State History

This article originally appeared in a National Endowment for the Humanities press release.

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) today announced $24.7 million in grants for 208 humanities projects across the country. Among these are grants to support Oakwood University’s creation of a living history museum, based on the life of Dred Scott, and the digitization of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century North American climate and weather data, including daily meteorological observation records kept by Thomas Jefferson from 1776 to 1826.

“These NEH grants will support educators and scholars in enriching our understanding of the past and enable cultural institutions from across the country to expand their offerings, resources, and public programming, both in person and online,” said NEH Acting Chair Adam Wolfson. “We look forward to the many new insights and discoveries that these 208 exemplary projects will make possible.” Read more...

Congratulations to the New York State Grantees!

NEW YORK  $2,680,718

Annandale-on-Hudson
Samuel Secunda Outright: $40,000
[Fellowships]
Bard College
Project Title: The Formation of the Talmud in Sasanian Babylonia
Project Description: Research and writing leading to a book on the formation of the Babylonian Talmud in the sixth century CE.

Blue Mountain Lake
Adirondack Historical Association, Inc. Match: $500,000
[Infrastructure and Capacity Building Challenge Grants]
Project Director: David Kahn
Project Title: Renovation of 5,800 square feet of gallery space to meet contemporary museum standards.
Project Description: Safety, mechanical, and electrical upgrades in the main building of the Adirondack Historical Association, New York, to support the new permanent exhibition Artists & Inspiration in the Wild, scheduled to open in 2023.

Bronx
Sarit Kattan Gribetz Outright: $60,000
[Fellowships] Fordham University
Project Title: Jerusalem: A Feminist History
Project Description: Research and writing leading to a history of Jerusalem from biblical times to the present, focused on the experience of the city’s women.

Brooklyn
Brooklyn Academy of Music, Inc. Match: $89,246
[Infrastructure and Capacity Building Challenge Grants]
Project Director: Jonathan Jones
Project Title: Completion and Furnishing of the BAM Hamm Archives
Project Description: The purchase and installation of furnishings, fixtures, and equipment and costs associated with the relocation of archival materials to the new Hamm Archives of the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) in New York.

Maria Vinogradova Outright: $60,000
[Fellowships] Pratt Institute
Project Title: On the Public Rails: A History of Soviet Amateur Filmmaking (1957–1991) Project Description: Research and writing leading to a scholarly monograph on Soviet amateur cinema between 1957 and 1991.

St. Francis College Outright: $150,000
[Humanities Initiatives at Hispanic-Serving Institutions]
Project Director: Jennifer Wingate
Project Title: Digital Humanities Across the Curriculum
Project Description: A two-year curriculum development project to integrate digital humanities into history, communications, interdisciplinary studies, and English courses.

Corona
Louis Armstrong House Museum Outright: $30,000
[Digital Projects for the Public: Discovery Grants]
Project Director: Regina Bain
Project Title: Mapping the Legacy of Jazz and Hip-Hop in Queens*
Project Description: Development of a digital project exploring the history of jazz and hip-hop in Queens, New York.

Cortland
SUNY Research Foundation, College at Cortland Outright: $142,955
[Humanities Initiatives at Colleges and Universities]
Project Director: Kevin Sheets; Randi Storch (co-project director)
Project Title: Re-Placing the Gilded Age and Progressive Era
Project Description: A curricular collaboration project to reconceptualize the research and teaching of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era.

Farmingdale
SUNY Research Foundation, Farmingdale State Outright: $150,000
[NEH/AHRC New Directions for Digital Scholarship in Cultural Institutions]
Project Director: Mary Caulfield
Project Title: Designing Mixed Reality Heritage Performances
Project Description: The creation of research-based performances and toolkits about the eighteenth-century slave trade in Deerfield, Massachusetts, and London for cultural heritage sites in the U.S. and UK. The UK partner is Brunel University London.   

Ithaca
Cornell University Outright: $50,000
[NEH/AHRC New Directions for Digital Scholarship in Cultural Institutions]
Project Director: Tao Goffe
Project Title: Towards an Integrated Colonial Archive: Humanities, Law and British Indentureship
Project Description: The creation of an interactive website that brings together collections in the United States and United Kingdom to facilitate scholarship on colonialism and indentureship. The UK partner is Birkbeck College.

Long Island City
CUNY Research Foundation, LaGuardia Community College Outright: $149,780
[Humanities Initiatives at Community Colleges]
Project Director: Filip Stabrowski Project Title: Border Lands, Border Waters
Project Description: Two summer institutes for 20 faculty members and ten students, centered on the emerging field of critical border studies.

New York
Association for Cultural Equity Outright: $30,000
[Digital Projects for the Public: Discovery Grants]
Project Director: Anna Wood
Project Title: Making Global Jukebox Journeys Mobile: Exploring the Roots of American Music Project Description: Development of a mobile-friendly site and new humanities content focused on three musical traditions.

Association of University Presses, Inc. Outright: $49,680
[Digital Humanities Advancement Grants]
Project Director: John Sherer; Erich van Rijn (co-project director)
Project Title: Understanding the Impact on Print Revenue When University Press Books are Open Access
Project Description: A survey of scholarly presses and the preparation of a report on revenue models for open access publishing.

Blavatnik Archive Foundation Outright: $100,000
[Digital Projects for the Public: Prototyping Grants]
Project Director: Julie Reines Chervinsky
Project Title: Postcards from the Siege: Messages from the Besieged City of Leningrad
Project Description: Creation of a prototype for a curated digital archive of postcards published and mailed during the siege of Leningrad (1941–44).

Kaiama L. Glover Outright: $40,000
[Fellowships] Barnard College
Project Title: For the Love of Revolution: René Depestre and the Poetics of the Cold War
Project Description: Research and writing leading to publication of an intellectual biography of Haitian poet René Depestre (1926- ) and his uniquely Caribbean and AfroAtlantic perspectives on the Cold War.

Metropolitan Museum of Art Outright: $349,999
[Research and Development]
Project Director: Julie Arslanoglu
Project Title: A Novel Tripartite Approach to Biomolecule Analysis
Project Description: A project to develop a scientific methodology for biomolecule identification in art, demonstrated on chia oil in Mexican lacquerware and painting dating from the viceroyalty of New Spain.

Michelle Chase Outright: $60,000
[Fellowships] Pace University
Project Title: Red Star Over Cuba: A Global History of Anti-Castroism After the Bay of Pigs Project Description: Research and writing leading to a book on anti-communist activism among Cuban exiles after 1961.

New York University Outright: $50,000
[Digital Humanities Advancement Grants]
Project Director: Tega Brain; Ahmed Ansari (co-project director); Elaine Ayers (coproject director); Laura Briscoe (co-project director)
Project Title: Inverting the Wunderkammer: Rethinking the Digital Humanities through Botanic Histories and Archives Project Description: Convening of a series of participatory design workshops to enhance discovery and use of the Mitten Collection of moss for humanities research.

Tejaswini Ganti Outright: $60,000
[Fellowships] New York University
Project Title: Thinking in English, Speaking in Hindi: Translation, Creativity, and Indian Media Worlds
Project Description: Research and writing of a book on the role of translation in global media.

Pocantico Hills
Historic Hudson Valley Outright: $399,058
[Digital Projects for the Public: Production Grants]
Project Director: Elizabeth Bradley
Project Title: Kofi’s Trial: A Digital Graphic History*
Project Description: Production of an interactive graphic history examining the trial of Kofi, the enslaved accused leader of the 1741 New York Conspiracy.

Rochester
Laura Smoller Outright: $60,000
[Fellowships] University of Rochester
Project Title: Astrology and the Sibyls: Paths to Truth in Medieval and Renaissance Europe Project Description: Research and writing leading to a book on the relationship between astrology and prophecy in the European Middle Ages (from 1100 to 1600).

Whitney Sperrazza Outright: $60,000
[Fellowships] Rochester Institute of Technology
Project Title: Poetry, Anatomy, and Women’s Scientific Work in Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century England
Project Description: Research and writing leading to a book on women’s poetry and scientific work in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century England.