What is the National Endowment for The Humanities?
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965 (Pub.L. 89–209), dedicated to supporting research, education, preservation, and public programs in the humanities.
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency created in 1965. It is one of the largest funders of humanities programs in the United States. Because democracy demands wisdom, NEH serves and strengthens our republic by promoting excellence in the humanities ...
What are the humanities?
"The term 'humanities' includes, but is not limited to, the study and interpretation 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."
--National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act, 1965, as amended
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency created in 1965. It is one of the largest funders of humanities programs in the United States.
Because democracy demands wisdom, NEH 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 awarding grants for top-rated proposals examined by panels of independent, external reviewers.
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 schools and colleges
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
Since 1965, the Endowment has opened new worlds of learning for the American public with noteworthy projects such as:
Seven thousand books, 16 of which have won Pulitzer Prizes, and 20 of which have received the Bancroft Prize.
The Civil War, the landmark documentary by Ken Burns viewed by 38 million Americans
The Library of America editions of novels, essays, and poems celebrating America’s literary heritage
The United States Newspaper Project, which cataloged and microfilmed 63.3 million pages of historic newspapers, paved the way for the National Digital Newspaper Program and its digital repository, Chronicling America
Annual support for 56 states and territories to help support some 56,000 lectures, discussions, exhibitions and other programs each year
National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Funding Levels
Established by the federal government in 1965, the NEH currently has the explicit goal of providing support for humanities activities through grants for education, preservation, research, and public programs. While the federal government contributes to the humanities through many other federal agencies and departments, the NEH is the largest source of federal funding for humanities activities, and thus its financial condition serves as an important indicator of federal support for the field.
Findings and Trends
The period from the late 1960s to 1979 was one of substantial, virtually uninterrupted growth in NEH funding, with appropriations for the agency increasing from approximately $34 million to just under $403 million in inflation-adjusted value (Indicator IV-1a). Funding, however, quickly dropped from this historic high, and after four years of marked reductions by 1983 appropriations were down 33%. (For the unadjusted request and appropriations values, click here.)
Funding for the NEH plateaued from the early 1980s until 1996, when a major contraction—similar to that experienced by the agency in the early 1980s—occurred. At that time, total new appropriations were cut 37%, from $255 million to $160 million in inflation adjusted dollars. Funding remained in the vicinity of this reduced level through 2014. In recent years, the high watermark for funding was 2010, when the agency received an appropriation of $185 million. But the effects of inflation and funding cuts brought the resources made available to the agency by Congress down to $144 million (a 22% decrease) in 2013, before a modest increase to almost $148 million in 2016.
The President’s budget request for NEH has tended to exceed the eventual appropriation received by the agency. The 1980s, however, were a notable exception to this general rule, particularly in the early years of the decade when the Reagan administration’s requests were well below the amounts of funding Congress ultimately directed to the NEH.
Although the absolute amounts of agency funding directed toward administrative purposes have been stable (in constant 2016 dollars) since the late 1970s, shrinking program budgets mean that from 1979 (the peak year of NEH funding) to 2014, the administrative share of the NEH budget increased from 7% to almost 19% of the total agency appropriation (Indicator IV-1b). In FY 2015, the share of the NEH budget allocated to administration fell slightly (from 18.8% to 18.5%), and under the proposed budget for FY 2016, the share would shrink further (to 18.4%).
The amount of NEH money distributed in Federal/State Partnership funding to the state humanities councils has remained relatively constant since 1987 (Indicator IV-1c).[1] The substantial 1996 reduction in the agency’s budget primarily impacted discretionary funds, which dropped from approximately $182 million in 1995 to $96.5 million in 1996. Discretionary funding remained near this lower level, albeit growing slightly, for several years. The NEH’s discretionary funding started to decline again in 2011, falling to $76.9 million in 2013, its lowest level since the late 1980s.
The first column of Indicator IV-1d lists the total amount of funding directed by the NEH in 2014 to each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. Each total represents the monies distributed by formula to the state’s humanities council plus the discretionary funding awards made to entities and individuals in that state. The second column of the figure adjusts for population size, indicating the per capita funding level for each state. These per capita amounts ranged from less than 20 cents for the states of Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Ohio, and Texas to a high of $4.93 for the District of Columbia.
The uncommonly large size of the District’s per capita amount is due, in part, to the fact that it includes not only grants but also $1.1 million in program-related contracts awarded by the agency. Apart from this exceptional case, the states receiving the largest allocations were Vermont ($2.79), Alaska, Delaware, Massachusetts, Montana, North and South Dakota, Rhode Island, and Wyoming (all between one and two dollars). National per capita funding distributed for 2014 was 36 cents.
* Monies include those for new grants, supplemental grants, program contracts, and other program-related purposes. Included are awards that were made by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) using funds appropriated by Congress; transferred to NEH by other federal agencies; and contributed by nonfederal entities.
** The amount for the District of Columbia includes, in addition to grants, funding for all program contracts awarded by the agency ($1.1 million).
Source: National Endowment for the Humanities, Office of Planning and Budget (data provided to the Humanities Indicators upon request). The population data used to calculate per capita amounts were obtained from U.S. Census Bureau, Population Division, "Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for the United States, Regions, States, and Puerto Rico: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2014 (NST-EST2014-01)."
Endnotes
[1] For an explanation of the formula by which NEH distributes funding to the state councils see the “About the Data” window associated with Indicator IV-3a, State Humanities Council Revenues, Total and Per Capita, Fiscal Years 1994–2010 (Adjusted for Inflation).
