SAA Statement via NHA on NEH

April 3, 2025—As a member of the National Humanities Alliance (NHA), the Society of American Archivists affirms NHA’s recent statement on threats to the National Endowment for the Humanities.

As we have seen with similar recent actions, including the recent attack on the Institute of Museum and Library Science (IMLS), these efforts have the potential to devastate NEH. We call on SAA’s members to take action now by reaching out to your members of Congress and encouraging them to support the NEH: Take action today!

SAA shares the following information from NHA in the context of reports that the Department of Government Efficiency is targeting NEH. SAA is gravely concerned about the impacts that these changes could have on already awarded grants, both at NEH and at IMLS, based on recent actions (SAA Echoes and Amplifies Calls from Allied Organizations to Defend IMLS). Federal grants take months of planning and often result in organizations hiring dedicated staff, making specialized purchases, and executing long-term contracts. If grants are not paid out as awarded due to the lack of agency staffing, this will cause untold suffering to the many archives workers whose positions and work are directly supported by federal grants. The SAA Council will continue to monitor the situation at NEH and is grateful for NHA’s continued advocacy on behalf of the agency.

From the National Humanities Alliance:

NHA Statement on Threats to NEH

On Monday, March 31, 2025 we learned that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is targeting the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) with the aim of substantially reducing its staff, cutting the agency’s grant programs, and rescinding grants that have already been awarded. DOGE is targeting a small federal agency that—with an annual appropriation that amounts to a rounding error in the U.S. budget—has a positive impact on every congressional district.

Established in 1965, the National Endowment for the Humanities is the only entity, federal or private, tasked with making the humanities accessible to all Americans. The NEH connects Americans in every state with our nation’s rich history and culture.

The NEH provides crucial support for cultural organizations. Through grants to libraries, museums, historic sites, educational institutions, and other cultural organizations—and its partnership with the state and jurisdictional humanities councils—the NEH:

• Enriches K-12 education
• Provides lifelong learning opportunities for a range of audiences
• Fosters community conversations
• Ensures rural access to high-quality humanities programs
• Supports Veterans
• Promotes civic education
• Supports cutting-edge research
• Celebrates local histories
• Preserves our cultural heritage
• Fosters local tourism economies

NEH funding and NEH staff are essential to this work. For 60 years, NEH staff members have helped grantees navigate government systems and develop strong proposals that bring high-quality humanities programs to American communities. NEH staff ensure that small and large organizations alike have access to federal funds. Moreover, they are tireless in their efforts to ensure that U.S. tax dollars are spent well.

Cutting NEH funding directly harms communities in every state and contributes to the destruction of our shared cultural heritage. Cutting NEH staff who bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to their positions guts the NEH itself. This puts unnecessary barriers in the way of the agency’s mission to distribute federal dollars to American communities.

We condemn these actions in the strongest possible terms. We support the mission of the National Endowment for the Humanities and the agency staff who make that mission possible, and we call upon Members of Congress to ensure that this crucial government agency fulfills the mandate set by Congress.

The following organizations have signed on to this statement:
American Antiquarian Society
American Association for Italian Studies
American Historical Association
American Musicological Society (AMS)
American Oriental Society
Association of Research Libraries
Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies
Association of University Presses
College Art Association of America
National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE)
The Phi Beta Kappa Society
Renaissance Society of America
The Society of American Archivists