[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 66 (Thursday, May 21, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Page S5318]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 REPORT OF THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES FOR CALENDAR YEAR 
                1997--MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT--PM 132

  The PRESIDING OFFICER laid before the Senate the following message 
from the President of the United States, together with an accompanying 
report; which was referred to the Committee on Labor and Human 
Resources.

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.

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