National Endowment for the Humanities

History

In the early 19th century, Congress began enacting a set of long-range reforms designed to support [Page 634]and enhance the arts and humanities in the United States. The first step was the creation of the Library of Congress in 1800. This was followed in 1836 with the acceptance of a bequest by Englishman James Smithson valued at $508,318.46. These funds were the seed money for the development of the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. The acceptance of the Smithson estate was not without controversy and dissent. Leading the opposition were the U.S. senators from South Carolina John C. Calhoun and William Campbell Preston. Both senators questioned the constitutionality of Congress's acceptance of the funds. Calhoun cited the need for individual states to be involved in the decision and Preston was a vocal opponent until he was persuaded to assist in the creation of the Smithsonian Institute as part of a move to establish a national university.

Further developments were made in the 20th century under New Deal provisions in the Works Progress Administration, which offered support for advancing the arts and humanities by funding the activities of a variety of writers, musicians, artists, and thespians. In 1954 Health, Education, and Welfare Undersecretary Nelson Rockefeller led a movement to establish a national arts council. Although the effort failed to gain approval, it nevertheless created a serious dialogue concerning a national foundation for the arts and humanities at the national level. In the early 1960s, President John F. Kennedy made the arts and humanities a national priority. In 1964 a blue ribbon commission, that included Phi Delta Kappa, the Council of Graduate Schools, and the American Council of Learned Societies, issued a report that called for the creation of a national foundation for the humanities. These efforts peaked in 1965 when Congress passed legislation creating the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. The funding for both was initially modest ($2.9 million for the National Endowment for the Arts and $5.9 million for the NEH), but the creation of the endowments was seen as a major milestone in advancing the arts and humanities. This amount has grown over the years. For fiscal year 2009, the NEH requested funding in the amount of $144,355,000 million.

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