Giving New Life to Old Books: NEH & Mellon at AAUP 2016

Representatives from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation are pleased to co-host a session at this year's annual meeting of the Association of American University Presses in Philadelphia. Giving New Life to Old Books: The NEH-Mellon Humanities Open Book Program will highlight the work of the first 10 grantees to receive awards under this joint funding opportunity. Attached you can find an order of presentation for our 10 "lightning round" speakers.

Under the new Humanities Open Book program, the NEH and the Mellon Foundation are awarding grants to publishers to identify great humanities books, secure all appropriate rights, and make them available for free, forever, under a Creative Commons license.

For centuries, printed books have been the primary written medium for expressing, communicating, and debating ideas in the humanities, which are defined as research and study on topics including history, philosophy, linguistics, and others. However, most scholarly books printed since 1923 are not in the public domain. As a result, today’s scholars, teachers, students, and members of the public don’t have access to a large swath of knowledge. Modern e-book technology can unlock the potential of these books.

The 2016 Humanities Open Book deadline is coming up on September 13. 

Sr. Program Officer Perry Collins will also host a short webinar on July 11th at 1pm EDT that will offer potential applicants an overview of the program, strategies for writing a successful proposal, and a chance to ask questions.

Please contact NEH’s Office of Digital Humanities (odh@neh.gov) if you have any questions or if you would like staff to review a draft proposal 4-6 weeks before the deadline.