Admissions

munroeApplication Process

To apply to the American Civilization Program, please follow the instructions for general application to the Department of History. Note in the first paragraph of your personal statement that you are an applicant to the American Civilization Program. Your writing sample is an important part of your application. It should represent your best work. If you have had the opportunity to do original research with primary sources, this is the best kind of sample to submit. If you have not had the opportunity to do this kind of research, your sample should demonstrate your skills at critical evaluation of published historical writing.

Scholarships & Fellowships

Graduate students normally enter the American Civilization program with four years of guaranteed funding support, assuming satisfactory progress toward the degree. Typically, funds are awarded each year in the form of tuition and nine months of stipend support. The department may also have available a limited number of summer internship and stipend funds. In recent years, the program has been able to offer several students graduate assistantships at the Winterthur Museum as an alternative to employment as a teaching assistant.

Competitive funding opportunities in or near the university include the include the Summer Research Fellowships in Material Culture sponsored by the Center for Material Culture Studies, University of Delaware Dissertation Fellowships, the McNeil Dissertation Fellowships at the Winterthur Museum, and the Hagley Dissertation Fellowships.  In the past, American Civilization students have competed successfully for other pre-doctoral funding, including Smithsonian Institution fellowships, McNeil Center fellowships at the University of Pennsylvania, Library of Congress research fellowships, and others.