National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Announces $30.9 Million for 188 Humanities Projects Nationwide

From NEH:

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) today announced $30.9 million in grants to support 188 humanities projects in 45 states and the District of Columbia. NEH Chairman Jon Parrish Peede announced the latest grants today at the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico, which will receive a matching grant of up to $750,000 to create a new museum campus, including the construction of a new exhibition building to showcase the largest collection of O’Keeffe’s work in the world. It is one of 32 NEH Challenge grants that leverage federal dollars to spur increased private investment in our nation’s libraries, museums, and cultural centers to ensure greater access to cultural and educational resources for all Americans.

An additional $48 million was awarded to fund 55 state, territorial, and jurisdictional humanities councils, which serve local communities through a range of state-focused humanities discussion and educational outreach programs.

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In addition to the O’Keeffe Museum grant, several grants awarded support infrastructure projects and long-term capacity-building at museums, historic sites, libraries, colleges and universities, and other humanities institutions. These include renovations at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody, Wyoming, to help protect the museum’s extensive collection of artifacts of the American West; and an expansion of the St. Louis Holocaust Museum & Learning Center to make space for classrooms, multimedia, and community engagement areas.

Many others use new technologies to bring history alive for broad audiences or facilitate advanced research in the humanities. One new grant will support production of an augmented reality app for the Cahokia Mounds, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Illinois, recreating the structures and features of the ancient pre-Columbian city. Another will bring the work of 20th-century architect Fay Jones, an apprentice to Frank Lloyd Wright, to public audiences through an immersive website and digital kiosk displays at public sites in the Ozarks. An award to Utah Valley University’s Center for Constitutional Studies will fund digital “modeling” of archival materials documenting U.S. state constitutional conventions to help users trace the discussion and development of legal ideas and texts through an interactive timeline of primary documents.

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Grant awards will also fund humanities initiatives at Historically Black Colleges, Hispanic-serving institutions, tribal colleges and universities, and community colleges. These include a partnership between Anne Arundel Community College and St. John’s College in Maryland to create a Great Books curriculum and provide opportunities for students at the two-year college to transfer to St. John’s for further study. An award to St. Augustine College in Illinois will fund a curriculum project to incorporate the study of Chicago’s art, music, and history into courses for early childhood educators.

Learn More, Read the Complete Announcement

Direct to Complete List of Grant Recipients

Libraries/Library Organizations Awarded Funding Include:

• Alaska: Alaska Division of Libraries, Archives, and Museums
• Colorado: Pueblo City County Library District
• District of Columbia: Folger Shakespeare Library
• Oregon: Astoria Oregon Public Library Foundation
• Virginia: Eastern Shore Public Library Foundation

 Grants Awarded Today by Category

Awards for Faculty	Support advanced research in the humanities by teachers at Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-serving Institutions, and Tribal Colleges and Universities.15 grants, totaling $790,000
Digital Humanities Advancement Grants	Support the implementation of innovative digital humanities projects that have successfully completed a start-up phase and demonstrated their value to the field.   14 grants, totaling $1.6 million
Digital Projects for the Public Grants	Support projects such as websites, mobile applications, games, and virtual environments that significantly contribute to the public’s engagement with humanities ideas.   11 grants, totaling $1.5 million
Fellowships	Support college and university teachers and independent scholars pursuing advanced research.   81 grants, totaling $4.4 million
Fellowships for Advanced Social Science Research on Japan	A joint activity of the Japan-United States Friendship Commission (JUSFC) and NEH. Awards support research on modern Japanese society and political economy, Japan’s international relations, and U.S.–Japan relations.   3 grants, totaling $180,000
Humanities Initiatives Grants	Support and enrich humanities education and scholarship at Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-serving Institutions, Tribal Colleges and Universities, and community colleges.   16 grants, totaling $1.6 million
Infrastructure and Capacity Building Challenge Grants	Leverage federal funding to strengthen and sustain humanities infrastructure and capacity-building activities at cultural institutions.   32 grants, totaling $15.2 million
Preservation and Access Research and Development Grants	Support projects that address major challenges in preserving or providing access to humanities collections and resources.   4 grants, totaling $1.1 million
Preservation Education and Training Grants	Help the staff of cultural institutions obtain the knowledge and skills needed to serve as effective stewards of humanities collections. Grants also support educational programs that prepare the next generation of conservators and preservation professionals, as well as projects that introduce the staff of cultural institutions to recent improvements in preservation and access practices.   9 grants, totaling $2.5 million

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