The Franklin Research Grants is a unique initiative to help young scholars with the costs of travel to libraries and archives for research purposes; the purchase of photocopies, microfilms or equivalent research materials; the costs associated with fieldwork; or laboratory research expenses.

The grant does not pay for any overhead cost or purchase of permanent equipment such as computers, cameras, tape recorders, etc.

The American Philosophical Society is the oldest learned society in the U.S. It was founded by Founding Father Benjamin Franklin in 1743. It started with the mission of “promoting useful knowledge”. The society continues to support this mission til date through research, fellowships and public outreach.

APS has a historical library with roots extending back to the founding of the Society in 1743.The library has over thirteen million manuscripts, 350,000 volumes and bound periodicals, 250,000 images, and thousands of hours of audio tape. Its holdings make it among the premier institutions for documenting the history of the American Revolution and Founding, the study of natural history in the 18th and 19th centuries, the study of evolution and genetics, quantum mechanics, and the development of cultural anthropology, among others.

Notable manuscript collections include the papers of Benjamin Franklin, the Journals of Lewis and Clark, a large corpus of Charles Darwin correspondence and printed material, the records of pioneering anthropologists, the holdings of the Eugenics Records Office, and the papers of seven Nobel Laureates.

The Library is open to all researchers who demonstrate a need to use the unique resources. After arriving, the prospective readers will be asked to complete registration, providing their name, current address, institutional affiliation (if any), and two forms of identification, at least one with a photograph. Researchers may also complete registration for an AEON account before they arrive onsite. Researchers may wish to consult the subject guides or the catalog to APS collections and should contact staff members for research consultation in advance of any visit.