Digital Humanities
NEH encourages plans to strengthen the technological infrastructure of humanities institutions, thereby enhancing the applicant institution's ability to make use of new technologies in research, education, preservation, and public programming in the humanities. Such plans can be supported through challenge grants. Challenge grant funds may be used, for example, to purchase equipment and software, renovate computing centers devoted to the humanities, and purchase databases. Challenge grants can support maintenance and upgrades of equipment, software, and data; licensing fees; salaries of technical staff; faculty and staff training in uses of digital technology; and other ongoing expenses associated with uses of digital technology in the humanities.
Guidelines URL: www.neh.gov/grants/guidelines/challenge.html

CH-50560, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation:
Establishment of a 3D Visualization Lab at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation received a $600,000 NEH Challenge Grant in 2009 to promote the development of digital technologies for humanities education. The grant will establish a $3.255 million endowment to support the foundation's Digital History Center (DHC). Founded in 2002, DHC uses innovative technologies to engage the public in continuing conversation about the American Revolution, citizenship, and democracy. The endowment will enable the foundation to expand the work of the DHC. Specifically, the NEH challenge grant will be used to establish a 3-D Visualization Lab that will advance the development of interactive, three-dimensional computer graphics to model Williamsburg at the time of the revolution and to create other virtual environments relevant to the foundation’s educational programming.
Project URL: research.history.org/DHC/VW.cfm