Earlier this year, the National Endowment for the Humanities was shedding staff and canceling hundreds of grants to the museums, libraries and scholars that have traditionally relied on federal funding to help Americans engage with history, culture and ideas.

The Trump administration said the agency was a waste of taxpayer money and suggested eliminating it entirely.

By August, however, the NEH was announcing new awards, including its largest one ever: $10 million to the University of Virginia for a project tied to the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in 2026. In its 60-year history, NEH had rarely given more than a few hundred thousand dollars to any single project.

That record lasted just six weeks. On Monday, the NEH announced an even larger, $10.4 million g

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