Supporting Early American Scholarship: The Richter Fund and Summer Writing Retreat
The Richter Fund was established in 2023 in honor of—and through the generosity of—Daniel K. Richter, director emeritus of the McNeil Center.
Once it is fully endowed, the Richter Fund will support the creation of a new McNeil Center Summer Writing Retreat aimed at broadening the range of early Americanists who can benefit from the Center’s research amenities while making important contributions to the field.
Every summer, the Richter Fund will sponsor six early career scholars who are working in a wide variety of circumstances, who may be facing the increasingly common challenges of contingent status, meager research budgets, and fewer tenure-track jobs. With the support of a mentor, the scholars will engage in intensive writing, with the goal of having their work ready to send out for review by the end of the retreat.
Thanks to the generosity of Dan and Sharon Richter, Sally and Dan Gordon, and the late Richard S. Dunn, along with our charter donors, Dee E. Andrews, Bruce Mann, Rosalind Remer and Jim Green, and John and Christine Van Horne, we are more than halfway to our goal of raising the $100,000 we need for the new fund to be endowed and for our vision of the summer writing retreat to become a reality.
Please join us and support our commitment to scholarly research by making your gift on our secure giving site or by sending a check to the address below. We look forward to counting you as a supporter of this new and important initiative, while also honoring Dan’s legacy at the McNeil Center.
If you prefer to mail a gift to MCEAS:
Please make checks payable to the “The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania” and include “Richter Fund” in the memo section.
Checks should be sent to:
The McNeil Center for Early American Studies
University of Pennsylvania
School of Arts & Sciences Office of Advancement
3600 Market Street, Suite 300
Philadelphia, PA 19104-3284
Multi-Year Pledges:
Multi-year pledges are especially helpful for an ongoing program such as the Summer Writing Retreat. If you are interested in making a multi-year pledge, please contact us at mceas@sas.upenn.edu.