FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NEH Announces $29 Million for 215 Humanities Projects Nationwide

Grant awards for humanities research, education programs, cultural preservation, films, exhibitions, and virtual reality projects augmented by $48 million in funding for state humanities councils

 

 

WASHINGTON, D.C. (August 14, 2019) — The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) today announced $29 million in awards for 215 humanities projects across the country. The grants include funding to produce a television series, South by Somewhere, on the foodways, history, and culture of the American South, and archaeological analysis of the overseer’s quarters at James Madison’s Montpelier plantation. 

This round of funding, NEH’s third and last for fiscal year 2019, will support vital research, education, preservation, and public programs in the humanities. These peer-reviewed grants were awarded in addition to $48 million in annual operating support provided to the national network of state and territorial humanities councils during fiscal year 2019.

“NEH grants help strengthen and sustain American cultural life, in communities, at museums, libraries, and historic sites, and in classrooms,” said NEH Chairman Jon Parrish Peede. “As the nation prepares to commemorate its 250th anniversary in 2026, NEH is proud to help lay the foundations for public engagement with America’s past by funding projects that safeguard cultural heritage and advance our understanding of the events, ideas, and people that have shaped our nation.”

This funding cycle includes grants for several longstanding NEH-supported scholarly editions projects that illuminate foundational texts and the lives of influential individuals. New grants will enable continued work on the papers of presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln, as well as publication of the complete speeches, correspondence, and writings of Martin Luther King Jr. and Eleanor Roosevelt, and a new scholarly edition and translation of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Several others will provide for community-based public programs around significant milestones in national and regional U.S. history, such as grants for statewide reading and discussion programs in Maine tied to the state’s bicentennial in 2020, funding for a three-part documentary on the history and identity of Alaska by celebrated filmmaker Ric Burns, and support for the creation of a new permanent gallery at the Please Touch Museum to teach children about the 1876 Centennial Fair in Philadelphia.               

NEH continues to support cutting-edge research and public programs in the humanities with grants to support tree-ring analysis of medieval Byzantine churches in Cyprus to identify the structures’ date of construction and source materials, expand the Perseus Digital Library of resources on the Classical world, and produce Unladylike 2020, a series of animated films about female trailblazers of the Progressive Era.

NEH Public Scholar grants, which support popular nonfiction books in the humanities, will enable publication of: a biography of Sacagawea as a window into the experiences of Northern Plains, Rockies, and Pacific Northwest Native American tribes; an examination of the mythos of Alexander the Great across multiple cultures and eras; and a book on the portrayal of returning WWII veterans in the blockbuster 1946 film The Best Years of Our Lives.

Several projects receiving grants today will help preserve significant historical and cultural collections and make them more accessible to a broader public. These include grants to protect a collection of fragile nitrate-based film and photography at the George Eastman Museum that includes the original Technicolor camera negatives for The Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind, safeguard materials documenting the history of the Pikes Peak region at the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum, and improve environmental controls for European, African, and American art collections at Puerto Rico’s Museo de Arte de Ponce.

Twenty-three institutions received grants to support professional development for K-12 and college teachers through summer workshops and institutes on humanities topics such as: Roman Life in Pompeii, Moby-Dick and the nineteenth-century whaling industry, Kansas City in the Jazz Age, and John Steinbeck’s writings on California’s agricultural and marine industries and ecology.

This round of funding also includes a number of cooperative agreements that reflect NEH emphases on civic education and the stewardship of cultural heritage, including a collaborative project with the American Historical Association to conduct a national survey of the American public to assess perceptions of and engagement with the past, and a $1 million partnership with the National Trust for Historic Preservation to support the preservation of historic buildings and sites at America’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

A full list of grants by geographic location is available here.  

Grants were awarded in the following categories:

Collaborative Research	Support interpretive research undertaken by a team of two or more collaborating scholars that adds significantly to knowledge and understanding of the humanities   14 grants, totaling $1.9 million
Digital Humanities Advancement	Support the implementation of innovative digital humanities projects that have successfully completed a start-up phase and demonstrated their value to the field 16 grants, totaling $2.3 million
Institutes for Advanced Topics in the Digital Humanities	Provide scholars and advanced graduate students with the opportunity to deepen their knowledge of advanced technology tools and methodologies relevant to the humanities and to increase the number of humanities scholars using digital technology in their research 5 grants, totaling $920,517
Landmarks of American History and Culture	Support a series of one-week workshops for a national audience of K-12 educators that enhance and strengthen humanities teaching at the K-12 level. 16 grants, totaling $2.7 million
Media Projects: Development and Production	Support film, television, and radio projects that explore significant events, figures, and ideas within the humanities. Development grants enable media producers to collaborate with scholars to develop humanities content and to prepare programs for production; production grants support the preparation of a project for presentation to the public. 12 grants, totaling $3.3 million
National Digital Newspaper Program	Support the creation of a national, digital resource of historically significant newspapers published between 1690 and 1963, from all states and U.S. territories 11 grants, totaling $2.7 million
Preservation Assistance Grants for Smaller Institutions	Help institutions—particularly small and mid-sized institutions—improve their ability to preserve and care for their humanities collections, including special collections of books and journals, archives and manuscripts, prints and photographs, moving images, sound recordings, architectural and cartographic records, decorative and fine arts, textiles, archaeological and ethnographic artifacts, furniture, and historical objects. 45 grants, totaling $394,741
Public Humanities Projects: Humanities Discussions, Exhibitions, and Historic Places	Support museum exhibitions, discussion programs, and interpretations of historic places that bring the ideas and insights of the humanities to life for general audiences 10 grants, totaling $1.6 million
Public Scholar Program	Support well-researched books in the humanities aimed at a broad public audience 15 grants, totaling $795,000
Scholarly Editions and Translations	Support the preparation of editions and translations of texts that are valuable to the humanities but are inaccessible or available only in inadequate editions 17 grants, totaling $4.2 million
Summer Seminars and Institutes for College and University Teachers	Support intensive one- to four-week projects in which sixteen to twenty-five college and university faculty members, working with scholarly experts, engage in collegial study of significant texts and topics in the humanities   9 grants, totaling $1.2 million
Summer Seminars and Institutes for School Teachers	Support intensive one- to four-week projects in which sixteen to thirty school teachers, working with scholarly experts, engage in collegial study of significant texts and topics in the humanities   23 grants, totaling $3.3 million
Sustaining Cultural Heritage Collections	Support preventative conservation measures to prolong the useful life of collections to help cultural institutions preserve large and diverse holdings of humanities materials for future generations   18 grants, totaling $2.7 million

 

 

 

National Endowment for the Humanities: Created in 1965 as an independent federal agency, the National Endowment for the Humanities supports research and learning in history, literature, philosophy, and other areas of the humanities by funding selected, peer-reviewed proposals from around the nation. Additional information about the National Endowment for the Humanities and its grant programs is available at: www.neh.gov.  

Maine Maritime Museum has recently deaccessioned hundreds of items that include furnishings, housewares, linens, and clothing dating c. 1880-1910. Most items have no provenance and were collected solely for the purpose of outfitting a house museum that never came to be.

Are there any institutions with period exhibits or house museums that might find use for items from this collection?

Best regards,

Kelly Page

Collections & Library Services Manager

(207) 443-1316 x346

Maine Maritime Museum/ 243 Washington Street/ Bath, ME 04530

www.mainemaritimemuseum.org

You can participate:

At the Maine Genealogical Society’s September 2019 multi-day conference, where we are hoping to host at least 150 attendees with an interest in genealogy and history, we would be glad to distribute brochures, pamphlets, price guides or catalogs regarding your group/organization. In the past the MGS conference has offered space for vendors. That is not possible this year. Please email us at cwpatten@tds.net for exciting details about the new conference venue and the extended offerings.

Upon request, we can email you a form, should you wish to submit an ad for the conference syllabus.

The same form offers a place for submitting a door prize(s)–for which you would receive acknowledgment in the conference syllabus.

Thank you for your consideration.

Cheryl Willis Patten - MGS 2019 Events Committee

cwpatten@tds.net

Are you interested in learning more about Museums for All, an initiative dedicated to expanding community access?  Join staff from the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the Association of Children’s Museums on July 25 at 1 p.m. Eastern to learn more about how and why 400 museums participate in the program. Find more information on how to attend the informational webinar on the IMLS website.

The Maine Emergency Management Agency is pleased to announce that we will be co-sponsoring the three-day Heritage Emergency And Response Training (HEART) from August 27-August 29 at the Maine Cultural Building in Augusta. We are very happy to partner with the Smithsonian and the Maine State Museum, Library, and Archives to offer this program.

 

Experts from the Smithsonian Cultural Rescue Initiative (SCRI), FEMA’s Office of Environmental Planning and Historic Preservation (OEHP), and the Heritage Emergency National Task Force (HENTF) will be onsite to conduct this training. Sessions will run from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm daily and will provide realistic, hands-on training in damage assessment, rapid documentation, emergency evacuation and salvage, rehousing and storage, crisis communication, team building, and more. This offering is an excellent opportunity to get this training without having to travel to Washington, D.C. for a five-day period to take it.

 

At the end of the training, participants will be able to:

• Assess and manage risks to cultural heritage in emergency situations
• Explore the values associated with cultural heritage and the impact that disasters (natural and man-made) have on these values
• Improve existing disaster plans at their organization or agency, or on behalf of other organizations or agencies
• Take preventive actions to reduce disaster risk and improve response
• Secure, salvage, and stabilize a variety of cultural materials
• Train and manage a response team to implement effective actions during crises that affect cultural heritage
• Communicate successfully with the various actors, including the media, involved in an emergency response
• Identify relevant programs and services that can assist cultural heritage organizations in the event of a disaster
• Understand how first aid for cultural heritage supports recovery in affected communities and how it fits into the National Planning Frameworks

 

We seek heritage professionals who:

• Work at or for a cultural heritage institution that has a disaster plan for collections and that supports training in disaster planning/cultural heritage protection;
• Might have previously faced an emergency situation that called for an immediate response to safeguard cultural heritage, whether at their own institution or assisting another;
• Are emerging leaders with 3–5 years’ experience in collections care/cultural heritage protection; and/or
• Are actively engaged in professional or heritage-related associations.

 

We seek first responders and emergency management professionals who:

• Might have responded to an emergency situation that called for an immediate response to safeguard cultural heritage;
• Are motivated to increase their knowledge of the concerns and priorities of cultural stewards;
• Are eager to share what they learn at this training with their colleagues; and/or
• Want to bolster their understanding of how cultural heritage can help communities recover and become more resilient following a disaster, and how their collaboration with cultural stewards contributes to this effort.

 

Space is limited to 25 participants. Applications are due by June 30. To apply for the training, please review the attached document and send submissions toCERC.Maine@gmail.com.

The Division of Preservation and Access of the National Endowment for the Humanities is accepting applications for grants in its Humanities Collections and Reference Resources program, with a deadline of July 16, 2019. These grants support projects to preserve and create intellectual access to such collections as rare books, journals, manuscript and archival materials, maps, still and moving images, sound recordings, art, and objects of material culture. Awards also support the creation of reference works, online resources, and research tools of major importance to the humanities. Eligible activities are wide-ranging; many involve the use of digital methods. Further details, including links to the application guidelines and other resources, are available at: www.neh.gov/grants/preservation/humanities-collections-and-reference-resources.

Application deadline: July 1, 2019

Draft applications accepted for technical review through June 15, 2019

https://www.maine.gov/mhpc/programs/grants

The Maine Historic Preservation Commission is pleased to announce the availability of combined Historic Preservation Fund (HPF) and New Century Community fund grants for 2019   The Commission anticipates awarding up to $62,000 in one-to-one matching grants for the preparation of National Register nominations, architectural or archaeological surveys, and preservation planning, education, development, or pre-development projects statewide.  The minimum grant award is normally $5,000 and the maximum is $24,995.  Eligible historic buildings and sites are those that are listed in the National Register of Historic Places either individually or as contributing resources in a National Register listed historic district.  Eligible applicants are limited to state agencies, county governments, municipal governments, educational institutions, and private non-profit institutions as defined by the Internal Revenue Service. Projects must be directed by persons with professional credentials as defined by the Department of the Interior, and must be completed by September 30, 2020. 

 

The Commission’s 2019 Historic Preservation Grant Manual provides information about eligible projects and expenses, as well as the project selection process and selection criteria.  Funding priorities for 2019 include projects tied to the Maine Bicentennial (2020), that include municipal or regional level planning for the effects of climate change on historic resources, that focus on preservation outreach through public events, social media or educational plans, or that expand the Maine Historic Resources Inventory and make it more accessible.  A complete list of funding priorities is available in the manual.

 

Please visit https://www.maine.gov/tools/whatsnew/index.php?topic=mhpc_news&id=735170&v=article2019 for an application or the grant manual, or contact the Maine Historic Preservation Commission, 55 Capitol Street, 65 State House Station, Augusta, ME, 04333-0065, (207) 287-2132.

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation invites community-based archives in the United States and its territories to submit proposals to fund one of the following areas of need:

• Operational support for the organization, including general support for staff, space, and utilities.
• Collections care, including storage, cataloging, description, and preservation.
• Programming and outreach activities, including collecting new materials, and exhibitions, publications, or other uses of the collections.

The Foundation plans to offer a total of $1 million in support of community-based archives in two annual calls for proposals, one in 2019 and the second in 2020.  The 2019 Call for Proposals (CFP) is now open and directed towards community-based archives that represent and serve communities marginalized due to oppression based on race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, class, sexuality, religion, ability, and/or geographic location.  For the purposes of this CFP, community-based archives must demonstrate that community members actively participate in their archival processes, making key decisions about what to collect and how. 

For more information, visit https://mellon.org/programs/scholarly-communications/call-for-proposals-community-based-archives/

In the towns of the District of Maine in 1819 voting for statehood, or to approve the proposed state constitution, could have occurred at a town hall, a meeting house, a tavern, a private residence or a school. In 1820 the announcement of statehood may have been read from the steps of these buildings or announced in a common or posted on a tree.

As the Bicentennial of Statehood approaches this survey seeks to identify the physical places in each Maine community that were associated with the 1819 vote for statehood and the announcement that Maine had been granted state status in 1820. Communities are encouraged to search their record books for information on where the votes were taken in 1819, or from which the Proclamation of Statehood was delivered the following year.

Once locations or properties are identified, please upload photographs and descriptions of the properties to the survey and locate the properties on a GIS-based map. If the historic properties do not exist you may post photographs of town documents describing polling locations, or photographs of where the townhouse or meeting house was located showing what is there now.

This survey may be completed multiple times as necessary.

The information collected here will be used to curate a narrative story map that helps Mainers to envision the places where Maine was created, one vote at a time.

Anyone can undertake the research and post information to the survey. So please share this with your community's schools, scouts, historical societies, or town officials and complete the survey for your town or city.

The survey will remain open until August 1, 2019.

Click here to start the survey: https://survey123.arcgis.com/share/bc5dcfbdc19e416eadb4f195f5693978

NEH guidelines now available for Research & Development Grants! Up to $350,000 to address major challenges in preserving or providing access to humanities collections and resources. Propose better ways to preserve materials of critical importance to the nation’s cultural heritage—from fragile artifacts to digital assets—& develop advanced modes to organize, search, discover, & use such materials. Deadline: 5/15/19. https://bit.ly/2mVHRaP