$1.4 million in NEH grant for local institutions

Philadelphia-based organizations received a total of nearly $1.4 million in grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the NEH announced Monday.

The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts received $300,000 to develop an exhibition, publication, and programs exploring the relationship between World War I and American art. The grant was made through a special endowment program called Standing Together, designed to support projects that explore war and its aftermath, promote discussion of the experience of military service, and support returning veterans and their families, the endowment said.

The American Philosophical Society also received a $300,000 grant, to support creation of a comprehensive digital guide to APS's massive archival collections of Native American language, history, and culture. Penn will receive $250,000 to support publication of the official inscriptions of Neo-Assyrian rulers.

The Philadelphia Museum of Art received $150,000 to complete descriptive catalog records of the museum's collection of 1,034 pieces of pre-1840 American furniture manufactured primarily in Philadelphia.

The Society of Classical Studies, a nonprofit association based at Penn, and the American Research Institute in Turkey, with offices at the Penn Museum, received $157,200 and $172,200, respectively, to fund fellowship and independent research programs.

Penn and Villanova University also received smaller grants for use as summer stipends in scholarly projects.

In all, the endowment awarded $22.8 million for 232 humanities projects in its second round of annual grantmaking nationwide.