Message to the Congress Transmitting the Report of the National Endowment for the Humanities

To the Congress of the United States:

I am pleased to present to you the 32nd annual report of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), the Federal agency charged with advancing scholarship and knowledge in the humanities. The NEH supports an impressive range of humanities projects advancing American scholarship and reaching millions of Americans each year.

The public has been enriched by many innovative NEH projects. These included a traveling exhibit, companion book, and public programming examining the history and legacy of the California Gold Rush on the occasion of its Sesquicentennial. Other initiatives promoted humanities radio programming and major funding for the critically acclaimed PBS series, "Liberty! The American Revolution."

The NEH is also utilizing computer technologies in new and exciting ways. Answering the call for quality humanities content on the Internet, NEH partnered with MCI to provide EDSITEment, a website that offers scholars, teachers, students, and parents a link to the Internet's most promising humanities sites. The NEH's "Teaching with Technology" grants have made possible such innovations as a CD-ROM on art and life in Africa and a digital archive of community life during the Civil War. In its special report to the Congress, "NEH and the Digital Age," the agency examined its past, present, and future use of technology as a tool to further the humanities and make them more accessible to the American public.

This past year saw a change in leadership at the Endowment. Dr. Sheldon Hackney completed his term as Chairman and I appointed Dr. William R. Ferris to succeed him. Dr. Ferris will continue the NEH's tradition of quality research and public programming.

The important projects funded by the NEH provide for us the knowledge and wisdom imparted by history, philosophy, literature, and other humanities disciplines, and cannot be underestimated as we meet the challenges of the new millennium.

WILLIAM J. CLINTON

The White House, May 21, 1998.