A New U.S. Budget Blueprint May Affect Genealogists

The new administration’s federal budget blueprint—a sort of planning document in the budgeting process—would eliminate the National Endowment for the Humanities. If this line item manages to make it through to the final budget for fiscal year 2018, its genealogical impact might surprise you.

The National Endowment of the Humanities (NEH) was created in 1965 as an independent federal agency funding humanities programs in the United States. NEH grants help fund many genealogy staples, such as museums, archives and libraries as well as public television and universities.

The NEH’s grants also support historical records digitization and access projects including the free Chronicling America newspaper search website. Chronicling America was sparked by The United States Newspaper Project, which microfilmed and cataloged 63.3 million pages of American newspapers. Chronicling America lets you search and view digitized American newspaper pages from 1789 to 1924, as well as a directory of all U.S. Newspapers published from 1690 to present.

Genealogists use newspapers to find key details about their ancestors. Diane Haddad wrote this article about her experience finding a 1924 article about her grandfather. She also shares how Chronicling America helps genealogists find old newspapers.

http://blog.familytreemagazine.com/insider/2017/01/24/ANewUSBudgetBlueprintMayAffectGenealogists.aspx