglican Faith in foreign lands, profoundly influenced Philadelphia. A chief supporter Thomas Bray sent libraries of appropriate texts to churches in the colonies, including Christ Church, and ultimately established schools for the education of African Americans. Before this, the SPG supported the work of a minister at Christ Church “as a catechist to the Negroes.” The Bray library, on deposit at the Library Company of Philadelphia, is worth exploring for contemporary thoughts and additional publications found in the Library Company’s collections. Some examples include: 

William Knox’s “Three tracts, respecting the conversion and instruction of the free Indians, and Negroe slaves in the colonies.:Addressed to the venerable Society for Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts.. -- [London: s.n., 1768].” 

Other denominations, particularly the Society of Friends, developed plans for the education of African Americans. Great Britain’s influence on this might be traced in

London Yearly Meeting (Society of Friends), Abstract of the epistle from the Yearly Meeting, held in London, by adjournments, from the 18th to the 27th of the fifth month, 1795, inclusive, to the quarterly and monthly meetings of Friends, in Great-Britain, Ireland, and elsewhere. “ published in NY in 1795 as well as through the Philadelphia Meeting’s manuscript records available online at philadelphiacongregations.org 

Work would be done with the Library Company of Philadelphia’s collections, as well as those of other special collections libraries in the Philadelphia area and online. Christ Church’s Bray library is on deposit at the Library Company of Philadelphia. This research aims to provide context for interpretive programming at Christ Church and other sites and build on existing scholarship in this field.

This temporary position is funded by a National Endowment for the Humanities grant. The fee for the fellowship is $10,000 for approximately three months of work on a part-time basis. Some