OFFICE OF CHALLENGE
GRANTS
Understanding of the humanities requires a strong institutional base for teaching, research, preservation,
and public programming. Through its Challenge Grants program, NEH provides assistance to
institutions to enhance their humanities resources and activities over the long term. By encouraging
nonfederal contributions and long-range planning, the program strengthens humanities institutions
across the country. In 2002, grants totaling more than $10.4 million stimulated nonfederal donations
of nearly $37 million. Both the NEH challenge funds and the nonfederal funds are used for a variety
of purposes, including augmenting or establishing endowments that support humanities activities,
renovating or constructing facilities, purchasing equipment and upgrading technology, and enhancing
library holdings and preserving collections.
The NEH Challenge Grants program supports institutions that serve humanities researchers and
make scholarly resources available to the public. The Council of American Overseas Research Centers,
which represents nineteen American centers in Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, and the Middle
East, received this year the first installment of its $350,000 challenge grant to help endow the American
Overseas Digital Library. This library will provide an integrated, accessible catalog of the centers’
resources and databases of their journals, dissertations, cartographic and photographic materials,
and foreign language resources.
The NEH Challenge Grants program helps strengthen teaching and learning in the humanities
across the nation. The Center for Georgia Studies, established in 1998 at Georgia College and State
University, works with the state’s elementary and secondary school teachers and students. A 2002
NEH challenge grant of $500,000 (to be matched by $1.5 million in nonfederal funds) will provide
an endowment enabling the center to host an annual public outreach program featuring scholars,
writers, and artists; to administer a multidisciplinary course on Georgia’s culture and history; and
to publish the Flannery O’Connor Review.
Advancements in electronic technology play an ever more vital role in humanities planning. This
fiscal year the University of Wisconsin-Extension received the second installment of its NEH challenge
offer of $500,000, which, when matched with $2 million in nonfederal gifts, will provide $2.5 million
to assist Wisconsin Public Television and its flagship station, WHA-TV, in its federally mandated shift
to digital television. It also will establish an endowment for the design and production of The Wisconsin
Collection in collaboration with the State Historical Society of Wisconsin.
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| The Library Company of Pennsylvania
is renovating a historic townhouse to be a Center for Advanced Study in Early American History and Culture.
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| Library and Surgeons Hall in Philadelphia
by William Birch, 1799;
The Library Company of Philadelphia
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This year the Challenge Grants program offered strong support to major conservation training
programs. For example, The University of Delaware received an NEH challenge grant to provide
a financial base for graduate stipends, professional development opportunities for students and faculty,
and state-of-the-art digital technologies. This program has trained a significant number of conservators
currently in practice in North America and abroad.
Grants awarded through Challenge Grants enhance the understanding of United States history,
institutions, and culture. The Library Company of Philadelphia, which was founded by Benjamin
Franklin in 1731 and today operates as an advanced research library for American studies, received
a challenge grant of $500,000 to be matched by $2 million
in nonfederal funds. The funds are for the renovation of
a late nineteenth-century townhouse that serves as a Center
for Advanced Study in Early American History and Culture.
Fort Ticonderoga received a challenge grant to support
the endowment for two humanities positions, the director
of interpretation and education and the curator of landscape.
Another portion of the endowment will restore the Magasin
du roi (King’s Storehouse) to become a year-round education center.
Matching grants totaling $2,463,479 (including $578,734 in private gift funds) for implementation
of regional humanities centers were awarded this year through the Office of Challenge Grants.
Creating permanent sources of ongoing financial support has become a high priority for humanities
organizations—large and small—concerned with ensuring continuity and growth in their programs.
The NEH Challenge Grants program encourages humanities organizations to become active in fundraising
as a means of building permanent resources for the future.
Stephen M. Ross
Director
Office of Challenge Grants
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Grants secure long-term funding for humanities programming
and resources through building endowments at institutions.
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Alabama State University
Montgomery, AL
Janice R. Franklin
$250,000* Endowment for programs,
preservation of documents, and faculty
development workshops on the history
of civil rights and African American
culture.
American Antiquarian Society
Worcester, MA
Nancy Burkett
$150,000* Endowment for the
acquisition of books, manuscripts,
pamphlets, and other items for the
society’s collections.
American Association for
State and Local History
Nashville, TN
Terry L. Davis
$96,000* Endowment for an
additional humanities staff position
and new humanities programs.
Amistad Research Center
New Orleans, LA
Donald E. DeVore
$6,346* Endowment for the position of
director of collections and for research
fellowships.
Appalachian State University
Boone, NC
Mary L. Reichel
$150,000* Endowment for visiting
scholars, an administrative position,
fellowships, library acquisitions, and
museum programs in Appalachian
Studies.
Carleton College
Northfield, MN
Elizabeth McKinsey
$200,000* Endowment for two faculty
positions in Asian languages, for a new
cross-cultural studies concentration,
and for equipment in a modern
language center.
Children’s Museum of
Southeastern Connecticut
Niantic, CT
Tony Mollica
$50,000* Construction of major
humanities space in the museum’s
new building and endowment to
support humanities programs at
the new location.
Chippewa Valley Museum
Eau Claire, WI
Susan M. McLeod
$100,000* Renovation of gallery
and technical support facilities, an
education center, environmental
control, and collections storage;
endowment for humanities programs.
Clear Lake Public Library
Clear Lake, IA
Jean M. Casey
$75,000* Renovation and expansion
of the library’s 1918 Carnegie building
to enhance facilities for humanities
programming.
Columbia College Center for
Black Music Research
Chicago, IL
Samuel A. Floyd
$75,000* Endowment for a humanities
technology specialist and a library and
archives cataloger.
Council of American
Overseas Research Centers
Washington, DC
Mary Ellen Lane
$100,000* Document conservation and
fund-raising costs and an endowment
providing salary for librarians engaged
in the American Overseas Digital
Library.
Crow Canyon Archaeological Center
Cortez, CO
Ricky R. Lightfoot
$200,000* Endowment for a distance learning program in archaeology.
Dubuque County Historical Society
Dubuque, IA
Jerry A. Enzler
$100,000* Endowment for
new humanities positions at the
Mississippi River Museum: curator
of environmental history, education
director, lead interpreter, and collections
manager.
Encyclopaedia Iranica Foundation
New York, NY
Ehsan O. Yarshater
$166,000* Endowment for the
completion of the Encyclopaedia
Iranica and future projects.
Fort Ticonderoga
Ticonderoga, NY
Nicholas Westbrook
$250,000* Endowment for two
humanities positions, and restoration of
the Magasin du roi (King’s Storehouse)
as a year-round education center.
Foundation for the Memphis/Shelby
County Public Library
Memphis, TN
Gina G. Milburn
$100,000* Endowment for
acquisitions, supplies, and the oral
history collection related to the library’s
Memphis Music Collection; equipment
for the listening room.
Georgia College and State University
Milledgeville, GA
Craig S. Pascoe
$100,000* Endowment for staff,
acquisitions, and programs at the
Center for Georgia Studies.
Hartford Public Library
Hartford, WI
Louise Blalock
$200,000* Endowment for acquisitions
and programming; renovation of the
central library.
Idaho Humanities Council
Boise, ID
Richard K. Ardinger
$75,000* Endowment for annual
summer institutes for schoolteachers in
the humanities, and related educational
programming and staffing.
Juilliard School
New York, NY
Peter M. Rojcewicz
$400,000* Endowment for the
addition of two new faculty positions in
Juilliard’s liberal arts division.
Koahnic Broadcast Corporation
Anchorage, AK
Jaclyn Sallee
$168,800* Endowment for Native
American audio programming to be
distributed nationally.
Lawrence University
Appleton, WI
Kathleen M. Murray
$100,000* Endowment for the
university’s freshman studies program.
Library Company of Philadelphia
Philadelphia, PA
John C. Van Horne
$166,000* Renovation of a facility
for a Center for Advanced Study in
Early American History and Culture;
endowment for maintenance,
a curator’s salary, acquisitions,
and fellowships.
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Loras College
Dubuque, IA
Cheryl Rose Jacobsen
$143,000* Endowment for an
interdisciplinary first-year seminar
called Modes of Inquiry and for
interdisciplinary humanities study
grants for curriculum development.
Lower East Side Tenement Museum
New York, NY
Ruth J. Abram
$100,000* Endowment for humanities
programming, the museum’s website,
outside scholars, a collections
management program, and the
American Immigration Heritage
Center.
Loyola University, New Orleans
New Orleans, LA
David C. Estes
$35,934* Endowment for a faculty
director, archivist, biennial symposium,
exhibitions, online journal, and
acquisitions for the Center for the
Study of Catholics in the South.
Madison County-Canton Public Library
Canton, MS
Sandra Sanders
$25,000* Endowment for a part-time
humanities coordinator, acquisitions,
and humanities programming.
Maine Humanities Council
Portland, ME
Dorothy Schwartz
$65,000* Purchase and renovation
of a building for the Maine Center for
the Book and the Maine Humanities
Council, and endowment for
humanities programming.
Marathon County Public Library
Wausau, WI
Mary J. Bethke
$25,000* Endowment for humanities
programming and for acquisitions in
both print and electronic formats.
Mattress Factory
Pittsburgh, PA
Michael Olijnyk
$100,000* Endowment for the position
of education director, for humanities
consultants, and for humanities
material on the museum’s website.
Museo de las Americas
Denver, CO
Stephen M. Johnson
$150,000* Construction to integrate an
adjoining building with the museum’s
existing facility, and purchase of
equipment, furniture, and computers.
Museum for African Art
Long Island City, NY
Frank Herreman
$500,000* Construction of a new
facility on New York’s Museum
Mile and endowment for staff and
acquisitions.
Museum of the Cherokee Indian
Cherokee, NC
Barbara R. Duncan
$33,122* Endowment for staff
salaries and programs in humanities
education, bridge support for
humanities programs, and
construction of an education wing.
Nebraska Humanities Council
Lincoln, NE
Jane Renner Hood
$75,000* Endowment for an initiative
designed to help Nebraska towns
and neighborhoods draw upon their
history and cultural heritage in future
planning.
New York University
New York, NY
Margaret H. Ellis
$300,000* Endowment for program
development and student fellowships
in the conservation center, Institute of
Fine Arts.
Newport Historical Society
Newport, RI
Daniel Snydacker
$125,000* Endowment for humanities
staff positions: director of education,
curator of historic sites, and library
director; and for humanities
programming.
Northeast Historic Film
Blue Hill Falls, ME
David S. Weiss
$375,000* Construction of a new
conservation center for the secure
storage of film and videotape
collections; endowment for
humanities programming.
Oberlin College
Oberlin, OH
Clayton R. Koppes
$167,000* Endowment for postdoctoral
fellowships in the humanities.
Oglala Lakota College
Kyle, SD
Thomas Shortbull
$100,000* Endowment for two faculty
positions in Lakota studies and Lakota
language.
Ohio State University, Main Campus
Columbus, OH
Diane W. Birckbichler
$195,797* Space reconfiguration
and endowment for fellows, research
associates, and K–12 workshops in a
technologically advanced world media
and culture center.
Philander Smith College
Little Rock, AR
James E. Rush
$334,000* Endowment for humanities
acquisitions, building and equipment
maintenance, and an archival librarian.
Pomona College
Claremont, CA
Frank Gibney
$400,000* Endowment for staff,
archives, and humanities programming
at the Pacific Basin Institute at
Pomona College.
Public Library of Charlotte and
Mecklenburg Center
Charlotte, NC
Robert E. Cannon
$200,000* Endowment for new
humanities programming.
Richmond Public Library
Richmond, VA
Robert D. Rieffel
$100,000* Renovation of the main
library building, acquisitions to
strengthen the library’s humanities
holdings, and endowment for future
humanities acquisitions.
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
San Francisco, CA
Peter S. Samis
$333,000* Endowment for digital
interpretive programs and exhibitions,
partnerships with public schools, and
enhanced access to the museum’s
collections database.
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Staten Island Botanical Garden, Inc.
Staten Island, NY
Yangming Chu
$37,500* Endowment for the curator
of the Chinese Scholar’s Garden and
a part-time curatorial assistant;
construction, acquisitions, and an
orientation exhibition.
Strong Museum
Rochester, NY
G. Rollie Adams
$300,000* Renovation and expansion
of exhibit and collections storage space.
SUNY Research Foundation, College at Buffalo
Buffalo, NY
Frederick C. Tahk
$300,000* Endowment for graduate
student fellowships and program
development for the college’s art
conservation program.
Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation, Inc.
Charlottesville, VA
Fraser D. Neiman
$150,000* Endowment for staff,
education and public outreach, and
technology for a web-accessible resource
for the study of early American slavery
in the Chesapeake region.
Toledo Museum of Art
Toledo, OH
Roger M. Berkowitz
$150,000* Endowment for a full-time
conservator and for other ongoing
conservation needs.
University of Dayton
Dayton, OH
Paul J. Morman
$100,000* Endowment for a
humanities fellows program that will
support integration of the humanities
with professional programs in business,
education, and engineering.
University of Delaware
Newark, DE
Debra H. Norris
$300,000* Endowment for graduate
stipends, curricular enhancement,
and professional development in
the university’s master’s-level art
conservation program.
University of Kansas Center for Research, Inc
Lawrence, KS
Victor Bailey
$167,000* Endowment for public and
educational outreach in humanities
programming at the Hall Center at the
University of Kansas.
University of Nebraska Foundation
Lincoln, NE
Patricia C. Crews
$100,000* Endowment for academic
and public humanities programming
and for research in the International
Quilt Study Center at the University
of Nebraska.
University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM
Mari Lyn C. Salvador
$83,500* Renovation, website
development, and endowment for staff,
fellowships, and public programming
in the Alfonso Ortiz Center for
Intercultural Studies.
University of North Carolina
Chapel Hill, NC
Richard J. A. Talbert
$83,000* Endowment for staff
positions and other operational costs at
the Ancient World Mapping Center.
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA
Michael T. Ryan
$166,000* Renovation of the
Schoenberg Center for Electronic Text
and Images, and endowment for a staff
position, public programming, and
technology acquisitions.
University of Puerto Rico
Rio Piedras, PR
James P. Conlan
$50,000* Acquisition of the English
Book I and II Microfilm series, an
archive of every extant book printed in
the British Isles from 1475 to 1700.
University of Texas
Austin, TX
James N. Loehlin
$50,000* Endowment for the residency
costs associated with the Winedale
Shakespeare-in-performance program
at the University of Texas.
University of Texas
San Antonio, TX
Linda T. Woodson
$5,000* Endowment for a
distinguished professorship in a
new cross-cultural doctoral program
in the humanities.
University of Wisconsin-Extension
Madison, WI
James Steinbach
$150,000* Equipment acquisition
and endowment for the Wisconsin
Collection, a collaboration between
Wisconsin Public Television and the
State Historical Society of Wisconsin.
Vermont Historical Society
Barre, VT
Gainor B. Davis
$334,000* Renovation of the Spaulding
School to create a History Center to
serve humanities education throughout
the State of Vermont.
Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund
Washington, DC
Sherri L. Weil
$150,000* Endowment for humanities
programming and positions of
director of humanities programs and
coordinator of humanities-related
curriculum development.
Willa Cather Pioneer Memorial and Education Foundation
Red Cloud, NE
Betty J. Kort
$100,000* Endowment for the program
director, a part-time archivist, building
maintenance, and programming at the
Willa Cather Pioneer Memorial and
Education Center.
Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation
Princeton, NJ
Robert Weisbuch
$200,000* Endowment for the
Woodrow Wilson Dissertation Grants
in Women’s Studies, a humanities
initiative fund, a humanities specialist
position, and conferences.
Yakima Valley Museum and Historical Association
Princeton, NJ
Robert Weisbuch
$200,000* Renovation of the existing
facility, and endowment for exhibits,
humanities programming, and
curatorial positions in education.
* Federal Matching Funds
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