News - Virginia Humanities

40th Anniversary • Books & Literature | Virginia Festival of the Book

An attendee at a fantasy and science fiction panel in 2013. Photo by Pat Jarrett.

One for the Books

In two decades, the Virginia Festival of the Book has gone from a booklover’s vision to a mainstay of the Charlottesville literary scene.
40th Anniversary

A poster from 1977 encourages nonprofit organizations, institutions, and citizens' groups in Virginia to submit grant proposals to the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and Public Policy.

Introducing the “Forty Years, Forty Stories” Series

In the winter and spring of 1974, Robert C. Vaughan III took the first steps toward founding the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities. Over the next year, we’ll explore the history of the Foundation in a twice-monthly series titled “Forty Years, Forty Stories.”
News

Meet VFH Board Member W. Tucker Lemon

VFH Board member W. Tucker Lemon grew up in Roanoke, Virginia, where his family has resided since the 1740s. He recently sat down in our radio studio to share a little of his story and tell us why he thinks the humanities matter.
Grants • News | Grants

Video still from Make the Ground Talk early video.

VFH Grants – Make The Ground Talk

In June VFH awarded 11 grants including $5,000 to support pre-production costs for a one-hour documentary film, Make The Ground Talk that uncovers the histories of African American communities in Tidewater Virginia that were uprooted following WWI.
News | BackStory

Ed Ayers, during a live BackStory show on the inauguration, January 19, 2013, at the National Museum of American History. Photo: Erin Schaff & Paul Simkin

Ed Ayers, BackStory American History Guy, to receive National Humanities Medal

VFH proudly announces that Ed Ayers, the 19^th century American History Guy on BackStory radio, will be awarded a National Humanities Medal by President Obama on Wednesday, July 10, 2013, in the East Room of the White House.
Grants • News | Grants

Nannie Louise Pinchback, a Danville recreation department employee in 1963, was dismissed for her participation in protests, and wrote a moving account of her experience in jail.
Photo by Tom Cogill

VFH Grants – Exploring History, Mapping Knowledge

In March, VFH awarded five grants including two oral history projects capturing the stories of African American railroad workers and employees of a 1930’s service station.
Grants • News | Grants

Courtesy Blue Ridge Institute, Ferrum College

VFH Grants – Responding to Interests and Concerns Across the Commonwealth

In December, VFH awarded nine Open Grants to organizations across the Commonwealth, for projects ranging from an exhibit on Blue Ridge folkways to a radio documentary on recreation sites for African Americans during segregation.
Grants • News | Grants

VFH Awarded $167,000 in Grants in Fiscal Year 2012

Between July 1, 2011 and June 30, 2012, VFH awarded $167,000 to support 43 community-based humanities education projects serving Virginia — from a documentary on Toni Morrison, to a historical and interpretive trail map of the Nansemond River, to an exhibit on growing up during the Civil Rights Movement in Richmond.
News | Documents Compass

Letter from John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, May 1, 1812.

Posterity Now: The People Behind the Founders Online Project

We thought you’d like to know the people engaged in making one last pass of the Founders words before posting them online. It’s a diverse crew we’ve assembled—doctoral students, writers, editors, historical interpreters, techies, avid readers—all busy rechecking the transcriptions and examining scans to make sure that you and posterities-to-come have what you need to settle your mind on the Founders’ epic disagreements.