National Endowment for the Humanities
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent agency of the U.S. government, established in 1965 with the mission of supporting research, education, and preservation in the humanities. Founded on the recommendation of President John F. Kennedy, the NEH provides financial assistance to a wide range of entities, including scholars, museums, libraries, and educational institutions. Its funding has facilitated diverse projects, such as publishing historical documents, sponsoring academic symposiums, and producing documentary films focused on multicultural themes.
Despite its significant contributions, the NEH has faced criticism from both conservative and liberal factions for its funding choices, often reflecting broader cultural and political divides. Over the years, there have been calls for its elimination, particularly during the Reagan administration, although it has maintained support from various presidential administrations. The NEH has also evolved in response to contemporary challenges, establishing initiatives like the Office of Digital Humanities to address the needs of the digital age. Its ongoing programs aim to connect communities through culture and explore the humanities in relation to modern issues, such as artificial intelligence.
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National Endowment for the Humanities
- FOUNDED: 1965
- TYPE OF ORGANIZATION: Independent agency of the U.S. government
SIGNIFICANCE: The NEH has been regularly attacked by conservatives for funding projects that they have contended oppose values held by most Americans and by liberals who have objected to traditional American cultural values
The NEH is an independent executive agency of the U.S. government dedicated to the preservation of and research into the humanities. It has provided financial support to individual scholars, not-for-profit groups, colleges and universities, museums, libraries, publications, and schools. The NEH has also supported diverse projects, such as publishing papers by notable historical and literary figures, sponsoring symposia on critical academic issues, financing documentary films, and organizing forums on multicultural topics. The NEH was founded by an act of Congress in 1965 on the recommendation of President John F. Kennedy. Along with the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), The Institute of Museum Services, and the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities, it helps to make up the National Foundation on the Arts and Humanities. The chairperson of the NEH and twenty-six other members of the foundation’s governing council are appointed by the president with Senate confirmation.
Despite extensive criticism from both the Right and the Left, the NEH survived with strong support from Presidents Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Richard Nixon. However, the NEH came under increased scrutiny after President Ronald Reagan called for its elimination. In the 1980s and 1990s, the NEH was further attacked, particularly by conservatives. In 1990, for example, Congress passed legislation making all grants awarded by the NEH and the NEA subject to an obscenity clause. North Carolina senator Jesse Helms proposed the bill that required grant recipients to sign pledges stating that any government funds they received would not be used to produce obscene material. The measure was, however, later ruled unconstitutional.
Lynne Cheney, the NEH chairperson under President George Bush, was often accused by liberals of using her position to promote her conservative ideologies. When the Senate rejected Cheney’s nomination of Carol Iannone to the NEH Advisory Council in 1991, she contended that the decision was based on Iannone’s opinions published in the right-leaning Commentary magazine. Senate members who voted against the nominee insisted that they rejected Iannone because of her weak academic credentials. Cheney also joined Kansas Senator Robert Dole and former NEH chairperson William Bennett in condemning the National History Standards. Though they were co-sponsored by the NEH when Cheney was chairperson, she claimed not to know its specifics.
With both the House and the Senate gaining Republican majorities in the 1994 election, some congressional leaders called for the elimination of the NEH. In 1995, funding for the endowment was barred from being used to support projects that “promote, disseminate, sponsor, or produce materials or performances that depict or describe in a patently offensive way sexual or excretory activities or organs” and “which denigrate the objects or beliefs of the adherents of a particular religion.”
Through the twenty-first century, the NEH continued providing grants, services, and programs focused on the humanities. In 2008, the NEH established the Office of Digital Humanities to better serve Americans in the digital age, and in 2017, the NEH dissolved the Office of Challenge Grants. Its activities were largely replaced by the Division of Preservation and Access. Its initiatives in the 2020s include the Humanities Perspectives on Artificial Intelligence, the Pacific Islands Cultural Initiative, and United We Stand: Connecting Through Culture.
Bibliography
"About the National Endowment for the Humanities." National Endowment for the Humanities, www.neh.gov/about. Accessed 20 Oct. 2024.
"How NEH Got Its Start. National Endowment for the Humanities, www.neh.gov/about/history. Accessed 20 Oct. 2024.
National Endowment for the Humanities, et al. “National Endowment for the Humanities.” Federal Depository Library Program Web Archive, archived version, National Endowment for the Humanities, 2004, purl.fdlp.gov/GPO/gpo60451. Accessed 20 Oct. 2024.
"National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)." Grants, www.grants.gov/learn-grants/grant-making-agencies/national-endowment-for-the-humanities-neh. Accessed 20 Oct. 2024.