The Oscar Broneer Fellowship was established with the goal of encouraging young Classical scholars to draw from materials in both Greece and Italy, and in doing so, to become familiar with the culture of both countries. The host institution for the Fellowship switches each year between the American School of Classical Studies at Athens (ASCSA) and the American Academy in Rome (AAR).

The Fellowship was named for Oscar Theodore Broneer (1894 – 1992), best known as an architectural historian of ancient Greece as well as a field archaeologist and University of Chicago professor. He was primarily known for having discovered the Sanctuary of Poseidon in Isthmia.