|
Grant awards support cultural infrastructure, humanities
research, exhibitions, documentaries, education programs for teachers, and the
preservation of historic collections.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (August 8, 2018) — The National
Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) today announced $43.1 million in awards for 218
humanities projects across the country. The grants include the first awards
made under NEH’s new Infrastructure and Capacity-Building
Challenge Grant program, which will support infrastructure projects at 29 U.S.
cultural institutions in 20 states and the District of Columbia.
This round of funding, NEH’s third and
last for fiscal year 2018, will support vital research, education, preservation,
and public programs in the humanities. These peer-reviewed grants were awarded
in addition to $47 million in annual operating support provided to the national
network of state and local humanities councils during fiscal year 2018.
“From nationally broadcast
documentaries to summer workshops for high school teachers, the projects
receiving funding today strengthen and sustain the cultural life of our nation
and its citizens,” said NEH Chairman Jon Parrish Peede.
Infrastructure grants include funding
to construct a new arts and culture hub in downtown Juneau, Alaska, and to
provide conservation services and training for staff of libraries at
Historically Black Colleges and Universities to strengthen stewardship of
special collections documenting the African- American experience.
In addition to providing for
construction and capacity-building projects at museums, libraries, and
colleges, NEH grants support a wide range of public programs that bring humanities
ideas, experiences, and resources to communities large and small. Grants
include funding for the reinstallation of a permanent gallery of early American
art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, as well as support for feature-length documentaries
on the life and civil rights legacy of singer Marian Anderson and on the
literary career and cultural impact of Laura Ingalls Wilder.
Other grants announced today advance
scholarship and discovery in the fields of history, literature, linguistics,
art history, and comparative religion. Archaeological excavation of an
abandoned settlement in Western Anatolia will answer important questions about
the transition from Greek to Roman rule in the ancient world. A project to
develop software to identify and analyze archival materials in multiple
indigenous languages will enable Native American communities such as the Miami
Tribe of Oklahoma to revitalize languages close to extinction.
NEH Public Scholar grants, which
support popular nonfiction books in the humanities, will enable publication of:
a comprehensive biography of Teddy Roosevelt by Pulitzer Prize-winning author
T. J. Stiles; a history of a clandestine Nazi resistance group that attempted to dismantle the Third Reich from within; and a book on a 1939 Picasso
exhibition at the MoMA as a turning point
in American culture. Grants for scholarly editions and translations of
significant humanities texts include continued NEH-supported work on the papers
of Andrew Jackson, a documentary history of the adoption of the Bill of Rights,
and a digital edition of the complete correspondence of Willa Cather.
Several projects receiving grant awards
will help preserve archival collections of historical and cultural importance.
These include history of science collections at the American Institute of
Physics’ Niels Bohr Library and Archives, objects and art documenting the life
of Emily Dickinson at The Evergreens historic house museum, and records from
the Adirondack Historical Association of the region’s Native American history,
settlement, and development of local logging, mining, and tourism industries.
Forty-five institutions received grants
to support professional development for K-12 and college teachers through
summer workshops and institutes on humanities topics such as: the Great Sioux
War and the Battle of Little Bighorn; American women’s experience of the
Revolutionary War and Civil War; and the history of the transcontinental
railroad.
A full list of grants by geographic
location is available here.
Grants were awarded in the following categories:
-
Collaborative
Research support interpretive research undertaken by a
team of two or more collaborating scholars that adds significantly to knowledge
and understanding of the humanities. (7 grants, totaling $1.2 million)
-
Digital
Humanities Advancement support the implementation of
innovative digital humanities projects that have successfully completed a
start-up phase and demonstrated their value to the field. (15 grants, totaling $2.3 million)
-
Infrastructure and Capacity
Building Challenge Grants leverage federal funding to strengthen
and sustain humanities infrastructure and capacity-building activities at
cultural institutions. (29 grants, totaling $13 million)
-
Institutes
for Advanced Topics in the Digital Humanities provide scholars and advanced graduate
students with the opportunity to deepen their knowledge of advanced technology
tools and methodologies relevant to the humanities and to increase the number
of humanities scholars using digital technology in their research. (3 grants, totaling $643,858)
-
Landmarks
of American History and Culture support a series of one-week workshops
for a national audience of K-12 educators that enhance and strengthen
humanities teaching at the K-12 level. (15 grants, totaling $2.5 million)
-
Media
Projects: Development and Production support film, television, and radio
projects that explore significant events, figures, and ideas within the
humanities. Development grants enable media producers to collaborate with
scholars to develop humanities content and to prepare programs for production;
production grants support the preparation of a project for presentation to the
public. (9 grants, totaling $2.2 million)
-
National
Digital Newspaper Program support the creation of a national,
digital resource of historically significant newspapers published between 1690
and 1963, from all states and U.S. territories. (18 grants, totaling $4.5 million)
-
NEH
On the Road bring NEH-funded traveling exhibitions
to small and mid-sized museums across the country. (14 grants, totaling $14,000)
-
Public
Humanities Projects: Community Conversations, Exhibitions, and Historic Places support museum exhibitions, community
discussion programs, and interpretations of historic places that bring the
ideas and insights of the humanities to life for general audiences. (19 grants, totaling $3.5 million)
-
Public
Scholar Program support well-researched books in the
humanities aimed at a broad public audience. (22 grants, totaling $1.3 million)
-
Scholarly
Editions and Translations support the preparation of editions and
translations of texts that are valuable to the humanities but are inaccessible
or available only in inadequate editions. (21 grants, totaling $5.4 million)
-
Summer
Seminars and Institutes for College and University Teachers support intensive one- to four-week projects in
which sixteen to twenty-five college and university faculty members, working
with scholarly experts, engage in collegial study of significant texts and
topics in the humanities. (10 grants, totaling $1.4 million)
- Summer
Seminars and Institutes for School Teachers support intensive one- to four-week projects in
which sixteen to thirty school teachers, working with scholarly experts, engage
in collegial study of significant texts and topics in the humanities. (20 grants, totaling $2.7 million)
-
Sustaining
Cultural Heritage Collections support preventative conservation measures to
prolong the useful life of collections to help cultural institutions preserve
large and diverse holdings of humanities materials for future generations. (14 grants, totaling $2.2 million)
National Endowment for the Humanities: Created in 1965 as an independent federal agency, the National Endowment for the Humanities supports research and learning in history, literature, philosophy, and other areas of the humanities by funding selected, peer-reviewed proposals from around the nation. Additional information about the National Endowment for the Humanities and its grant programs is available at: www.neh.gov.
|
