WASHINGTON—The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) announced this week the awarding of $12.8 million to support 253 humanities projects across the nation. NEH grants will supplement private and public funding to underwrite a virtual exhibition of more than 90 pieces of New Deal art from the town of Gallup, New Mexico, the conservation of fragile books from the personal library of author C. S. Lewis, archival research for a book on the Nazi plunder of musical instruments and manuscripts during World War II, and hundreds of other vital projects.
“The humanities offer us a path toward understanding ourselves, our neighbors, our nation,” said NEH Acting Chairman Jon Parrish Peede. “These new NEH grants exemplify the agency’s commitment to serving American communities through investing in education initiatives, safeguarding cultural treasures, and illuminating the history and values that define our shared heritage.”
NEH grants will expand the range of humanities-based resources and educational opportunities in underserved communities and institutions. Funded projects include the documentation of Blackfeet language and storytelling traditions for use in liberal arts courses at Blackfeet Community College in Montana, as well as the extension of an award-winning national family literacy program, Prime Time Family Reading, into Kentucky public schools.
NEH continues to support the use of cutting-edge tools and technologies in humanities research and innovative digital projects for public audiences. Grants announced will enable production of an educational digital game for middle and high school students that explores the history of the ratification of the United States Constitution, and will fund the creation of an interactive mobile app that incorporates archival footage, maps, music, and interviews with historians to examine the impact of Reconstruction in South Carolina.
Other grants will provide for the development of a video-based web platform allowing scholars to publish papers in sign language, and a new tool that uses digital analysis of architectural floor plans to show how Frank Lloyd Wright’s structures changed over time.
Local community digitization projects will preserve historic materials held by the congregations of African-American churches in Georgia and German-American heritage items from residents of 17 rural counties in Missouri. NEH On the Road grants will bring NEH-funded art exhibitions to small institutions in North Dakota, South Carolina, and Wyoming.
NEH funding also helps preserve important objects and collections representing America’s cultural heritage. A grant to researchers at Northwestern University in Illinois will enable development of conservation tools to monitor and prevent deterioration of oil paintings by Georgia O’Keeffe. The 76 NEH Preservation Assistance Grants awarded will help the Knoxville Jewish Alliance protect archives documenting the history of Jewish culture in the South and will preserve the nation’s maritime past at the State University of New York, Maritime College.
Four million dollars in NEH fellowships and awards for faculty will support advanced research on topics such as the role of medieval hospitals as centers of religion, literature, and civic affairs; the activities of the U.S. Army during peacetime; and an effort to trace ancient economic networks by mapping the circulation of coins minted under Alexander the Great.
A full list of grants by geographic location is available here.
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