--- title: National Endowment for the Humanties: 50 Years of Grants description: The agency, created 50 years ago on Sept. 29, 1965, has supported the work of Marlon Brando, Noam Chomsky and many others canonical: https://time.com/4052064/neh-grants-1965/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-09-29T18:00:32.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:01:27.893Z article:section: History og:title: National Endowment for the Humanties: 50 Years of Grants og:description: The agency was created 50 years ago, on Sept. 29, 1965 og:url: https://time.com/4052064/neh-grants-1965/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte32d90d9b1db37e2/698865c20b72e37bb56e60c0/150928-punch-cards-01.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: NEH's first digital humanities grant, in 1967: Support of a Conference to Explore Potential Application of Computer Science to the Advancement of Research in the Humanities. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: National Endowment for the Humanties: 50 Years of Grants twitter:description: The agency was created 50 years ago, on Sept. 29, 1965 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte32d90d9b1db37e2/698865c20b72e37bb56e60c0/150928-punch-cards-01.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # See Early National Endowment for the Humanities Grants to Marlon Brando, Noam Chomsky and Elie Wiesel > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription.  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Sep 29, 2015 6:00 PM UTC  NEH's first digital humanities grant, in 1967: Support of a Conference to Explore Potential Application of Computer Science to the Advancement of Research in the Humanities. NEH's first digital humanities grant, in 1967: Support of a Conference to Explore Potential Application of Computer Science to the Advancement of Research in the Humanities. photo by Chris Flynn / National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Sep 29, 2015 6:00 PM UTC When the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) was established exactly 50 years ago—the [act](http://www.neh.gov/about/history/national-foundation-arts-and-humanities-act-1965-pl-89-209) that created the agency was signed on Sept. 29, 1965—it was with the mission of supporting scholarship in the humanities. Back then, it was a little bit harder than it is today to keep track of applications and grants. When people like Noam Chomsky, Marlon Brando and Elie Wiesel applied to the NEH for support for projects, the agency was still using a system of so-called “McBee cards” to manage the database. The series of holes around the cards’ edges corresponded to certain characteristics; the holes were punched into a different shape to mark whether that characteristic applied to the data on the card; then, using a needle that went through the holes, the cards could be automatically sorted to separate out those that did or did not meet the test. Before the days of Excel and Google Docs, McBee cards did the trick—and, unlike their computerized descendants, the physical cards are fascinating to look at. Ahead of its anniversary, the NEH has digitized the McBee cards that were used to keep track of applications and grants during the first decades of the agency’s existence. Those records—the originals of a few of which can be seen above—date all the way back to the [very first NEH grant ever](https://securegrants.neh.gov/PublicQuery/main.aspx?f=1&gn=EH-10058-66), a 1966 gift of $14,000 to support a conference of papyrologists. _The rest of the database can be searched_ [_here_](https://securegrants.neh.gov/PublicQuery/main.aspx)_._  NEH's first digital humanities grant, in 1967: Support of a Conference to Explore Potential Application of Computer Science to the Advancement of Research in the Humanities. photo by Chris Flynn / National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)  A 1978 fellowship that allowed Noam Chomsky to refine and expand his theories of universal grammar. photo by Chris Flynn / National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)  The 1976 Grant that brought the blockbuster "Treasures of Tutankhamun" exhibit to six American cities. photo by Chris Flynn / National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)  A 1976 media grant to Marlon Brando and James beck for a project on "The First Americans." photo by Chris Flynn / National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)  Grants to On the Waterfront screenwriter Budd Schulberg for the Watts Writer's Workshop. photo by Chris Flynn / National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)  A fellowship to support The Origins and Development of Early Florentine Painting for Bruce M. Cole at the University of Rochester. photo by Chris Flynn / National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)  A 1969 Education grant to Altona Johns and composer Undine Smith Moore for a course on "The Black Man in American Music." photo by Chris Flynn / National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)  A 1973 fellowship to Harold Bloom for research relating to his acclaimed work, The Anxiety of Influence. photo by Chris Flynn / National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)  A 1973 fellowship to Elie Wiesel for a history of a typical East European Jewish community pre-WWII. photo by Chris Flynn / National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)  A 1974 Education grant to Dr. Andries van Dam at Brown University: An Experiment in Computer Based Education Using Hypertext. photo by Chris Flynn / National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4052064/neh-grants-1965/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4052064/neh-grants-1965/"},"headline":"See Early National Endowment for the Humanities Grants to Marlon Brando, Noam Chomsky and Elie Wiesel","datePublished":"2015-09-29T18:00:32.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:01:27.893Z","description":"The agency was created 50 years ago on Sept. 29, 1965","url":"https://time.com/4052064/neh-grants-1965/","keywords":["Education","politics","photography"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte32d90d9b1db37e2/698865c20b72e37bb56e60c0/150928-punch-cards-01.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte32d90d9b1db37e2/698865c20b72e37bb56e60c0/150928-punch-cards-01.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"NEH's first digital humanities grant, in 1967: Support of a Conference to Explore Potential Application of Computer Science to the Advancement of Research in the Humanities.","caption":"NEH's first digital humanities grant, in 1967: Support of a Conference to Explore Potential Application of Computer Science to the Advancement of Research in the Humanities.","creditText":"photo by Chris Flynn / National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/education/","name":"Education"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4052064/neh-grants-1965/","name":"See Early National Endowment for the Humanities Grants to Marlon Brando, Noam Chomsky and Elie Wiesel"}}]}] ```