Living American History in Primary Documents

FAIN: ZED-284202-22

Rare Book School (Charlottesville, VA 22903-2444)
Laura E. Perrings (Project Director: May 2021 to present)

Staff salaries and a new initiative, “Living American History in Primary Documents,” which addresses of the challenges of limited in-person programming.

Rare Book School (RBS) requests $100,258 from the NEH in support of “Living American History in Primary Documents,” an initiative that anticipates the approaching 250th anniversary of the U.S. by providing educational content for the cultural heritage professionals who care for and teach with our nation’s historical primary sources. Our proposed initiative expands the School’s existing programming with courses focusing on American book history. Through its educational offerings, RBS is poised to support a diverse group of curators and educators as they plan their own learning initiatives in the run-up to 2026, translating what they know about their own institutional collections and the broader documentary record of our nation’s history into programming for a variety of American publics. Support for this program will allow the School to sustain the salaries of staff members in a year of great uncertainty while advancing our mission through in-person and online learning opportunities.