Penn Postdocs in the News: Phillip Emanuel, Ph.D., awarded Barbara Thom Postdoctoral Fellowship at The Huntington
Penn Postdoctoral Fellow Phillip Emanuel receives Huntington fellowship to advance research on empire and the early Atlantic world
PHILADELPHIA, PA — Dr. Phillip Emanuel, a Barra Postdoctoral Fellow at the McNeil Center for Early American Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, has been awarded a 2025–26 Barbara Thom Postdoctoral Fellowship at The Huntington. The fellowship will support his research on the structures of authority that accompanied the expansion of the English empire during the seventeenth century.
Dr. Emanuel earned his Ph.D. from William & Mary and holds additional degrees from the University of Sydney and the University of Cambridge. Prior to his doctoral training, he spent six years working in art handling at auction houses on both sides of the Atlantic, an experience that helped shape his scholarly interest in art and material culture.
At Penn, Dr. Emanuel is a Barra Postdoctoral Fellow at the McNeil Center for Early American Studies, where his research examines empire, gender, slavery, and material culture in the early modern Atlantic world. His scholarship has appeared in Slavery & Abolition and the National Trust for England and Wales’s Arts, Buildings and Collections Bulletin.
During his fellowship at The Huntington, Dr. Emanuel will advance his book manuscript, Familiarising Empire: The Patriarchal and Racial Foundations of the Modern State, 1650–1720, which is under advance contract with the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture. The project examines how imperial and trading company administrators constructed authority across England, the American colonies, and the West African coast during a period of rapid imperial expansion.
The Barbara Thom Postdoctoral Fellowship at The Huntington supports scholars pursuing advanced research in the library’s collections. Dr. Emanuel’s fellowship builds on research previously supported by the Huntington Library, Beinecke Library, and Folger Shakespeare Library.
Dr. Emanuel’s recognition reflects Penn’s continued strength in early American studies and interdisciplinary scholarship on the histories of empire, slavery, and the Atlantic world.
We are proud to celebrate Dr. Emanuel’s accomplishments and his contributions to advancing scholarship in early American and Atlantic history.