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Humanities Indicators
This project, under the direction of Norman Bradburn, establishes a framework for the compilation, analysis, and publication of comprehensive trend data about the humanities. Humanities indicators will equip researchers and policymakers, universities, foundations, museums, libraries, and other public humanities institutions with better statistical tools for accurately describing the number and type of academic degrees granted, the employment histories of graduates in the humanities, the levels of funding in these programs, and the degree of public awareness of issues relating to the humanities. The goal of the project is to provide useful information on the humanities that is equivalent in scale and accuracy to the information on the sciences produced biennially by the National Science Foundation (under the auspices of the National Science Board). Although the National Endowment for the Humanities has had authorization since 1985 to support the production of similar kinds of data, it has not launched such an undertaking, and Congress has never appropriated the funding for such an effort. The American Academy of Arts and Sciences-sponsored Humanities Indicators project, funded by the Mellon Foundation, therefore fills a significant gap in the cultural data collection field.
For more information please visit the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Humanities Indicators webpage.