U. wins $1m. in NEH grants

The National Endowment for the Humanities awarded Penn four grants last Thursday totaling just under $1 million. Penn was the only institution to receive four NEH grants this year, which will help preserve the University's collections of rare artifacts and aid academic research endeavors, according to NEH spokesperson Jim Turner. The NEH gave out 269 awards -- totalling $28.9 million -- in funding to aid the preservation of the artifacts and promote educational programming. Turner explained that the reason Penn received four awards is because the NEH recognizes that "Penn has quality materials that are of national significance." The University Museum will receive a sizable $700,000 -- one of the two largest grants disbursed -- to aid the rehousing of perishable ethnographic and archeological artifacts. The collections will relocate to a new $16.7 million wing, for which construction is scheduled to begin next spring. Museum Director Jeremy Sabloff said he was "thrilled" about the grant, which will enable the museum to place materials in "secure climate-controlled environments." The Rare Book and Manuscript Library in Van Pelt Library will acquire $62,720 to arrange and catalogue the Leopold Stokowski collection. The collection is composed of papers, scores and memorabilia from Stokowski -- who led the Philadelphia Orchestra from 1912 to 1941 -- and was given to Penn by the Curtis Institute of Music last year. Curator of Manuscripts Nancy Shawcross -- who will oversee the project -- explained that the materials need to be cared for because "Stokowski was such a big presence in 20th century music." In addition to the $62,720 grant, the Stokowski project will receive $15,000 in matching funds if the University can raise the same amount. Turner explained that when the NEH "cannot give a grantee the full amount [they requested]," it sometimes uses matching programs to serve as a fundraising incentive for the project. The final two grants both aid projects that Turner said will provide "intellectual access" to both the University community and the wider world. The NEH granted Penn $109,860 for the preparation of the third volume of a proposed eight-volume dictionary of the Old High German language. German Professor Albert Lloyd will direct this project. And a $126,993 grant will fund the development of a World Wide Web-based version of Middle English documents from the period between the years 1100 and 1500 to aid scholars in their research of the history of the English language. Linguistics Department Chairperson Anthony Kroch is in charge of the project. Another Philadelphia institution receiving an NEH grant this year is the American Musicological Society, which will use the $100,000 grant to continue preparing a series of scholarly editions of American music from the late 18th century to the present.

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