Postscript

Abstract

At the height of the culture wars, I was Executive Director of the New Jersey Council for the Humanities (NJCH), one of the state programs affiliated with the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). Like all state humanities councils, NJCH was a nonprofit organization governed by a board of academics and public-spirited citizens. At the time it was almost entirely dependent on the NEH for funding. If the NEH were eliminated, the NJCH—like most of the humanities councils in the 55 other states and territories—would cease to exist. Our grants provided program support for speakers at local libraries, small exhibits at museums and historical organizations, and public programs organized by nonprofits, community colleges, and local community groups. Our budget was not large but it was important to our communities. In New Jersey we ultimately found new sources of support in private donations, foundation grants, and a modest appropriation from the New Jersey legislature. This chapter, written in 2015, reconsiders the status of the cultural endowments during their fiftieth anniversary. As we prepare to go to press in early 2017, there are reports that as part of his budget-cutting agenda, President Trump plans to eliminate the endowments (Bolton, 2017).