Standing Together

An Endowment-wide initiative to promote understanding of the military experience and to support returning veterans.

NEH seeks grant proposals that explore war and its aftermath, promote discussion of the experience of military service, and support returning veterans and their families.

Modern wars take place on such a large scale that one person's experiences can seem lost in the numbers: 750,000 Union and Confederate dead in the Civil War; 85 million in uniform worldwide during World War II. 

Each returning veteran, however, comes home with his or her own memories—individual, often unique stories that may be told often or almost never, sometimes understandable only to others who fought.

A wealth of documentaries funded by the NEH tells these human stories of Americans at war, from the fallen soldiers of Antietam's "bloodiest day" to the Pacific battles of World War II and the veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan. Through letters, interviews, and rarely seen footage and images, these films highlight both new and familiar figures from the past, share the voices of veterans and their families, and illuminate the reality of war and its lasting effects on American life at home and abroad.

This multi-year effort includes grant programs within all of NEH’s Divisions. To start, you can match your project with an NEH grant.

Read the "NEH launches new Standing Together Initiative" press release.