- $700,000
Picturing America On-screen and Online
Recipient: Lacy, Susan (New York, NY 10001 USA) in affiliation with Educational Broadcasting Corporation
Goal: Production of 20 three- to five-minute video segments, together with a website, exploring the masterworks of American art featured in the NEH initiative Picturing America.
Description: Picturing America on Screen is a multi-media companion project that will extend the reach of the Picturing America initiative via production and online distribution of video segments featuring each of the selected works of art, an educational DVD, and an interactive "Viewers' Choice" interactive online component. This media presentation will explore on screen the interpretations and appeal of the selected works of American art, as well as engage a broad spectrum of the American public in a dialogue about them. These dynamic segments, produced by a variety of directors using a wide range of perspectives and viewpoints, aspire to strengthen the nexus of history and art as well as demonstrate how looking at art can be a vital component in the study of our cultural history. al history.
Grant: 194064 / TR-50029-09, Division: Public Programs, Program: America's Media Makers Production, Year Awarded: 2009 - $49,575
Red Land/Black Land: Teaching Ancient Egyptian History Through Game-Based Learning
Recipient: Watrall, Ethan C (East Lansing, MI 48824-1115 USA) in affiliation with Michigan State University (East Lansing, MI 48824 USA)
Goal: The development of a modification of the game Civilization IV that would allow students to explore ancient Egypt.
Description: This project will produce a robust Civilization IV mod (a modification to an existing game) allowing players to explore the society and history of Ancient Egypt. The project has three goals: 1) players will explore the process of social and historical change from the early Predynastic period to the end of the Third Intermediate Period (ca 4000 - 525 B.C.); 2)supplementary game content will help players explore the construction of historical knowledge-- how Egyptologists and archaeologists know what they do about ancient Egypt; 3) the mod will provide an accurate counterpoint to many mainstream commercial videogames that perpetuate pseudo-historical and pseudo-archaeological notions of ancient Egypt. This game-based learning approach will provide a far deeper, more experiential understanding of the subject than might be gained through more traditional means such as textbooks or lectures.
Grant: 196195 / HD-50573-09, Division: Digital Humanities, Program: Digital Humanities Start-Up Grants, Year Awarded: 2009 - $6,000
Chicago Film Archives Preservation Furniture and Equipment Project
Recipient: Faber, Carolyn (Chicago, IL 60647 USA) in affiliation with Chicago Film Archives (Chicago, IL 60659 USA)
Goal: The purchase and installation of preservation-quality shelving, a film inspection gauge, and environmental monitoring equipment, which were recommended by the consultant in the repository's 2007 preservation assessment.
Description: In response to recommendations made in a 2007 collections assessment that was funded by the NEH Preservation Assistance Grant, Chicago Film Archives would like to purchase and install horizontal shelving to replace the mostly vertical shelving where the films are presently stored. Shelving priority will be given to the Core Collections that are comprised of films that reflect Midwest culture and history. In addition, CFA would like to purchase a shrinkage gauge for film inspection and a temperature/RH logger with software.
Grant: 193813 / PG-50449-09, Division: Preservation and Access, Program: Preservation Assistance Grants, Year Awarded: 2009 - $635,000
No Job For a Woman: The Women Who Fought to Report World War II
Recipient: Fillion, Michele Midori (New York, NY 10011 USA) in affiliation with Women Make Movies, Inc. (New York, NY 10010 USA)
Goal: Production of a one-hour documentary film and companion website focusing on women reporters of World War II.
Description: "No Job For a Woman": The Women Who fought To Report World War II will be the first fillm (and companion web-site) to focus on American women's role in reporting WWII. This important chapter in journalism history will show viewers the story of WWII women war reporters, the obstacles they encountered, and their role in contributing to a new way of war reporting.
Grant: 191593 / TI-50120-08, Division: Public Programs, Program: Media TV Production, Year Awarded: 2008 - $79,554
Speaking of Faith: Biographical Series
Recipient: Moos, Kate (St. Paul, MN 55101 USA) in affiliation with Minnesota Public Radio
Goal: Production of a one-hour radio program, together with a companion website, on Tatanka Iyotanka (Sitting Bull), and development of six treatments profiling significant figures in the history of religious thought around the world.
Description: American Public Media|Minnesota Public Radio respectfully request a one-year grant of $79,556 from the NEH to extend and amplify Speaking of Faith's (SoF) existing NEH-funded work in the area of historical biography. This grant would support the production of a one-hour radio program, extensive interactive, multimedia companion Web site, and accompanying discussion and reflection guide for adult learners. The subject of this episode--the seventh in our series--will be Hunkpapa Lakota chief Tatanka Iyotanka (Sitting Bull). We also request funding for the development of six more program treatments for future production. These treatments would be selected from an ongoing list of historic figures who have had significant impact on their own time, and whose legacy is under-reported but meaningful. Our request for funding takes into account the fact that much more research, and other specialized production activities are involved in the creation of each program in the biographical series.
Grant: 191740 / TR-50010-08, Division: Public Programs, Program: America's Media Makers Production, Year Awarded: 2008 - $75,000
Ordered Liberty
Recipient: Bieber, Jeff (Arlington, VA 22206 USA) in affiliation with GWETA, Inc. (Washington, DC 20013 USA)
Goal: Development of a two-hour film that would examine the history of the conservative movement in 20th-century America.
Description: We are requesting development funding for "Ordered Liberty," a two-hour film history of the Conservative movement in the United States. The film will be broadcast nationally on PBS and will be accompanied by outreach materials, teaching materials, website and companion book.
Grant: 191722 / TD-50020-08, Division: Public Programs, Program: America's Media Makers Development, Year Awarded: 2008 - $70,000
The Big Show in Bololand
Recipient: Hoyt, Austin (Cambridge, MA 02138 USA) in affiliation with Filmmakers Collaborative, Inc. (Waltham, MA 02453 USA)
Goal: Scripting of a 60-minute documentary film about the efforts of the American Relief Administration to combat starvation in the new Soviet Union from 1921–23.
Description: "The Big Show in Bololand" is a 60-minute documentary on the work of the American Relief Administration (ARA) to combat starvation in the new Soviet Russia from 1921-23. It will focus on the challenges faced by two ARA volunteers. In the background are the distrust and the political agendas of an ardent anti-communist, the ARA's director Herbert Hoover, and the leader of Russia's new regime, Vladimir Lenin.
Grant: 191594 / TS-50094-08, Division: Public Programs, Program: Media TV Scripting, Year Awarded: 2008 - $30,000
Project Rebirth
Recipient: Farruggia, Charlie (New York, NY 10038 USA) in affiliation with Project Rebirth, Inc. (New York, NY USA)
Grant: 191669 / TI-50135-08, Division: Public Programs, Program: Media TV Production, Year Awarded: 2008 - $800,000
The Campaign for Minnesota Public Radio
Recipient: Gossett, Jon Kevin (St. Paul, MN 55101 USA) in affiliation with Minnesota Public Radio
Goal: Construction and renovation of an expanded production and broadcast facility.
Description: Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) respectfully requests a grant of $800,000 from the National Endowment for the Humanities Challenge Grant Program to stimulate successful completion of MPR's $46 Million Capital Campaign, The Next Standard. The Campaign will provide capital to expand and renovate our production and broadcast facilities in downtown Saint Paul ($41 Million) and support three content-development initiatves that will 1) create a new digital audio archive for MPR's programming, 2) substantially increase our arts and cultural programming, and 3) use new network technology and knowledge management tools to draw the knowledge and expertise in our audience into the creation of our daily journalism. NEH's Challenge Grant and matching support will be dedicated toward construction and renovation costs of the expanded production and broadcast facility. Completion of this facility is crucial to the future of MPR, and will substantially enhance our capacity to produce and disseminate high quality humanities content to our region and the nation.
Grant: 176410 / CH-50244-07, Division: Challenge Grants, Program: Challenge Grants, Year Awarded: 2007 - $800,000
1812: The War We Forgot
Recipient: Grant, John Edwin (State College, PA 16801 USA) in affiliation with Western New York Public Broadcasting Association (Buffalo, NY 14240 USA)
Goal: Production of a two-hour television documentary on the War of 1812 that would explore the war from divergent points of view, including Canadian, Native American, and British perspectives, as well as the American perspective.
Description: This is a request for $800,000 in outright funds for the production phase of 1812: The War We Forgot, a two-hour high definition documentary film on the War of 1812, a deeply significant event in our nation's history and culture that is largely forgotten today, even as we approach its 200th anniversary. No comprehensive film history of the War of 1812 has even been shown on Public Television, even though it had far-reaching consequences. 1812: The War We Forgot will provide a window into a period in history that the viewing public has seldom seen. It will explore this vital event from divergent points of view, including Canadian, Native American, and British perspectives, as well as the American perspective. Production will take place over an 18-month period, beginning in the summer/fall of 2008. The documentary is a co-production involving WNED-TV, WETA-TV, and Florentine Hilms/Hott Productions.
Grant: 186444 / TI-50076-07, Division: Public Programs, Program: Media TV Production, Year Awarded: 2007 - $30,000
Artists' Books Online: From Prototype to Distributed Community
Recipient: Drucker, Johanna (Los Angeles, CA 90095-1521 USA) in affiliation with University of Virginia (Charlottesville, VA 22903 USA)
Goal: The testing and implementation of a prototype for digitizing artists' books by a group of curators, artists, critics, and scholars who will expand the use and population of this virtual resource through a distributed content model.
Description: Artists' books are original works of art produced in traditional and experimental formats. An increasing number of scholars are taking an interest in this field. But critical scholarship depends on having access to these works - many of which are rare, out-of-print, and difficult to locate. Artists' Books Online is a networked digital resource designed to provide access to these books in virtual facsimile as page images accompanied by extensive metadata in a form that creates substantial commentary. The infrastructure of the ABsOnline prototype has been designed to aggregate materials that are geographically dispersed into a single "collection" of online objects. NEH funded activity would test a model of "distributed content development" for the repository. By working with a handful of selected collaborators, I will test the viability of building a community of contributors and scaling this prototype of collaborative, online scholarship.
Grant: 186626 / HD-50051-07, Division: Digital Humanities, Program: Digital Humanities Start-Up Grants, Year Awarded: 2007 - $279,507
Cataloging and Digitizing Television News Specials in Vanderbilt's Television News Archive
Recipient: Breeding, Marshall (Nashville, TN 37240 USA) in affiliation with Vanderbilt University
Goal: The digitization and enhanced cataloging of 11,000 hours of news specials broadcast by national news networks from 1968 to 2003.
Description: The project will digitize and enhance the cataloging for Vanderbilt Television News Archive’s collection of national news special programs recorded off-air between 1968 and 2003. The scope of the project includes content on about 11,000 hours of ¾-inch U-Matic videotape that will be transferred to MPEG-2 digital format. The Library of Congress will receive copies of the files for long-term preservation. Access to this collection will be enhanced through descriptive cataloging. While portions of this collection have previously been cataloged, some parts have not or have only brief records. The project will employ methodologies, personnel, and equipment currently in use for digitizing the Archive’s collection of evening news broadcasts.
Grant: 179499 / PA-51974-06, Division: Preservation and Access, Program: Preservation/Access Projects, Year Awarded: 2006 - $226,629
Cataloging and Selective Reformatting of the Appalshop Audio and Moving Image Archives
Recipient: Barret, Elizabeth (Whitesburg, KY 41858 USA) in affiliation with Appalshop, Inc.
Goal: Cataloging archival records that document the content of the organization's multi-media collections, creating finding aids, and rehousing and the selective reformatting of audio and moving image collections.
Description: To preserve, catalog, and improve access to the documentary records in its archive, Appalshop seeks support for an archivist to assess and arrange the Archive's moving image and recorded sound collections; identify, preserve, and generate access copies of at-risk collection materials; further describe and complete cataloguing records of the Archive's materials and create title-level finding aids; provide increased awareness and access to the collections by the public through development of the Archive's website, and inclusion of catalogue records in established on-line archive collection indexes.
Grant: 179473 / PA-51948-06, Division: Preservation and Access, Program: Preservation/Access Projects, Year Awarded: 2006 - $190,000
Russian Modernism and Its International Dimensions, Experimental On-Line College Courseware
Recipient: Kinder, Marsha (Los Angeles, CA 90089 USA) in affiliation with University of Southern California (Los Angeles, CA 90089-0012 USA)
Goal: The development of online teaching materials on Russian Modernism for use in courses nationwide.
Description: Focusing on Modernity in general and Russian Modernism in particular, this project brings together three leading Russian studies scholars (USC’s John Bowlt, Berkeley’s Olga Matich, and Chicago’s Yuri Tsivian) to develop electronic teaching materials for use in a variety of college courses nationwide. The courseware features three interwoven components: a searchable archive of annotated multimedia materials; interactive lectures individually authored by leading scholars, with challenging assignments; and an electronic role-playing game called “Montage” that immerses students within historical scenes from the period. After being tested at the three participating universities, the courseware will be disseminated as free open-source software.
Grant: 180990 / EE-50298-06, Division: Education Programs, Program: Teaching and Learning Resources and Curriculum Development, Year Awarded: 2006 - $135,000
American Routes: Routes to Genius
Recipient: Spitzer, Nicholas R (New Orleans, LA 70118-5698 USA) in affiliation with University of New Orleans (New Orleans, LA 70148 USA)
Goal: Production of eight two-hour topical programs and 12 documentary features as elements of an ongoing radio program that presents and interprets American vernacular music as an expression of America's varied cultures and their histories.
Grant: 177083 / GN-50659-06, Division: Public Programs, Program: Media, Humanities Projects in, Year Awarded: 2006 - $89,000
Evolving Attitudes toward the Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi, 1954-1970
Recipient: Smith, Stephen (Saint Paul, MN 55101 USA) in affiliation with Minnesota Public Radio (St. Paul, MN 55101 USA)
Goal: Production of a one-hour radio program and companion website exploring the evolving attitudes of whites in Mississippi toward the Civil Rights Movement between 1954 and 1970.
Description: Minnesota Public Radio/American Public Media, requests a production grant for American RadioWorks (ARW-its national documentary unit), to produce a landmark public radio documentary and companion Web site on white responses to the civil rights movement in Mississippi. "Whites and Civil Rights" will illuminate the spectrum of white reaction in a state that was one of the most bitter and bloody battlegrounds of the civil rights era. Many portrayals of this history concentrate on the stark duality of black heroism and white oppression. This project will challenge the notion of monolithic white response to African American claims to equality. It will offer a vivid picture of the white organizations--councils, commissions and Klans--that vigorously opposed civil rights for blacks. It documents the story of white southerners who struggled with with a profound sense of ambivalence over racial questions, and tells how a small cadre of whites took an active role in the civil rights movement.
Grant: 182504 / UI-50008-06, Division: Public Programs, Program: Media Radio Production, Year Awarded: 2006 - $4,989
Film Collection Rehousing and Environmental Monitoring Project
Recipient: Swanson, Dwight William (Whitesburg, KY 41858 USA) in affiliation with Appalshop, Inc.
Goal: The purchase of an environmental monitor and related computer software and archival film supplies for six major still and moving images collections that cover life in central Appalachia since the 1930s.
Description: Appalshop, Inc. proposes a grant for the purchase of environmental monitoring equipment and archival film supplies for its media vaults. The equipment and supplies will serve to enhance Appalshop’s archival vault development project and the long-term care and use of present and future holdings by allowing for precise measurements of the environmental conditions in the archival storage areas and by extending the life of the moving image materials that comprise the 16mm collections.
Grant: 178957 / PA-51519-06, Division: Preservation and Access, Program: Preservation/Access Projects, Year Awarded: 2006 - $600,000
The Real Louisa May Alcott
Recipient: Porter, Nancy (Lexington, MA 02420-3807 USA) in affiliation with Filmmakers Collaborative, Inc. (Waltham, MA 02453 USA)
Goal: Production of a 60-minute documentary film that explores the life and work of Louisa May Alcott (1832-88).
Description: LOUISA MAY ALCOTT will be a 60 minute documentary for PBS which will explore the life, work, and times of the renowned author of LITTLE WOMEN, one of the most popular and enduring novels in literature. The dimensions of Alcott's outsize personality, wide-ranging literary accomplishments, and eventful life have been revealed by scholars only over the past fifty years. The true story of Alcott is full of new information, startling discoveries, and contemporary significance. Using archival material, historic locations, feature film clips, interviews, recreations and dramatizations, the documentary will build a complex and compelling portrait of this daring, independent woman who was an observer, exemplar and chronicler of her times.
Grant: 176067 / GN-50565-05, Division: Public Programs, Program: Media, Humanities Projects in, Year Awarded: 2005 - $64,000
It'll Be Me: The History of African American Theater
Recipient: Lacy, Madison D (Weehawken, NJ 07086 USA) in affiliation with New York Foundation for the Arts (Brooklyn, NY 11201 USA)
Goal: Scripting of a three-hour documentary television series about the history of African American theater.
Description: This proposal requests funding to conduct content research & development/scripting for a three-hour documentary series for PBS about the history of African American theater. Entitled "It’ll Be Me," the series will be the first major documentary to address this important chapter in the history of American theater, from the mid-19th century to the present. Through the stories of Black performers, playwrights and their plays, "It’ll Be Me" will bring the struggles and triumphs of the African American stage to life, using the art of theater as a means by which to experience social history.
Grant: 176092 / GN-50590-05, Division: Public Programs, Program: Media, Humanities Projects in, Year Awarded: 2005 - $10,000
In the Shadow of Little Rock: The Life of Daisy Bates
Recipient: La Cruise, Sharon A (Brooklyn, NY 11236 USA) in affiliation with Faith Project, Inc. (New York, NY USA)
Goal: Consultation with scholars on a one-hour film chronicling the life and contributions of civil rights activist Daisy Bates, 1914-99.
Grant: 177072 / GN-50655-05, Division: Public Programs, Program: Media, Humanities Projects in, Year Awarded: 2005 - Endowment for the humanities grants to category Media-General; items 1-21 of 88 with a total funding of $4,874,254.