National Endowment for the Humanities

NEH Overview

What is NEH?

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency created in 1965. It is the largest funder of humanities programs in the United States.

What does NEH do?

Because democracy demands wisdom, the National Endowment for the Humanities serves and strengthens our Republic by promoting excellence in the humanities and conveying the lessons of history to all Americans. The Endowment accomplishes this mission by providing grants for high-quality humanities projects in four funding areas: preserving and providing access to cultural resources, education, research, and public programs.

NEH grants typically go to cultural institutions, such as museums, archives, libraries, colleges, universities, public television, and radio stations, and to individual scholars. The grants:

• strengthen teaching and learning in the humanities in schools and colleges across the nation
• facilitate research and original scholarship
• provide opportunities for lifelong learning
• preserve and provide access to cultural and educational resources
• strengthen the institutional base of the humanities

What projects has NEH supported?

Since 1965, the Endowment has opened new worlds of learning for the American public with noteworthy projects such as:

• "Treasures of Tutankhamen," the blockbuster exhibition seen by more than 1.5 million people
• The Civil War, the landmark documentary by Ken Burns viewed by 38 million Americans
• Library of America, editions of novels, essays, and poems celebrating America's literary heritage
• United States Newspaper Project, an effort to catalog and microfilm 63.3 million pages of newspapers dating from the early Republic
• Fifteen Pulitzer prize-winning books, including those by James M. McPherson, Louis Menand, Joan D. Hedrick, and Bernard Bailyn

What are the humanities?

According to the 1965 National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act, "The term 'humanities' includes, but is not limited to, the study of the following: language, both modern and classical; linguistics; literature; history; jurisprudence; philosophy; archaeology; comparative religion; ethics; the history, criticism and theory of the arts; those aspects of social sciences which have humanistic content and employ humanistic methods; 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."

How is NEH structured?

The Endowment is directed by a chairman, who is appointed by the president and confirmed by the U.S. Senate, for a term of four years. Advising the chairman is the National Council on the Humanities, a board of 26 distinguished private citizens who are also appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. The National Council members serve staggered six-year terms.

NEH's chairman is Bruce Cole. Before joining NEH, Dr. Cole was Distinguished Professor of Fine Arts and chairman of the Department of History of Art at the Hope School of Fine Arts at Indiana University, Bloomington. He is a member of the Accademia Senese degli Intronati, the oldest learned society in Europe, and a founder and former co-president of the Association for Art History. He was confirmed by the Senate in December 2001.