Using public and private funds to provide grants and operate
programs, the West Virginia Humanities Council is the principal
organization promoting the humanities in West Virginia. The
Humanities Council was created June 25, 1974, at the
encouragement of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Reflecting the NEH’s original purposes, the council was first
incorporated as the Committee for Humanities and Public Policy
and focused on making grants for programs that applied the
humanities to discussions of public policy by adults. Since then
the council has broadened its activities, expanded the range of
its target population to include all West Virginians, and
diversified its sources of funding. The council is a nonprofit
corporation, not an agency of government. From modest beginnings
funded entirely by federal dollars, the council has grown to an
annual budget of more than $1.5 million, most of which comes
from public and private sources in West Virginia. The
cornerstone of the council’s work continues to b