New Initiative on Humanities and Culture
"The humanities preserve cultural memory: they record
how things came to be as they are," explains Fellow Patricia Meyer Spacks, the
Academy's first Scholar-in-Residence for the Humanities and one of the leaders
of a major new Academy project. Despite the humanities' fundamental importance,
they confront a range of increasingly complex challenges. Thus they need
vigorous champions who can explain to a wide audience the value and purpose of
humanistic learning and teaching.
In order to make a compelling case, humanists must
themselves understand the humanities' shifting place in the nation's life,
assessing the strengths and shortcomings of current and past humanistic
endeavor. They will then be in a position to articulate for a diverse and
changing public the nature and significance of the humanities' contributions.
Recognition of the need for fuller understanding provides the rationale for a
major new Academy undertaking, the
Initiative for the Humanities and Culture, that brings together leading
academics with workers in the public humanities, journalists, and policymakers
to foster understanding of the intrinsic importance of humanistic scholarship.
Co-chaired by Fellows Denis Donoghue (New York
University), Richard Franke (John Nuveen Company., Chicago) and Steven Marcus
(Columbia University), working closely with Leslie Berlowitz, the Academy's
Chief Executive Officer, the Initiative for Humanities and Culture has three
central goals:
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To draw upon the expertise of Academy Fellows and other knowledgeable and
involved individuals to identify gaps in knowledge, encourage new thinking on
crucial topics in and about the humanities, and suggest priorities for further
studies of the state of the humanities and cultural organizations;
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To develop a strategy for acquiring long-term comparable, systematic, and
up-to-date data to support rigorous policy studies, useful to both the private
and public sectors;
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To disseminate findings widely through the Academy journal, Dædalus,
and other publications, as well as through electronic media, informal
conversations, seminars, lectures, and other programs.
According to cochair Steven Marcus, the new Initiative
"continues the Academy's long-standing commitment to advance research in the
humanities and related arts, and to heighten public understanding of their
importance to our cultural life." He notes that the American Academy helped
establish the American Council of Learned Societies, was instrumental in
forming the Independent Research Libraries Association, and, in the mid-1970s,
was the principal catalyst in the development of the National Humanities Center
in North Carolina, one of the world's leading institutes for advanced study in
humanistic scholarship.
Research on the Humanities: Making the Argument
One major element of the Humanities Initiative is a
research program, organized by Denis Donoghue, Steven Marcus, and Patricia
Meyer Spacks, to institute further inquiries into public and academic
humanities. The long-term goal is to find effective ways to analyze and project
to the wider community the intrinsic value of the humanities to a civic
society. To support this goal, the program will develop
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A collaborative series of histories of the public and academic humanities in
the United States and other nations;
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A series of workshops investigating the interdependencies and reciprocal
definitions of the sciences and the humanities; and
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An examination of how humanities-related issues are reported by the media.
One research group will develop a series of histories
of the humanities, initially examining the historical evolution of humanities
disciplines in America over the last century, the development of and role
played by institutions supporting the humanities, and the role of and support
for the humanities in other countries. The history of the humanistic
disciplines will study the evolution of such fields as philosophy, literature,
history, composition, and the law. Subsequent volumes will examine art, music,
archaeology, anthropology, and other humanistic disciplines. A study of
humanities institutions will look at the structures and pressures shaping the
humanities from without. This institutional history will investigate government
support of the humanities, the role of museums, and the development of learned
societies and other organizations. Fellows working on these histories include
Peter Brooks (Yale University), Gerald Early (Washington University), Philip
Gossett (University of Chicago), Linda Kerber (University of Iowa), Alexander
Nehamas (Princeton University), Robert Post (University of California,
Berkeley), Peter Stansky (Stanford University) and other Academy Fellows.
A second group, led by Fellow Mary Jo Nye, Professor
of the History of Science at Oregon State University, will investigate the
changing relationship between the sciences and humanities over time. The study
will seek to shed light on ways in which the field of knowledge has been
divided and how the boundaries between disciplines have been laid down and
changed throughout American history.
Fellow Bill Kovach, former curator of the Nieman
Foundation, is leading a third research group, in cooperation with the
Committee of Concerned Journalists, that will analyze and find ways to improve
the quality of cultural and humanities-related reporting in the U.S. The group
will explore major gaps in media coverage of humanities-related subjects and
the major challenges facing humanists in conveying their work's value to the
general public.
Data on the Humanities: Supporting the Case
From the beginning, the Humanities Initiative has made
it a high priority to encourage more systematic collection and maintenance of
data on the public and academic humanities in America. Although the intrinsic
value of the humanities cannot be argued on the basis of factual data alone,
reliable, comprehensive, and consistently updated data will facilitate
better-informed policymaking and broader public support for the humanities.
The data project, led by Fellows Francis Oakley
(Williams College), Jonathan Cole (Columbia University), and Robert Solow
(MIT), involves a critical look at the state of current data on the humanities.
A recent report commissioned by the Academy reveals the limitations of
currently available data and recommends steps for expanding the scope of
collection and improving the comparability, management, and dissemination of
humanities information. For example, current data about the humanities are
insufficient to answer basic questions that can be easily addressed in the
sciences, through the exhaustive Science and Engineering Indicators,
published biannually by the National Science Board. Improved data on the
humanities will help policymakers, university administrators, foundations,
government representatives, and the general public in assessing and advancing
support for the humanities over time.
Back to
the November 2000 Newsletter
Read a transcript
of Patricia Spack's remarks at the 2000 Induction Ceremony
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