Student work & fellowship opportunities at FHL

Student reading a manuscript in the Special Collections Reading Room

Student Employment

The Friends Historical Library typically employs 4-6 students each semester and during the summers. Most of our hiring is for students to work 20-35 hours/week during the summer, and those positions are usually posted and hired in March. Sometimes we hire additional students at the beginning of the fall semester to work 4-8 hours/week during the academic year. Check JobX to see if opportunities are currently available.

Research Fellowship Opportunities

The Friends Historical Library offers a Moore Student Fellowship, which provides a $400-600 stipend for students to complete a 20-30 hour fellowship researching a topic of their choosing using resources available in our collections, or in Swarthmore College Peace Collection (SCPC) or Swarthmore College Archives (SCA). Applications are due annually in March. Information on the Moore Student Fellowship is available here. 

Academic Division Opportunities - None offered in summer 2025

Title: Black history & genealogy project assistant (information from Summer 2024 - to be offered again in Summer 2026) 
Description: The Friends Historical Library, a Quaker special collections library and archives (located in McCabe) seeks a detail-oriented student worker who enjoys working with historical documents, for a project focused on African American history and genealogy. This assistant will research in the Friends Historical Library, searching for records of Quaker schools and orphanages serving Black children; scan and catalog if needed; and index the name entries for public access. Findings will be added to the Black Genealogy At Friends Historical Library website created by the 2022 fellows. As time allows, and per student interests, the student may have the opportunity to research related historical topics, write essays or blog posts, create a digital exhibition, or pursue other related endeavors. This student will work semi-independently on the assigned project with minimal supervision.
Preferred skills and experience: Interest or knowledge in Black history or genealogy; knowledge of 19th century American history; interest or experience in research, libraries, and/or scanning.
Skills to be learned during this project: Research, Handling of archives and manuscripts, Cataloging and metadata,  Scanning, Paleography (reading old handwriting) 
Application process: Apply through the Academic Division Opportunities process and reply "yes" to the question: "Does your project/proposal relate to Black history, genealogy and/or Quaker archives?" (The landing page on the Academic Division Opportunities website will have the link to the application once it opens on January 22, 2024 (first day of classes) until it closes February 13, 2024)