The University of Florida’s National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Challenge Grant

In 2014, the Price Library of Judaica was awarded a prestigious National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Challenge Grant – one of just 16 conferred nationally at the maximum amount ($500,000). The Challenge Grant award requires the Library to raise $1.5 million in matching funds. The resulting $2 million endowment will directly support the Judaica Library’s growth and development and its projects to protect, preserve and promote hidden or endangered Jewish heritage materials from Florida, Latin America and the Caribbean.

The Library realizes the importance of bringing attention to the under-represented Jewish experience in Florida, Latin America and the Caribbean, particularly the post-war refugee experience. At present there is a lack of continuity in collecting and preserving the archives, records, and published accounts of these communities, especially in places where Jewish historical materials may be abandoned and overlooked due to a lack of funding or resources, or where they may be at risk due to neglect or natural disasters, or where resources could be endangered by rising anti-Semitism.

The NEH award recognizes that the University of Florida is singularly well-suited to lead a new national and international effort to map, study and promote the diversity of histories and cultures in this hemisphere. Annual interest generated by the $2 million endowment will be used in perpetuity to fund strategic activities that achieve two goals related to Florida, Latin America and the Caribbean:

1) The Library will lead national and international efforts to inspire greater study of the Jewish diaspora and the ways in which minority groups and individuals contribute to the wider society

2) The Library will provide broader access to under-researched and hidden historical materials to revolutionize current scholarship and promote greater knowledge and understanding.

Donate

Price Library of Judaica NEH Challenge Grant Endowment fund

Please support the Judaica Library in this exciting and important endeavor.

Alternatively, please make checks payable to the University of Florida Foundation. Please note on the check that this donation is to support fund 019835. The “Price Library of Judaica NEH Challenge Grant Endowment” (019835) directly supports the Price Library of Judaica and its work.

Checks can be mailed to:

University of Florida

George A. Smathers Libraries

Office of Development

PO Box 117000

Gainesville, FL 32611-7000