NEH Solicits Nominations for 2005 Jefferson Lecture
Dear Friend of the NEH:
I am writing on behalf of Bruce Cole, Chairman of
the National Endowment for the Humanities, to invite you to nominate one or
more candidates to deliver the 2005 Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities.
Each year the National Endowment for the
Humanities recognizes one outstanding scholar to deliver the Jefferson Lecture
to an invited audience in Washington, D.C. The lectureship is the
highest honor the federal government bestows for achievement in the
humanities.
Since 1972, when Lionel Trilling was the
inaugural speaker, the Jefferson Lecture has marked a series of intellectual
milestones in humanities scholarship. Additional information about the
award, including a list of previous Jefferson Lecturers, follows below.
Because of your knowledge of the humanities and
their crucial place in our culture, we are soliciting your thoughts on who
should deliver the 2005 Jefferson Lecture. Nominees for the lectureship
should be persons who have made significant scholarly contributions to the
humanities and who have the ability to communicate the knowledge and wisdom of
the humanities in a broadly appealing way. The Lecturer is expected to
give an original and substantive address that is of interest to both scholars
and the lay public. The award carries a $10,000 stipend.
Your thoughtful consideration of the best person
to receive this honor in 2005 would be greatly appreciated. Please
respond by January 16, 2004, so that ample time will be available to review
the nominations. I encourage you to submit nominations electronically by
accessing the NEH website at <http://www.neh.gov/jefflecnomination.asp>
or by addressing an e-mail message to the NEH at osp@neh.gov.
Thank you for your assistance and advice.
Sincerely,
Andrew W. Hazlett
Special Assistant to the Chairman
National Endowment for the Humanities
1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Room 508
Washington, DC 20506
p: 202-606-8355
f: 202-606-8588
ahazlett@neh.gov
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About the Jefferson Lecture
The Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities,
established by the National Endowment for the Humanities in 1972, is the
highest honor the federal government confers for distinguished intellectual
achievement in the humanities. The lectureship recognizes an individual
who has made significant scholarly contributions in the humanities and who has
the ability to communicate the knowledge and wisdom of the humanities in a
broadly appealing way.
The lecturer is chosen each year by the Chairman
of the NEH with advice from the National Council on the Humanities, a board of
twenty-six citizens nominated by the President of the United States and
confirmed by the U. S. Senate.
The Jefferson Lecture is held in Washington,
typically in conjunction with the spring meeting of the National Council.
The lecturer receives an honorarium of $10,000.
Nominees for the lectureship should be persons
who have made significant scholarly contributions to the humanities and who
have the ability to communicate the knowledge and wisdom of the humanities in
a broadly appealing way.
Self-nominations are not permitted.
You may submit nominations over the web at this
address: http://www.neh.gov/jefflecnomination.asp
Jefferson Lecturers in the Humanities
1972: Lionel Trilling -- "Mind in the
Modern World"
1973: Erik Erikson -- "Dimensions of a New Identity"
1974: Robert Penn Warren -- "Poetry and Democracy"
1975: Paul A. Freund -- "Liberty: The Great Disorder of
Speech"
1976: John Hope Franklin -- "Racial Equality in America"
1977: Saul Bellow -- "The Writer and His Country Look Each Other
Over"
1978: C. Vann Woodward -- "The European Vision of America"
1979: Edward Shils -- "Render Unto Caesar: Government,
Society, and Universities in their Reciprocal Rights and Duties"
1980: Barbara Tuchman -- "Mankind's
Better Moments"
1981: Gerald Holton -- "Where is Science Taking Us?"
1982: Emily T. Vermeule -- "Greeks and Barbarians: The Classical
Experience in the Larger World"
1983: Jaroslav Pelikan -- "The Vindication of Tradition"
1984: Sidney Hook -- "Education in Defense of a Free
Society"
1985: Cleanth Brooks -- "Literature and Technology"
1986: Leszek Kolakowski -- "The Idolatry of Politics"
1987: Forrest McDonald -- "The Intellectual World of the Founding
Fathers"
1988: Robert Nisbet -- "The Present Age"
1989: Walker Percy -- "The Fateful Rift: The San Andreas
Fault in the Modern Mind"
1990: Bernard Lewis -- "Western Civilization: A View from
the East"
1991: Gertrude Himmelfarb -- "Of Heroes, Villains and
Valets"
1992: Bernard Knox -- "The Oldest Dead White European Males"
1993: Robert Conquest -- "History, Humanity and Truth"
1994: Gwendolyn Brooks -- "Family Pictures"
1995: Vincent Scully -- "The Architecture of Community"
1996: Toni Morrison -- "The Future of Time"
1997: Stephen Toulmin -- "A Dissenter's Story"
1998: Bernard Bailyn -- "To Begin the World Anew: Politics and
the Creative Imagination"
1999: Caroline Walker Bynum -- "Shape and History: Metamorphosis
in the Western Tradition"
2000: James M. McPherson -- "'For a Vast Future Also': Lincoln
and the Millennium"
2001: Arthur Miller -- "On Politics and the Art of Acting"
2002: Henry Louis Gates, Jr. -- "Mister Jefferson and the Trials
of Phyllis Wheatley"
2003: David McCullough-- "The Course of Human Events"