HOW TO DEVELOP AND MAINTAIN LIVELY, STRONG CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS?
I would like in particular to focus on one part of the work of the NEH — the development of strong, independent institutions in the humanities. In many countries throughout the world such institutions — research libraries, centers for advanced study, learned societies, major archives, historical collections, institutes for archaeological work, etc. are funded almost entirely through a national ministry of culture. My counterparts in other countries often express amazement that there is no comparable governmental sources of support in the United States. Their amazement is only partially justified. To be sure, federal support is a relatively small percentage of the total for parallel American institutions. In the case of the National Humanities Center, federal funds last year amounted to 20% of our total budget. That percentage however, is crucial. Federal assistance through the NEH enables us to sustain scholarship of the highest quality, develop innovative programs for strengthening
