RG XXI: Planning Committee for a National Humanities Center

Historical Note

The Planning Committee for a National Humanities Center (NHC) was active from May 1973 to December 1976. Initiated by Morton Bloomfield and Gregory Vlastos, Bloomfield served as Co-chair for the duration, with Charles Frankel following Vlastos as co-chair in the final year of the project.

Small meetings were held in 1973 to begin work, with a national conference held at Wingspread in Racine, Wisconsin from April 19-20, 1974. During this meeting, general plans for the center were discussed and formulated. On February 26, 1976, the establishment of a center in Research Triangle Park near Raleigh was announced, with the aim to "promote humanistic studies in the US, and to enlarge capacity to contribute to national discourse about major problems in society". Though the committee continued through the year, it was in a diminished capacity, concluding its efforts in December of 1976. The Academy continued relations for some time with the NHC, with a representative serving on the Executive Board.

Funding was provided by the Mellon Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation.

Scope and Content

The series is contained within the Academy Archives’ Record Group XXI: Academy Projects and Programs. It contains the administrative and project records of the Academy relating to the Committee, from 1966, 1968, 1972-1978. The majority of the records were created or received from 1976-1976 by the Executive Office of the Academy, with a significant contribution from Morton W. Bloomfield and to a lesser degree from Steven Marcus. Records from after 1976 primarily relate to the Academy's role on the Executive Board, with involvement in the search for a Director. Records primarily include correspondence, both among the committee and with meeting participants, but increasingly with representatives of the NHC. Of particular note are the organized chronology collected by John Voss, as well as draft position papers advocating for the creation of the NHC and proposing a structure. Finally, there is also a significant amount of records relating to the search for a location for the NHC as well as Director search files.

See (unprocessed) record group RG IV Executive Office relating to Other Institutions.

Arrangement

Processing for this series utilized MPLP principles, thus minimum preservation steps were taken, and folder titles listed in the finding aid are as they appear on the actual folders. Records of both series were held by the Executive Office of John Voss. Some files were kept out of the filing scheme and have been interfiled where appropriate. 

This series is arranged into 2 subseries: Subseries 1: Administration; and Subseries 2: Planning.  Each has three sub-subseries. 

Subseries 1: Administration includes 3 sub-subseries: Sub-subseries 1.1: Grants and Proposals; Sub-subseries 1.2: Chronology; and Sub-subseries 1.3: Reports. 

Subseries 2: Planning includes 3 sub-subseries: Sub-subseries 2.1: Planning Committee; Sub-subseries 2.2: Meetings and Papers; and Sub-subseries 2.3: Site and Personnel.

Volume

3 records center cartons (3 linear feet)

Preferred Citation

[Item title, date]. Record Group XXI: Academy Projects – Planning Committee for a National Humanities Center, 1966, 1968, 1972-1978, n.d. Archives, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Subjects

Bloomfield, Morton W. (Morton Wilfred), 1913-1987
Frankel, Charles, 1917-1979
Marcus, Steven, 1928-2018
Schelling, Corinne Saposs
Vlastos, Gregory
Voss, John, 1917-
Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
National Humanities Center (U.S.)
Rockefeller Foundation
Humanities--United States
Wingspread (Racine, Wis.)