Key Takeaways
- • The National Endowment for the Humanities announced $41.4 million in grants for 81 humanities projects across the country, according to the agency's release.
- • Thirty-three grants totaling $13.4 million went to the new Rediscovering Our Revolutionary Tradition program, which funds preservation and access to Founding Era and American government records.
- • Endowments for Advancing the Humanities awards totaled $12.3 million across five challenge grants requiring a one-to-one non-federal match.
- • A $6 million cooperative agreement links Indiana University's Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism with the Woodrow Wilson Center for a three-year program on antisemitism as a global challenge.
- • Funding responds to the January 29, 2025 Presidential Executive Order "Celebrating America's Birthday" and supports the agency's A More Perfect Union initiative tied to the 250th anniversary.
Summary
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) today announced $41.4 million in grants for 81 humanities projects nationwide, according to the agency's announcement. Acting Chairman William English framed the awards as part of national celebrations of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, saying the agency aims to foster "robust public engagement with our national history, ideals, and intellectual achievements." Several grants respond to the January 29, 2025 Presidential Executive Order "Celebrating America's Birthday" and form part of the agency's A More Perfect Union initiative.
The largest category by value was Rediscovering Our Revolutionary Tradition, with 33 grants totaling $13.4 million. Awards include preserving and digitizing Dakota Territory governance records, stabilizing maritime artifacts from a York River site where about 40 ships were sunk during the 1781 Battle of Yorktown, and preserving more than 100,000 archaeological artifacts and archival records from Revolution-era Kentucky settlements. Endowments for Advancing the Humanities awards, five grants totaling $12.3 million, leverage federal matching funds for 20-year endowments, including one for the University of Notre Dame's Center for Citizenship & Constitutional Government and one for Ohio State University's Salmon P. Chase Center for Civics.
Other categories included seven Collaborative Research grants totaling $858,364, nine Exhibitions and Historic Places grants totaling $2.4 million, six National Digital Newspaper Program grants totaling $1.8 million, five Public Scholars grants totaling $250,000, and fifteen Scholarly Editions and Translations grants totaling $4.3 million. Scholarly Editions projects include completing the final volumes of The Papers of Thomas A. Edison.
The release also describes a $6 million cooperative agreement between Indiana University's Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism and the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars, a three-year program of convenings, publications, and podcasts. The agency described this as part of its implementation of a January 29, 2025 Presidential Executive Order on combating antisemitism.
The largest category by value was Rediscovering Our Revolutionary Tradition, with 33 grants totaling $13.4 million. Awards include preserving and digitizing Dakota Territory governance records, stabilizing maritime artifacts from a York River site where about 40 ships were sunk during the 1781 Battle of Yorktown, and preserving more than 100,000 archaeological artifacts and archival records from Revolution-era Kentucky settlements. Endowments for Advancing the Humanities awards, five grants totaling $12.3 million, leverage federal matching funds for 20-year endowments, including one for the University of Notre Dame's Center for Citizenship & Constitutional Government and one for Ohio State University's Salmon P. Chase Center for Civics.
Other categories included seven Collaborative Research grants totaling $858,364, nine Exhibitions and Historic Places grants totaling $2.4 million, six National Digital Newspaper Program grants totaling $1.8 million, five Public Scholars grants totaling $250,000, and fifteen Scholarly Editions and Translations grants totaling $4.3 million. Scholarly Editions projects include completing the final volumes of The Papers of Thomas A. Edison.
The release also describes a $6 million cooperative agreement between Indiana University's Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism and the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars, a three-year program of convenings, publications, and podcasts. The agency described this as part of its implementation of a January 29, 2025 Presidential Executive Order on combating antisemitism.
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