Libraries and Archives

Human Pursuits, a humanities organization in Salt Lake City, created a bilingual reading and discussion project featuring programs at libraries in ten states. The organization collaborated with libraries and state humanities councils to select appropriate texts for each state and to locate bilingual scholars to lead all sessions. Readings as well as program support materials were available in Spanish and English.

The Huntington Library was awarded a grant to develop a small traveling panel exhibition based on a larger, object-based exhibition about Abraham Lincoln. The panel version, designed for small spaces in libraries and other community sites, reached a completely different audience than the parent exhibition, which appeared only at two large urban museums. The American Library Association (ALA) assisted in selecting forty sites to host the panel exhibition. Winners of the ALA competition presented the best plans for conducting local public programs while the exhibition was in their communities.

The Mercantile Library of New York, a medium-sized private library, spearheaded a nationwide project to commemorate the centenary of John Steinbeck's birth. The project included book and film discussion sessions, historic site tours, a website, and several exhibitions. The website was used to list a national schedule of activities, identify sources of information and qualified speakers for libraries wishing to do their own programs, and post curricular materials for teachers. The American Library Association assisted the Mercantile Library in conducting an application process to select one hundred sites to host public programs at libraries nationwide.

National Video Resources, Inc., developed two-film discussion series about American history and culture from World War II to 1960: "From Rosie to Roosevelt" and "Post War Years, Cold War Fears." A team of scholars led by Leon Litwack and John Morton Blum prepared study guides for participants. Funded project expenses also included a national training workshop for teams of one librarian and one local scholar from each of the forty-five sites selected to take part. In addition to learning how to conduct effective discussion programs, these local teams also received advice about publicity and finding local partner organizations to cosponsor the series.