The David M. Rubenstein National Center for White House History awards research fellowships annually. These fellowships support new research related to the White House, its occupants, workers, staff, and/or its fine and decorative arts collections. Early career scholars, as well as doctoral candidates and students, are encouraged to apply.

Dr. Rebecca Brenner Graham

Rebecca Brenner Graham is author of a forthcoming book on Frances Perkins's refugee policy from Kensington in 2025. She is a History Teacher at the Madeira School and an Adjunct Professorial Lecturer at American University. Dr. Graham holds a PhD in History and MA in Public History from American University and a BA in History and Philosophy from Mount Holyoke College. Her writing has been published in The Washington Post, Slate, the Los Angeles Review of Books, and elsewhere. Born and raised in Rhode Island, she lives with her husband outside Washington, D.C. She is also a member of the White House Historical Association’s Next-Gen Leaders, a group of influential young professionals representing a wide variety of fields, bound together by a passion for history, civics, and education.

Dr. Phillip I. Lieberman

Phillip I. Lieberman is Associate Professor of Jewish Studies and Law, and Chair of the Department of Classics, at Vanderbilt University. He holds a Certificate in Museum Studies from Northwestern University, a PhD in Near Eastern Studies from Princeton University, and a MA in Talmud from the Jewish Theological Seminary. Among his books are The Fate of the Jews in the Early Islamic Near East (2022), The Cambridge History of Judaism, Volume 5: Jews in the Medieval Islamic World (2021), and the co-edited (with Rakefet J. Zalashik) A Jew’s Best Friend: The Image of the Dog throughout Jewish History (2013). His translation (with Lenn E. Goodman) of Moses Maimonides’ philosophical classic The Guide to the Perplexed is forthcoming in 2024. From 2023 to 2026, he will serve as a visiting faculty member in the Department of History at the United States Naval Academy. Phil studies the interaction of Jewish communities with the broader cultures in which they have been embedded throughout history. His project at the White House Historical Association will explore events, traditions, and ceremonies to illuminate the relationship between the American Jewish community and the White House throughout history.

Elizabeth Rees

Elizabeth Rees is a DPhil candidate at the University of Oxford's Rothermere American Institute. She received her MA in U.S. Studies from University College London in 2019, and her BA in English Literature and History from the University of Exeter in 2018. Elizabeth's project investigates the emergence of the modern East Wing staff and Office of First Lady between the administrations of 1961-1976. In this transformative era, the East Wing staff developed into a professionalized unit and emerged as an organizational counterpart to the West Wing. Likewise, her research shows how the East Wing staff acted as a microcosm for the contemporary socio-political changes relating to gender, women in work, and the emerging feminist movement. She has also taught on classes related to race and civil rights, as well as the Ronald Reagan presidency and the AIDS crisis.