The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent government agency that supports the study of human history, thought, and culture through the preservation of cultural resources, education, research, and public programs.
Congress created the NEH in the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965, which also created the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). According to the legislation, the term “humanities” includes the study of language, linguistics, literature, history, jurisprudence, philosophy, archaeology, comparative religion, ethics, and the history, criticism, and theory of the arts.
Like the NEA, the president appoints the NEH chair to a four-year term, pending confirmation by the Senate. Advising the chair is the National Council on the Humanities, which consists of 26 private citizens whom the president appoints and the Senate confirms. Between 1965 and 1999, the NEH awarded more than $3.1 billion for 56,000 fellowships and grants. These went to institutions such as museums, libraries, and archives for preserving, storing, and providing public access to collections. The NEH also funds museum exhibitions, television programs, and historic sites. Individuals receive support for teaching and research in the humanities. Two prestigious awards in this category include the Jefferson Lecture and the National Humanities Medals. Recently, the NEH has begun to fund projects that make use of the Internet to increase public awareness of the humanities.
The creation of the NEH grew from the particular historical context of post-World War II America. Economic growth and the support for veteran education through the GI Bill led to an increase in college enrollments. The baby boom between 1945 and 1964 added further pressure for an expansion of education. With that expansion came rising expectations for increased government support among academics, humanists included. In addition, the cold war led to wider support for education as a means of showcasing American superiority in world affairs. While the sciences received the most attention, in 1962 the American Council of Learned Societies recommended the creation of a national endowment for art and humanities and John F. Kennedy gave his approval. After Kennedy’s assassination, Lyndon B. Johnson called for the creation of these endowments as a legacy to the slain president. Johnson also considered federal support for arts and humanities as constituting an important part of his domestic agenda, the Great Society. An alliance of both arts and humanities helped the bill through Congress, since the humanities generated less controversy. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act on September 29, 1965.
Although the principle of granting support to the humanities had been established, differences remained within Congress and between Congress and the academic community over the nature of that support. During its early years, academics on the National Council on the Humanities believed in subsidizing their profession, while Congress expected a more equitable distribution among the states. With a budget in 1966 of $2.5 million, the NEH had limited funds with which to work.
In subsequent years, an increase in the NEH’s budget, combined with supportive leadership, helped the agency make substantial strides in supporting the humanities through the funding of television programs, research, and public libraries and museum exhibits.
Further reading: Ronald Berman, Culture and Politics (Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 1984).
—Gregory S. Wilson
World History
