The public humanities, according to a description from the National Endowment for the Humanities, “bring the ideas of the humanities to life for general audiences through public programming” and related resources. These ideas themselves are rooted in traditions of humanistic scholarship and scholarly disciplines, such as history, literary studies, philosophy and art history, all of which concern themselves with interpretation of the human condition and the creative work through which humans strive to attain self-knowledge. But while these disciplines depend upon longstanding traditions of study preserved most often through academic institutions and communicated among exclusive, specialized audiences of peer experts and their students, the Public Humanities bring these disciplines before audiences without similar training through practices such as public discussions, historical exhibits and exhibitions of art, open forums, public lectures, and websites and podcasts.
There is a kinship between the public humanities and what some scholars call the publicly engaged humanities, which emphasizes how communities and nonacademic experts share in the creation of knowledge, when work in the public humanities proceeds with a high degree of collaboration between experts trained in humanities fields (such as those listed above) and others sharing expertise of a different, nonspecialized kind, such as community leaders.
In either case, the public humanities and the publicly engaged humanities stress the importance of accessibility and engagement, whether the audience is a general or special one (such as families, youth, seniors, marginalized communities, veterans or others). The scale of projects varies considerably, some involving only a local audience with a specialized group simply leaving behind a written remark or an impression, others involving multiple international collaborators engaged in complex interactions over many years.
This resource guide collects a number of different items of interest to public humanists already practicing in this area, but it aims to make them available to audiences unaccustomed to work in this area. To make a recommendation for the inclusion of new items on this guide, contact the library at this email address:
humanities@princetonlibrary.org
Navigate this resource guide by selecting links from the list appearing below:
#newsletter
Public Humanities Newsletter
The best way to keep up with new developments in the Public Humanities is through the “Public Humanities Newsletter” created by Michelle May-Curry and hosted formerly by the National Humanities Alliance through the “Humanities for All” initiative, now by the Department of Public and Applied Humanities at the University of Arizona:
#institutions
Major Grantmaking and Organizing Institutions
Some of the major U.S. and international institutions supporting work in the public humanities include:
National Humanities Alliance (NHA): “We work with our members and humanities advocates around the country to bolster undergraduate humanities enrollments, promote public engagement with the humanities, and increase funding for the humanities.”
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH): “NEH is an independent federal agency that supports the humanities in every state and U.S. jurisdiction.” Multiple grant opportunities support publicly engaged work: Public Humanities Projects; Media Projects; Public Projects at Smaller Organizations; Digital Projects for the Public; and Public Scholars. Starting in October 2025, certain grantees supported by the NEH will also be required to ensure public access to products arising from NEH support.
Federation of State Humanities Councils: Mission – “The Federation advocates for increased investment in and engagement with the national network of humanities councils. We support, connect, and amplify the work and voices of our members, demonstrating councils’ value for communities and their collective impact on civic health and cultural vibrancy.”
The American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS): “supports the creation and circulation of knowledge that advances understanding of humanity and human endeavors in the past, present, and future, with a view toward improving human experience.” In recent years ACLS has hosted a number of initiatives relating to public humanities or the publicly engaged humanities, including past programs such as the Public Fellows program or the Sustaining Public Engagement grants, as well as current ones like the Luce/ACLS Working Group on Public Knowledge. Their Resources for Publicly Engaged Doctoral Education is a particularly helpful collection of materials.
Mellon Foundation: Two major areas where the Mellon Foundation’s grantmaking supports publicly engaged humanities scholarship are their Humanities in Place and Public Knowledge programs.
The Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes (CHCI): “The Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes is a global forum that strengthens the work of humanities centers and institutes through advocacy, grant-making, and inclusive collaboration. CHCI advances cross-institutional partnerships, recognizes regional humanities cultures, and mobilizes the collective capacity of the humanities to engage the most pressing issues in society today.” CHCI also organizes a Public Humanities Network, which “serve[s] as a network node for member activity in this increasingly important area in the work of [their] centers and institutes.”
#societies
Allied Fields and Professional Societies
Modern Language Association (MLA): the MLA describes its first Strategic Priority, “Broadening the Reach of the MLA and Expand[ing] its Leadership Role in Promoting the Value of the Humanities,” as follows:
The MLA will expand its resources that foster public engagement with the humanities, help humanities practitioners do their work, and increase understanding about the role of humanities education in cultivating critical thinking and equity-minded communities.
We will increase awareness of the association and the members behind it. We will broaden engagement with the association by offering opportunities for those beyond the current membership to see a place for themselves in the MLA.
The MLA also supports a Public Humanities Incubator program, which “serves current graduate students who have an interest in contributing to public humanities scholarship. Twelve participants are selected through a competitive application process and placed in teams with mentors active in the public humanities. Over the course of the incubator, from September to December, teams work with their mentors to envision their research as contributions to public humanities scholarship and to imagine audiences and impact, form and dissemination, collaboration and partnerships, and the project’s life cycle.”
American Historical Association (AHA): on the AHA “About Us” page, it reads as follows: “Founded in 1884 and incorporated by Congress in 1889 for the promotion of historical studies, the American Historical Association provides leadership for the discipline and promotes the critical role of historical thinking in public life. As the largest membership association of historians in the world (10,500 members), the AHA serves historians in a wide variety of professions, and represents every historical era and geographical area.” The AHA promotes publicly engaged scholarship in a myriad of ways. See their “Guiding Principles on Taking a Public Stance,” their “Resources for Public Historians” and their page on “History & Public Policy,” among other public statements.
National Council on Public History (NCPH): A series of questions and informative answers on the website includes the following: “Where Did Public History Come From? — Historians have always engaged in public history work, inside and outside the academy, although by the 1960s and 1970s, in the midst of a woeful job crisis for PhD’s, the profession had largely forgotten its professional roots in historical societies, museums, archives, and government offices. The public history “movement” emerged in the United States and Canada in the 1970s, gaining visibility and influence through the establishment of public and applied history programs at universities. The founding of the National Council on Public History dates to this period, as does its scholarly journal, The Public Historian. Today it is difficult to view public history as a movement, when it has been incorporated into the curricular offerings of hundreds of institutions of higher learning across the globe, in Canada and the United States, but also in Australia, China, Germany, India, Ireland, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom (see our Guide to Public History Programs). Some would argue, however, that it retains characteristics of a movement through the on-going commitments of many current practitioners to ideals of social justice, political activism, and community engagement.”
American Association for State and Local History (AASLH): “The American Association for State and Local History is a national membership association dedicated to helping the history community thrive. For the better part of a century, AASLH has provided leadership and resources to its members who preserve and interpret state and local history to make the past more meaningful to all people. […] Its first charter stated that AASLH’s purpose was, simply, “the promotion of effort and activity in the fields of state, provincial, and local history in the United States and Canada.” Today AASLH provides crucial resources, guidance, professional development, advocacy, new publications, field-wide research, and a sense of connectedness to over 5,500 institutional and individual members, as well as leadership for history and history organizations nationally. It is the only comprehensive national organization dedicated to state and local history.”
American Philosophical Association (APA): The APA has a Committee for Public Philosophy, which is described as follows: “On the belief that the broader presence of philosophy in public life is important both to our society and to our profession, the basic charge of the committee will be to find and create opportunities to demonstrate the personal value and social usefulness of philosophy.”
The Society for Classical Studies (SCS) supports publicly engaged projects through its “Ancient Worlds, Modern Communities” initiative. “Examples of successful projects include but are not limited to: public lectures; readings; discussion groups; performances; summer, after-school and weekend programs for school-age children; visual arts exhibits and installations; podcasts; and videos. The [Committee on Classics in the Community] is particularly interested in projects that focus on long traditions of engagement with ancient Mediterranean culture that have been excluded from classics curricula; projects proposed by rather than for historically underrepresented minoritized communities; interdisciplinary collaborations; artistic projects and creative adaptations; projects involving global reception and comparative approaches; and projects that are critical of classics as it has been practiced and structured as a discipline.”
The Archaeological Institute of America‘s (AIA) Outreach and Education Committee: “The Committee advances the outreach goals of the AIA and promotes educational programs about archaeology for adults and youth, including K-12 students. The Committee seeks to increase awareness of the importance of archaeological fieldwork, research, and preservation by supporting innovative events and resources for all ages, including advocating International Archaeology Day (IAD) and Archaeology Fairs; encouraging regional events sponsored by AIA Societies and other organizations; offering classroom support for K-12 educators and students; supporting Book Clubs; overseeing the Society Outreach Grant Program; and helping compile digital resources for the Education section of the AIA website.”
The AIA’s Societies Committee: “The Committee is charged with overseeing and supporting the national and international AIA Societies both chartered and in formation. It reviews the Institute’s programs and benefits for Societies and makes recommendations for revisions, if necessary, to the Governing Board and the President. The Committee monitors the performance of Societies through an annual assessment and supports local programs that encourage and help Societies in being effective in furthering the AIA’s mission. The Committee also hosts a breakfast or lunch meeting for Society representatives at the Annual Meeting. The Societies Committee is also responsible for adjudicating and subsequently awarding the Society Awards at the Annual Meeting. The awards include: Best Flyer, Best Website, Golden Trowel, Foot Soldier and the LifeSaver Award.”
#projects
Exemplary Projects and Sources of Ideas
Douglass Day: the About Us page on the website describes this event as “a collective action for Black history,” but the project’s history page provides more detail: “Each year, we celebrate the chosen birthday of Frederick Douglass on February 14th. During our celebrations, we join forces at locations around the world. We work together to transcribe an online collection of Black history and culture. We aim to make Douglass Day open to everyone. Our planning team offers guides to help you learn how to transcribe or how to bring Douglass Day into your classroom. Douglass Day makes a real difference. We help create new resources for everyone to learn about Black history.” The organizing kit is a helpful resource for understanding the mechanics of a large-scale online collaboration among partnering institutions of various kinds.
The Being Human Festival originated in the United Kingdom, but its footprint has now spread to the US and Australia, in keeping with an ambition for global reach. The UK festival is described on the website as follows: “Each November, Being Human Festival presents hundreds of free events across the UK and beyond. Festival events aim to celebrate and demonstrate the ways in which the humanities inspire and enrich our everyday lives, help us to understand ourselves, our relationships with others, and the challenges we face in a changing world. Each year the festival invites researchers at universities and other research organisations to collaborate with local community and cultural partners to create exciting and engaging events and projects for all to enjoy. Being Human is a national festival by virtue of being local, with events taking place everywhere from Dundee to Devon.” The training, toolkits and case studies provided by the Being Human Festival are a well of creative and inspiring approaches. Having established a partnership with the Being Human Festival UK in 2024, the National Humanities Center now organizes the Being Human Festival US in April each year by awarding microgrants to partner organizations.
“Latino Poetry: Places We Call Home,” as the website explains, “is a national public humanities initiative directed by Library of America, a nonprofit publisher and cultural institution, in partnership with the National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures and arts organizations, museums, and libraries nationwide.” The website also features a helpful guide to public programming, its “Resources for Program Partners” page: https://www.latinopoetry.org/resources-for-program-partners
The Division of Public Programs staff at the National Endowment for the Humanities published the blog at the link, providing a comprehensive list of Public Humanities projects awarded planning or implementation grants between 2018 and 2022: Public Humanities Projects Cumulative Awards List, 2018 to 2022.
The past programs for the National Humanities Alliance’s National Humanities Conference, NHA Annual Meeting and the National Humanities Day of Advocacy can also be sources of inspiration for creating new public humanities projects. Also supported by the National Humanities Alliance, the Humanities for All website gathers more than two thousand Public Humanities projects into a featured collection highlighted by a well designed interface. Essays and a blog also bring these projects into a more focused view.
#reports
Reports
“The World Humanities Report,” a collaboration of the Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes (CHCI) and the International Council of Philosophy and the Human Sciences (CIPSH), who are in further partnership with UNESCO. “The World Humanities Report showcases the contributions the humanities make to knowledge and society across the globe and offers recommendations for the humanities in the 21st century.” One of the recommendations is to “Advance the Public Humanities,” by “acknowledg[ing] that the humanities are part of the public good and advanc[ing] both the scholarly and the applied (public) humanities.” A keyword search of the report brings up this list of essays and case studies: https://worldhumanitiesreport.org/tag/public-humanities/
“Humanities Research for the Public Good: A CIC Initiative to Connect Colleges and Communities through Student Research and Public Programs (2019-2024)” published by The Council of Independent Colleges, “offers an overview of the HRPG [Humanities Research for the Public Good] program and a closer look at some (but not all) of the funded projects. It contains insights and advice that should be helpful to other colleges and universities that also want to support meaningful student work in the public humanities. The report draws on final grant reports submitted by each campus team, formal evaluation surveys, personal observations by the project director and CIC staff director, and a series of group interviews conducted in the summer of 2024. It necessarily privileges the voices of the college and university personnel (faculty, archivists and librarians, administrators) who were responsible for leading the campus teams and reporting on the grants. Whenever possible, comments from students have been incorporated from the project team reports.”
The ACLS put together two reports of interest for public humanists: “Public Pathways” is a retrospective on the results of ten years of ACLS support for Public Fellows; “Preparing Publicly Engaged Scholars” offers a guide for innovation in doctoral education, so that Ph.D.-awarding organizations can provide pathways of support for publicly engaged scholarship apart from the ACLS’s programs.
The MLA’s Guidelines for Evaluating Publicly Engaged Scholarship web page features a ten-page report containing “Guidelines for Evaluating Publicly Engaged Humanities Scholarship in Language and Literature Programs,” prepared by the MLA Ad Hoc Committee on Valuing the Public Humanities in August 2022.
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences issued a report (in some ways dated, in others still current) titled “The Heart of the Matter: The Humanities and Social Sciences for a vibrant, competitive and secure nation” in 2013. “In five interrelated chapters, the report delineates the importance of the humanities and social sciences in K-12 Education; Two- and Four-Year Colleges; Research; Cultural Institutions and Lifelong Learning; and International Security and Competitiveness. It advances arguments for strengthening teaching and research in the humanities and social sciences. It recommends the expansion of lifelong learning programs. It recognizes the urgent need to support the next generation of humanists and social scientists. And it reaffirms the connections between the humanities and social sciences, and the physical and biological sciences.”
#books
Books and Scholarly Volumes
The list below features nonfiction titles held at the library or available as open access publications, focusing on public humanities as an area of intellectual activity and civic engagement and situating the public humanities within the broader humanities.
Public Humanities is a new journal published by Cambridge University Press and edited by Zoe Hope Bulaitis (University of Birmingham) and Jeffrey R. Wilson (Harvard University), Public Humanities is a space for scholars, students, activists, journalists, policy-makers, professionals, practitioners, and non-specialists to connect and share knowledge. The journal asks big questions and pursues bold answers that combine rigorous peer-reviewed research with accessible writing. An open access journal for all disciplines, geographies, periods, methodologies, authors, and audiences across the humanities, the journal publishes themed Issues curated by guest editors and an ‘Of the Moment’ section on emergent topics. The journal welcomes humanities work from, though not limited to, the fields of Anthropology, Archaeology, Classics, Cultural Studies, Disability Studies, Ethnic Studies, Gender Studies, History, Law, Linguistics, Literary Studies, Performing Arts, Religious Studies, Philosophy, Postcolonial Studies, Queer Studies, Psychology, Sociology, Visual Arts, and Women’s Studies.
“Public Humanities of the Future: Museums, Archives, Universities and Beyond,” Humanities Research Volume XX, Number 1 (2024), edited by Kylie Message, Frank Bongiorno and Robert Wellington, “explores the roles, responsibilities and challenges of the humanities in 2024 and beyond. It examines if and how our public cultural institutions and disciplines engage ethically and meaningfully with the challenges of contemporary life, and sheds light on how the conception and practice of humanities research is developing institutionally as well as through collaboration with partners and communities beyond the university context.”
“The Routledge Companion to Public Humanities Scholarship,” edited by Daniel Fisher-Livne and Michelle May-Curry and published by Routledge in 2024, “begins with chapters reflecting on theories and practices of public humanities scholarship. The case studies that follow are organized around six areas of particular impact in public humanities scholarship: Informing contemporary debates; amplifying community voices and histories; helping individuals and communities navigate difficult experiences; preserving culture in times of crisis and change; expanding educational access; and building and supporting public scholarship. The Companion concludes with a glossary, introducing select concepts. Taken together, these resources offer an overview for students and practitioners of public humanities scholarship, creating an accessible vocabulary rooted in the practices that have so advanced academic and community life.” Cardholders may request this item by completing the form for interlibrary loan.
“The Humanities in American Life,” edited by Carin Berkowitz, Norman Marshall, and Robert Townsend. Daedalus, Summer 2022. “This volume looks at the public faces of the humanities, exploring the state of the humanities today, where the academic humanities are (and should be) heading, how to build bridges to new audiences and historically marginalized communities, and in what ways the humanities help us understand urgent public concerns, such as climate change, racial justice, and public health.”
“Doing Public Humanities,” edited by Susan Smulyan and published by Routledge in 2020, “explores the cultural landscape from disruptive events to websites, from tours to exhibits, from after school arts programs to archives, giving readers a wide-ranging look at the interdisciplinary practice of public humanities. Combining a practitioner’s focus on case studies with the scholar’s more abstract and theoretical approach, this collection of essays is useful for both teaching and appreciating public humanities. The contributors are committed to presenting a public humanities practice that encourages social justice and explores the intersectionalities of race, class, gender, and sexualities. Centering on the experiences of students with many of the case studies focused on course projects, the content will enable them to relate to and better understand this new field of study.” Cardholders may request this item by completing the form for interlibrary loan.
“Special Issue: Publics for the Humanities?” edited by Robert Phiddian and published as University of Toronto Quarterly Volume 85, Number 4 (Fall 2016) collects essays arising from a 2015 workshop at the Jackman Humanities Institute and sponsored by the CHCI. Cardholders may request articles from this issue by completing the form for interlibrary loan.
#websites
Websites and Blogs
The list of websites below collects journalistic articles, essays, and bibliographical resources for the public humanities:
- “Public Humanities: A guide to resources supporting research in the Public Humanities” by Michelle Jones, Georgetown University Library.
- “Reading List,” Georgetown University’s Master of Arts in Engaged and Public Humanities.
- “External Organizations,” Georgetown University’s Master of Arts in Engaged and Public Humanities.
- “Resources for Public History Educators at the Graduate and Undergraduate Level,” National Council of Public History.
- “The Hows and Whys of Public Humanities” by Devoney Looser. MLA Profession, Spring 2019.
- “What public philosophy is, and why we need it more than ever” by Lucia Ziglioli. Psyche.
- “Public Humanities and Publication: A Working Paper” by Kath Burton (et al.). Knowledge Commons Works.
- “Managing Large Projects: Hints and Tips” by Emily Joan Elliott. The H-Net Book Channel.
- “The Digital Humanities as Public Humanities.” IHE, Jan. 28, 2018.
- “Adapting Minimal Computing Approaches for Public Humanities Projects: A New Take on the History Harvest Model” by Michelle Dalmau (et al.). Knowledge Commons Works.
- “Perfect Partners: Libraries and the Humanities” by Judith Bergeron. Programming Librarian.
- “History of Science” by Hannah Schmidl. Programming Librarian.
- “The New Humanities” by Jeffrey J. Williams. The Chronicle of Higher Education: The Review.
#opportunities
Careers and Opportunities
Georgetown University’s Master in Engaged & Public Humanities has a web page devoted to resources, including a “career paths” subpage, which assembles a lot of starting points and leads toward opportunities in this area.
Open positions are regularly listed on the Public Humanities Newsletter: https://humanitiesforall.substack.com/
Princeton University’s GradFUTURES Professional Development supports Social Impact Fellowships and Learning Cohorts for Princeton University students interested in pursuing opportunities in the public humanities and creative arts: https://gradfutures.princeton.edu/WorkingArts
Rutgers University-New Brunswick offers a graduate certificate in Public Humanities through its Public Humanities Initiative, which also supports a Public Humanities Graduate Summer Experiential Learning Program, among other projects. Interested persons can join their newsletter by sending an email to: public-humanities@sas.rutgers.edu
Students can also learn a lot about this field by looking into the activities of institutions more remotely located, but nevertheless highly engaged in this area. Worth checking out are the following are Yale University’s Public Humanities at Yale, which was the most recent host of the North Eastern Public Humanities Consortium along with the New Haven Free Public Library, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Public Humanities Exchange.

Public Humanities programs and resources are made possible with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this programming do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.