The National Endowment for the Humanities awarded a $152,791 grant to the University to support a multifaceted two-year project that seeks to capture the unique story of Scranton and relate it to the history of the United States. The project, called “Scranton’s Story, Our Nation’s Story,” involves multiple community partners and relates Scranton’s industrial, religious and ethnically diverse heritage and aspirations to the history of the nation, responding to the NEH special initiative “A More Perfect Union” commemorating the upcoming 250th anniversary of the United States. The project also seeks to share underrepresented Scranton stories, including those of recent
immigrants and Black Scrantonians and stories of indigenous history, to stitch together a full local and national narrative.
The University was among just 239 projects in the nation to receive NEH support and among 16 projects in Pennsylvania to receive funding. The grants awarded “demonstrate the resilience and breadth of our nation’s humanities institutions and practitioners,” said NEH’s acting chairman Adam Wolfson in a news release announcing $28.4 million in funding support for the 239 projects.
“We are grateful to the National Endowment for the Humanities for its support of this important project for the University, Scranton and the nation,” said University President Joseph Marina, S.J. “The humanities play an integral part in the transformational nature of the Jesuit education we provide to our students. This project will give our students and the greater community a more profound understanding of the human transformations that have occurred in the lives of Scrantonians and Americans.”
Read more and watch the first event, here.
