University of Mary Washington junior Rachel Luehrs is one of only 10 students selected from a national pool of applicants to receive a prestigious SHEAR/Mellon Undergraduate Fellowship.
This summer, the award will enable Luehrs to conduct primary source research in some of the nation’s most highly regarded American historical archives in Philadelphia while working with elite academic scholars at the McNeil Center for Early American Studies at the University of Pennsylvania.
“This is great news,” said Will Mackintosh, UMW visiting assistant professor of history. “Rachel’s acceptance speaks highly of the competitiveness of our students on a national stage.”
SHEAR/Mellon undergraduate fellows receive stipends to cover travel, housing and other living expenses incurred during their completion of two weeks of intensive seminar sessions in historiography, critique and individual archival research in June.
Luehrs will conduct research in development of her senior thesis on African Americans and “agency” in early national Pennsylvania and Virginia. The theme of “agency” focuses on the sense of power or social mobility that disenfranchised people of the time, such as African Americans and women, felt they had in their own lives, Luehrs said.
The goal of her research is to demonstrate that disenfranchised groups, including women and African Americans, found intriguing ways of defying the systems that worked to limit their power in society.
“In the brief research I have done so far, I have encountered many inspirational stories about how these individuals manipulated the very systems which were meant to limit them to gain a sense of power over their lives and surroundings,” said Luehrs. “Through my research in Philadelphia, I plan to study what opportunities existed for women in a large northern city and for African Americans in a city which had one of the largest free African American populations.”
A native of Reston, Va., Luehrs is a history and elementary education major. She is a 2008 graduate of Herndon High School and the daughter of Jim and Davida Luehrs.
Luehrs has been a member of the university women’s rugby team and Hillel since her freshman year. She also has served as a historian for Randolph Hall and as fundraising coordinator for the rugby team. A Washington Guide, Luehrs has been named to the Dean’s List.