"Humanities: Those branches of knowledge, such as philosophy, literature, and art, that are concerned with human thought and culture; the liberal arts."
American Heritage Dictionary
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent agency that supports education, preservation, public programs, and research that will contribute to maintaining the humanities as a life-enriching element of the American experience, and is the largest funder of humanities-related activities in the United States.
When Ronald Reagan took over the presidency in 1981, and through much of the 1990s, when the Republicans were in control of Congress for the first time in 40 years, the Christian Coalition and other right-wing conservative groups gained power and targeted the National Endowment for the Humanities for extensive funding cutbacks because of their objections to government support of cultural programs. A number of budget cuts were implemented, but they were, for the most part, temporary, as the general public was opposed to getting rid of the National Endowment for Humanities, as well as the National Endowment for the Arts, which was under similar attack at the time.
NEH was established by the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965, which declared that “the study of the humanities require constant dedication and devotion,” and that “while no government can call a great artist or scholar into existence, it is necessary and appropriate for the Federal government to help create and sustain not only a climate encouraging freedom of thought, imagination, and inquiry but also the material conditions facilitating the release of this creative talent.” The Act also noted, “The world leadership which has come to the United States cannot rest solely upon superior power, wealth, and technology, but must be solidly founded upon worldwide respect and admiration for the Nation’s high qualities as a leader in the realm of ideas and of the spirit.”
In the Act, which was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson, on September 29, 1965, the term humanities includes, but is not limited to, the study and interpretation of: Archeology; aspects of the social sciences which have humanistic content and employ humanistic methods; comparative religion; ethics; history; the history, criticism, and theory of the arts; jurisprudence; language, both modern and classical; linguistics; literature; philosophy; and the study and application of the humanities to the human environment with particular attention to reflecting our diverse heritage, traditions, and history, and to the relevance of the humanities to the current conditions of national life.
A National Foundation on the Arts and Humanities was created by the Act, composed of a National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), a National Endowment for the Humanities, a Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities, and an Institute of Museum [and Library] Services.
According to the Act: “The purpose of the Foundation is to develop and promote a national policy of support for humanities and the arts in the United States. and for institutions which, pursuant to the Act, preserve the cultural heritage of the United States.”
NEH is directed by a Chairman appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate, for a term of four years. The Federal Council on the Arts and Humanities has 26 members appointed who serve staggered six-year terms. The Council is made up of the Chairperson of NEH; Chairperson of NEA; Chairperson of the Commission of Fine Arts; Archivist of the United States; Assistant Secretary for Aging; Commissioner of Public Buildings, General Services Administration; Director of the National Gallery of Art; Director of the Institute of Museum Services; Director of the National Science Foundation; Librarian of Congress; Secretary of Education; Secretary of the Smithsonian Institute; a member designated by the Chairperson of the Senate Commission on Art and Antiquities; a member designated by the Secretary of the Interior; and a member designated by the Speaker of the House.
NEH, based in Washington D.C., provides grants for projects that preserve and offer access to cultural resources; strengthen teaching and learning in the humanities in U.S. schools and colleges; and facilitate humanities-related public programs and research. NEH grants are given primarily to cultural institutions such as archives, libraries, public television stations, museums, radio stations, and universities, and at times to scholars on their own, if they qualify for Fellowships, or other programs also open to individuals.
NEH projects include:
Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers - A searchable Internet database of U.S. newspapers, as well as information about newspapers from 1690 to the present, which is an ongoing effort that will eventually include 30 million pages that will be permanently maintained at the Library of Congress, a partner with NEH on the venture.
Exhibitions Today - 123 long-term exhibits and 31 traveling panel exhibitions and related educational material, on display in various locations around the country, showcasing an assortment of significant U.S. figures and historical experiences.
- Behind the Veil, a radio program that explores the struggles and achievements of African Americans during the Jim Crow period in the American South
- Don't Eat the Pictures, a television show that introduces children to the New York Metropolitan Museum through the adventures of members of the Sesame Street gang, who find themselves accidentally locked up in the museum overnight
- Little Injustices: Laura Nader Looks at the Law, which presents anthropologist Nader's fieldwork in a small Zapotec village in Mexico and her comparison of Mexican and American systems of settling disputes and consumer complaints
- Wild Women Don't Have the Blues, a documentary that examines the talent and artistic legacy of a generation of women blues performers, recounting the stories of Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, Ida Cox, Alberta Hunter, and Marie Smith
- The Yiddish Radio Project, a series on Yiddish radio and American Jewish immigrant culture.
Jefferson Lectures in the Humanities - A program in which a lecturer is chosen every year by the National Council on the Humanities. The choice of an individual to give this lecture recognizes a person who has made significant scholarly contributions in the humanities, and who has the ability to communicate the knowledge he’s acquired in a broadly appealing way. Among the Jefferson Lecturers since the honor was established in 1972: Saul Bellow, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Arthur Miller, Robert Penn Warren, Walker Percy, John Updike, and Tom Wolfe.
We the People - An initiative that aims to enhance the teaching and understanding of American history through grants to filmmakers, museums, libraries, scholars, teachers, and other individuals and institutions; the annual “Idea of America” essay contest; a compilation of classic literature recommended for young readers and then made available to schools and libraries; summer seminars and institutes where teachers can deepen their knowledge of American history; and Picturing America, a collection of reproductions of forty works of art by American painters, sculptors, photographers, and architects, that NEH distributes, along with a teachers resource book, lesson plans, and materials, to schools and libraries nationwide, to help educate children about the people, places, and moments in American history by using the art and masterpieces that depict them.
From the Website of NEH
Press Release Archives
2008 Grants
Top 10 Contractors:
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U.S. Government
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$9,837,580
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Oracle Corporation
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$961,417
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Dell, Inc.
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$691,657
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WPP Group
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$685,398
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Kyocera Corporation
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$340,607
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Leon Snead & Co., Inc.
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$277,604
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The Choice for Temporaries
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$268,628
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City of Rockville, Maryland
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$263,900
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Midtown Personnel, Inc.
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$208,361
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American Infotech Solutions Inc.
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$187,067
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Contracts: 2000-2008
Over theyears NEH has withstood a variety of attacks, and attempts to curb, or fully eliminate funding of the agency, primarily from conservative Republican politicians and individuals in religious organizations. Some have opposed NEH because they believe the process determining who receives grants has become too politicized. Others have expressed dissatisfaction that too many of the grants are geared toward the interests of the cultural elite. Some have denounced specific projects on moral grounds, claiming they clash with the values the country was founded on. Still others believe it is wrong to spend tax dollars subsidizing humanity-related projects, and that privatizing the agency is a direction NEH must pursue.
Two former NEH Chairs, both appointed by President Reagan, Bill Bennett (1981-1985) and Lynne Cheney (1986-1993), disagreed with a great proportion of what NEH was choosing to fund. In 1995, at a House committee public hearing, both Bennett and Cheney called (unsuccessfully) for flat-out abolishing the agency.
NEH proponents, on the other hand, believe there is a genuine need for the government to support the kinds of cultural projects NEH does, or many would either not be able to exist at all, or would only be funded if the people with the private money to pay for them shared the views of the parties seeking grants; they also feel it is of indisputable value to society as a whole to have so many diverse humanity-related projects underwritten by the agency, to enrich learning opportunities, foster the nation’s culture, protect accessibility, and safeguard freedom of expression.
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Founded: 1965
Annual Budget: $144.4 million
Employees: 167
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National Endowment for the Humanities
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President Obama nominated a Republican, Jim Leach, to serve as Chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Assuming the ofice August 12, 2009, former Congressman Leach became the fifth Republican to serve in the Obama administration, joining Secretary of the Army John McHugh, Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman, and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, a holdover from the Bush administration. Unlike the other Republicans, who supported GOP 2008 Presidential nominee John McCain, Leach endorsed Obama for the White House.
Born October 15, 1942, in Davenport, Iowa, Leach won a state wrestling championship in 1960 for Davenport High School, wrestled in college and has been inducted into the Iowa Wrestling Hall of Fame. He earned a B.A. in 1964 from Princeton University (where he became a member of The Ivy Club), an M.A. in 1966 from the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, and studied in 1967 and 1968 at the London School of Economics without earning a degree. Prior to entering the United States Foreign Service, he was a staffer for then U.S. Representative Donald Rumsfeld in 1965 and 1966, for whom he also worked in 1969 and 1970, at the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO). While at OEO, Leach shared an office with Dick Cheney. Leach entered the Foreign Service in 1968, and served as a delegate to the Geneva Disarmament Conference and the U.N. General Assembly in 1971 and 1972. In 1973, Leach resigned his Foreign Service commission in protest of the Saturday Night Massacre, when Richard Nixon fired his Attorney General, Elliot Richardson, Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus, and the independent counsel investigating the Watergate break-in, Archibald Cox.
During his 15 terms in Congress, Leach’s voting record was generally conservative on fiscal issues, moderate on social matters, and progressive in foreign policy. As Chairman of the Arms Control and Foreign Policy Caucus, he pressed for a Comprehensive Test Ban and led the first House debate on a nuclear freeze. He objected to military unilateralism as reflected in the Iran-Contra policy of the 1980s. He pushed for full funding of U.S. obligations to the United Nations, supported U.S. re-entry into UNESCO, and opposed U.S. withdrawal from the compulsory jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice in 1986. Leach has the dubious distinction of being a lead sponsor of the 1999 Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Services Modernization Act, which repealed those parts of the Glass-Steagall Act which had prohibited banks from using depositors’ money as capital for corporate investments and mergers and as collateral for risky loans. This set the stage for the financial meltdown that began nine years later.
In 2008, Leach broke party ranks to endorse Democrat Barack Obama over fellow Republican John McCain in the 2008 U.S. presidential election. Introduced by fellow Iowan Senator Tom Harkin, Leach spoke at the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado.
Leach resides in Iowa City, Iowa, and Princeton, New Jersey, with his wife Elisabeth, with whom he has a son, Gallagher, and daughter, Jenny.
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Cole, Bruce
Previous Chairman
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Bruce Cole received a BA from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1962, an MA in 1964 from Oberlin College, and a Ph.d in 1969 from Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania. He spent two years as the William E. Suida Fellow at the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florence. He has also held fellowships and grants from the American Council of Learned Societies; the American Philosophical Society; the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles; the Guggenheim Foundation; and the Kress Foundation. In addition, he received an NEH Fellowship to research early Florentine paintings, and subsequently served as a panelist in NEH’s peer review system, and as a member for seven years of the National Council on the Humanities, to which he was appointed by President George H.W. Bush in April 1992. Bush’s son, George W. Bush, appointed Cole chairman of the National Endowment for Humanities in 2001. Cole served out his second four-year term in 2009.
Cole was also founder and former Co-President of the Association for Art History. In addition, he was a Professor at the University of Rochester, New York, and taught for twenty-eight years at Indiana University in Bloomingdale, where he was a Distinguished Professor of Art History and Professor of Comparative Literature.
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