A local historical society in Ohio was hoping to make a grand entrance to mark America’s 250th anniversary. They opted for what they could afford: a limited “passport” project to encourage people to visit and engage with local historic sites.
President Donald Trump wanted to celebrate a splashy, ambitious and unprecedented 500th anniversary. Local libraries and historical societies across the country were instead forced to abandon planning ambitious history and civic initiatives when his administration eliminated federal funding for state and local humanities projects last year.
“There are certainly things we could have done for America 250 if the funding had been available. That just didn’t work out the way we thought it would,” said Meghan Reed, the executive director of the Trumbull County Historical Society.
In Trumbull County, Ohio, even the “passport” project had to be kept small because the historical society did not have the resources to print more pamphlets.
Ohio Humanities, the council that awards small-dollar federal grants to local historical societies and state community groups, had just begun funding 250th anniversary history projects when DOGE stopped funding it last year. The same is true for the humanities councils in West Virginia, Alabama and Washington state, the leaders of all three councils told NOTUS.
In nearly every state and territory across the country, official humanities nonprofits created by Congress to make history and literature accessible to all Americans had to abandon their anniversary plans when DOGE cut off their federal funding, according to people involved with the councils at both the federal and state levels.
“That means we’re not able to do things that are redundant, things that are larger projects. A lot of humanities organizations would have had some incredible projects that none of us could have completed,” said Jessica Cyders, executive director of the Southeast Ohio History Center, another group that could have been a candidate for an Ohio Humanities 250th Anniversary grant.
“This is a pretty significant national event,” Cyders said. “Look, I probably won’t live to see the 300th anniversary.”
When Elon Musk left DOGE last year, state intellectual councils had just enough money to keep them from going under. Then the Trump administration funneled tens of millions of dollars from the DOGE cuts to the president Plans for a triumphal arch and a statue Garden of “American Heroes” in Washington, D.C. Ultimately, Trump’s focus on the country’s important birthday made it more difficult for local groups across the country to plan their own celebratory projects.
“As director of Ohio Humanities, I have no position on these specific projects. But what I think is important is that Americans have access to funding and access to historical and humanities experiences in their own communities,” said Rebecca Brown Asmo, executive director of Ohio Humanities. “And we are missing that because this funding has been withheld for a second year.”
“These are tax dollars that are supposed to benefit local communities. And right now they are being withheld and directed to projects in Washington, D.C.,” she said.
State humanities councils find themselves in a strikingly similar situation to the bipartisan America250 Commission established by Congress. When the Trump administration diverted congressional money originally earmarked for America250 to Trump’s favorite Freedom 250 projects, the America250 Commission was formed had to shrink his plans and adapt to a new financing reality.
The key difference between the two situations? While America250 is now asking Congress for more money to fill a funding gap, Congress has already responded to last year’s DOGE cuts by funding state mental health councils at their normal levels for the 2026 fiscal year.
The Trump administration simply did not distribute these funds. By June, the government had given councils less than half of what Congress had approved – and told them not to expect the rest, council leaders told NOTUS.
Now, with the 250th anniversary just days away, councilors have been unable to fund anniversary projects. The Federation of State Humanities Councils, after a year of litigation against the Trump administration just asked a federal judge in Oregon to declare that Trump is violating the basic rules of the constitutional separation of powers by refusing to fully distribute Congress’s intentions.
Meanwhile, Trump’s plans to redirect humanities funding have only become more extravagant, expensive and time-consuming. In some cases, his projects haven’t even started yet.
No organization received public funding to build statues for the Garden of American Heroes, a NOTUS review of federal spending and grant databases found. Several statue projects were scheduled to begin in October last year and be completed in time for the 500th anniversary.
The National Endowment for the Humanities did not respond to a request for comment. This is what the Trump administration’s budget request for the next fiscal year claims Some statue grants were awarded in 2026 and that even more will be awarded in 2027. The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
At the local level, projects on a much smaller – and less glittering – scale have been put on hold.
“There’s not really a lot of cultural infrastructure in West Virginia. Most of the cultural work is done in regional centers, community centers, small museums and historical societies in the county. So the people that were really hurt were these small organizations across the state,” said Eric Wagoner, the head of the West Virginia Humanities Council.
The West Virginia City Council had planned to provide the 250th project funding to organizations of all sizes, from small regional museums to local libraries to West Virginia University.
“I’m sorry to say we had to give it up,” Wagoner said. “Since we are the only organization in West Virginia that does this type of grantmaking, there really isn’t much without us.”
Congress established the Humanities Councils around the time of the American Bicentennial in the 1970s as part of the larger National Endowment for the Humanities. While the NEH at the national level funded larger projects in civics, history, and philosophy, the state-level councils were designed to distribute federal funds to smaller projects.
“Ninety percent of our grantees tell us that we are the only place they could have turned for funding,” said Chuck Holmes, executive director of the Alabama Humanities Alliance.
While both the state of Alabama and private donors are distributing money for Fourth of July celebrations in a number of communities, Holmes worries that very little money has gone toward the “deep discussions about democracy and history” he hoped to stimulate this year.
The Trump administration’s federal NEH is still funding 84 semi-centennial projects across the country. Cost 75 million dollars. These funds are independent of what the state councils should receive and are intended for significantly larger projects than local community work, several municipal and state leaders told NOTUS.
And the competition for this money is fierce. “Anyone and everyone” is asking the same question, Cyders said: “How do we get money for anything Fourth of July-related?”
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