On September 29, President Lyndon Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act into law.
1966
Barnaby C. Keeney becomes the first chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
First two grants go to the American Society of Papyrologists and the American Council of Learned Societies.
1967
Work begins on the letters of Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis.
1968
First volume of The Collected Writings of Walt Whitman published.
University of Texas excavates parts of Corinth.
1969
Dumas Malone completes first volume of Jefferson and His Time.
Work begins on The Papers of George Washington.
1970
The thirteen-part series Civilisation airs.
Foxfire recounts Appalachian history and culture.
1971
State humanities councils begin with test models in six states: Georgia, Maine, Missouri, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Wyoming.
Work begins on The Dictionary of American Regional English.
1972
First Jefferson Lecture is delivered by Lionel Trilling, "Mind and the Modern World."
Digitizing of the Thesaurus Linguae Graecae begins.
1973
Summer Seminars for College Teachers program begins.
Impressionist and postimpressionist masterpieces from Soviet Union tour U.S.
1974
First volume of The Papers of John Marshall published.
1975
"Archaeological Treasures from the People's Republic of China" opens.
Work begins on the papers of Jane Addams of Hull-House.
Jefferson and His Time by Dumas Malone wins Pulitzer.
1976
"The Treasures of Tutankhamun" becomes first American blockbuster exhibition.
Adams Chronicles wins four Emmys.
1977
Edith Wharton: A Biography by R.W.B. Lewis wins Pulitzer.
1978
Slavery and Human Progress by David Brion Davis wins Pulitzer, Bancroft, and National Book Award.
"Pompeii AD 79" exhibition opens.
1979
The Dred Scott Case by Don E. Fehrenbacher wins Pulitzer.
The Frederick Douglass Papers published.
James McGregor Burns publishes Political Parties in America.
Work begins on revision of Short-Title Catalogue, 1641-1700.
Work begins on English Short-Title Catalog.
1980
"The Great Bronze Age of China" tours country.
1981
First volume of The Journals of Henry David Thoreau published.
1982
U.S. Newspaper Program starts microfilming 67.5 million pages.
Library of America debuts with first four volumes.
The Historical Atlas of Congressional Districts in the United States Congress, 1789-1983 published.
1983
First volume of Coptic Encyclopedia published.
First volume of Encyclopedia of Islam published.
Encyclopedia Iranica published.
1984
State humanities councils of North Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, and South Dakota start modern Chautauqua movement.
"The Sun King: Louis XIV and the New World" debuts.
1985
The Stone Carvers wins Academy Award.
First volume of The Correspondence of Charles Darwin published.
1986
Bicentennial Bookshelf Program established.
First two volumes of The Cambridge History of China published.
Mayan book Popul Vuh wins PEN Translation Prize for Poetry.
Cathedral airs.
Work begins on four-volume edition of Dead Sea Scrolls.
1987
First volume of The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein published.
Voyagers to the West by Bernard Bailyn wins Pulitzer.
1988
"The Art of Paul Gauguin" opens.
Work begins on microfilming three million brittle books.
1989
"Goya and the Spirit of Enlightenment" opens.
First volume of The Papers of Thomas A. Edison published.
Final volume of The Papers of Daniel Webster published.
The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress: 1789-1989 published.
1990
The Civil War airs.
"Mexico: Splendors of Thirty Centuries" opens.
1991
"Degenerate Art: The Fate of the Avant Garde in Nazi Germany" opens.
Seven-part documentary Columbus and the Age of Discovery airs.
1992
"Seeds of Change" tours sixty cities.
First volume of The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr. published.
"The Worlds of Thomas Jefferson at Monticello" tours the country.
1993
The Great Depression documentary airs and wins Emmy.
Opera in America by John Dizikes published.
"The Age of Rubens" opens.
1994
Baseball wins Emmy.
Radio documentary Wade in the Water: African American Music Traditions wins Peabody Award.
"Jacob Lawrence: The Migration Series" debuts.
Out of Ireland airs.
The Historical Dictionary of American Slang published.
1995
"Beyond Category: The Musical Genius of Duke Ellington" opens.
Clemente Course in the Humanities begins.
H-Net created.
Work begins on fifty-eight volumes of Buildings of the United States.
"The Wreck of the Henrietta Marie" opens.
1996
"Agayuliyararput: The Living Tradition of the Yup'ik Masks" opens.
Richard Daley: The Last Boss airs.
The Great War and the Shaping of the Twentieth Century wins Emmy.
Oyez project on Supreme Court goes online.
Archaeologists excavate seventeenth-century fort in Jamestown.
Perseus Digital Library begins.
1997
First volume of The Papers of Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton published.
Isamu Noguchi: Stones and Paper traces the sculptor's life.
Divided Highways explores the byways of the auto.
Liberty! recounts the American Revolution.
TR: The Story of Teddy Roosevelt wins Emmy.
The Richest Man in the World portrays Andrew Carnegie.
"A Grand Design: The Art of the Victoria and Albert Museum" opens.
EDSITEment, a portal for humanities teachers, is launched.
William Blake Archive goes online.
1998
Porgy and Bess tells the making of a breakthrough opera.
The U.S. Mexican War airs.
Africans in America traces a transatlantic legacy.
"Gold Fever!" marks 150th anniversary of Gold Rush.
"Wrapped in Pride" explores kente cloth and African American identity.
"Barn Again!" begins touring the country.
First volume of The Oxford History of the British Empire published.
De Anza Project goes online.
1999
"Pharaohs of the Sun" offers artifacts of ancient Egypt.
New York retraces a great city's history.
I'll Make Me a World airs.
MacArthur airs.
Lost and Found Sound: An American Record airs.
American National Biography published.
2000
Coming to Light portrays the photographer of Indians, Edward S. Curtis.
Jazz takes the genre from New Orleans to New York.
Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World published.
2001
"Steinbeck: Bard of the People" marks the writer's centennial.
"Vital Forms" traces American art in the atomic age.
"People of the Rivers" visits life on the northern plateau.
Free to Dance wins Emmy.
Alfred Stieglitz: The Eloquent Eye televised.
2002
"Magnificenza! The Medici, Michelangelo, and the Art of Late Renaissance Florence" opens.
Ralph Ellison portrays a creative life.
Benjamin Franklin follows the inventor and statesman.
Save America's Treasures begins restoring historical places, documents, and artifacts.
The Book of Kings: Art, War, and the Morgan Medieval Picture Book begins touring the country.
2003
"Coming of Age in Ancient Greece" reflects on childhood.
"Elizabeth: Ruler and Legend" traces a forty-five-year reign.
"Heroes of the Sky" follows the Wright Brothers.
"The Art of Rice: Spirit and Sustenance in Asia" opens.
2004
"Lewis and Clark" follows an intrepid party west.
"Asian Games" traces mind-bending competition.
Broadway: The American Musical traces the history of the Great White Way.
Do You Speak American? explores our speech.
Landmarks of American History workshops begin for teachers.
2005
Mary Pickford portrays a star turned producer.
The Fight pits Joe Louis against Max Schmeling.
