Establish Durham County Library Humanities Endowment Fund

FAIN: CH-50235-05

Durham Library Foundation (Durham, NC 27702-5490)
Philip Cherry (Project Director: November 2004 to January 2006)
Priscilla Ann Lewis (Project Director: January 2006 to July 2006)
Hampton Auld (Project Director: July 2006 to May 2008)

Endowment for a part-time Humanities Coordinator, humanities programming, and related acquisitions as well as direct costs for bridging funds and fund-raising expenses.

The Durham Library Foundation requests a $500,000 Challenge Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to establish and leverage funding for a permanent Humanities Endowment. This grant will be matched with $1.5 million from nonfederal sources, raised over a three-year period, to dramatically expand the depth, scope and frequency of humanities programs offered by Durham County Library and to enrich and broaden the humanities collections. Using a portion of the yield from the humanities endowment, the Durham County Library will dramatically increase and stabilize funding for humanities programming and collections to benefit the entire community into the next century. While the endowment grows, NEH bridge funds will provide the library with resources to expand humanities efforts in the short term. Using these funds the library will hire a Humanities Coordinator to work with library staff, the Humanities Advisory Council of Scholars, and other community partners to offer: 1) three tiers of author programming for adults and teens each year including one or two nationally prominent authors, regular programs with local and regional authors, and intermittent events presenting new authors; 2) additional local history programs highlighting and building upon DCL's special collections and Durham's unique history; 3) system-wide humanities programs for young adults and children featuring noted scholars, artists, musicians and illustrators; and 4) an expanded collection, enlarged special collections and resources that complement humanities programming.