Honoring Pride Month 2023 & Juneteenth on Monday, June 19

Announcing the

2023 New Hampshire BIG READ

September-November 2023

Join us this fall for a statewide read of Andrew Krivak's The Bear!

After months of planning and a competitive application process, New Hampshire Humanities is thrilled to be one of 62 organizations nationwide selected to receive a 2023-2024 National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Big Read grant, an NEA initiative in partnership with Arts Midwest. A Big Read broadens our understanding of our world, our communities, and ourselves through the power of a shared reading experience.

In September through November 2023 NHH will bring more than 5,000 Granite Staters together to discuss a selected book, The Bear, by New Hampshire author Andrew Krivak. The Big Read will feature book discussions, public and virtual programs, and a public Q&A with Andrew Krivak, all free and open to the public. Events will take place in all ten counties of the state.



Learn more at www.nhhumanities.org/BigRead

Join us on June 28 in Plainfield for an exciting capstone to our 2023 Humanities Roadshow series. Limited space so please RSVP as soon as possible!

Performed by NSquared Dance and presented by New Hampshire Dance Collaborative:

The Shire: An Exploration of NH Through Contemporary Dance, Excerpts & Investigation

Wednesday, June 28, Plainfield Town Hall, Plainfield

Reception: 5:15 pm, Program: 6:00 pm

Weaving together the natural beauty, history, and culture of New Hampshire's seven regions, The Shire, performed by NSquared Dance, explores the Granite State through movement and contemporary dance. With reverence for the state’s past, the production illuminates the changes in New Hampshire through dance “snapshots” of our evolving regions. New Hampshire Humanities is honored to help bring The Shire to new areas in the Granite State. 

This program is supported in partnership with NSquared Dance Company, NH Dance Collaborative, New Hampshire Humanities, Hypertherm, CCA Global Partners, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Thank you to our 2023 Humanities Roadshow Sponsor:

Join us for our next Humanities@Home:

Elizabeth Gurley Flynn:

Behind the Headlines

Friday, July 14, 5:00 pm (Zoom)

Who was Elizabeth Gurley Flynn and why is this NH-born labor activist suddenly in the news? Much more than just a radical, this lecture will look beyond the headlines about Flynn–specifically the recent controversy of a historical marker at the site of her childhood home in Concord, NH that was erected and removed this past May–to put the “Rebel Girl” in context and share her story. Born in Concord in 1890, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn had a rich and varied career calling out injustices and fighting for the right to express dissenting ideas. Flynn described herself as a "mortal enemy of capitalism” in a time when workers had limited rights and frequently died while working in unsafe conditions.

If you are not able to see the Register button above, click HERE to RSVP.

ABOUT THE PRESENTER

Lara Vapnek earned her Ph.D. in History at Columbia University. She is a professor at St. John’s University, in Queens, New York. She has written two books, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn: Modern American Revolutionary (2015) and Breadwinners: Working Women and Economic Independence, 1865-1920 (2009), and she is currently completing her third book, Mothers, Milk, and Money: A History of Infant Feeding with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Dr. Vapnek belongs to the editorial board of the Journal of American History, and she serves as a Distinguished Lecturer for the Organization of American Historians.

Attend a Perspectives book group!

Perspectives book discussions take place across the state and we invite you to attend one in your community or join us online! See below to RSVP to the host organization to reserve your spot and your free Perspectives book prior to the discussion. 



June 20, Meriden Library, 2:00 pm

You Never Forget Your First: A Biography of George Washington

by Alex Coe DETAILS

For more information about the books and scholar facilitators, visit www.nhhumanities.org/Perspectives or email us at bookgroups@nhhumanities.org.

Upcoming Grant-Funded Programs

Museum of the White Mountains:

The Old Man of the Mountain Would Be Pleased: Preserving Franconia Notch 

Thursday, July 13, 7:00 pm (Hybrid) Museum of the White Mountains, 34 Highland Street, Plymouth

Presented as part of the Museum of the White Mountains' ongoing series, 2023 An Enduring Presence: The Old Man of the Mountain, in this talk Kimberly A. Jarvis will explore how efforts to preserve the Old Man of the Mountain's home in Franconia Notch shaped the creation of Franconia Notch State Park and the Franconia Notch Parkway. Registration for this hybrid event is required. RSVP

UNH Community Literacy Center:

Multilingual Book Group 

Thursday, July 20, 10:30 am, Dover Public Library, 73 Locust Street, Dover

Educators from the UNH Community Literacy Center will lead this group which will feature a different language each week. There will also be an art activity based on the theme. This program is designed for students in kindergarten through third grade. Caregivers are not required to attend but are always welcome. Registration is required. RSVP

Recent Community Project Grant Recipients

MAJOR GRANTS

Community Literacy Center at University of NH:

Multilingual Literacy: Connecting Communities Through Literature and Language 

This is an 8-week iteration of the Multilingual Book Club, a community program where children and their families engage in and celebrate culturally relevant ways of interacting with books. The series is a partnership with the Dover Public Library and the Dover Adult Learning Center, in which adults and children will consider their own cultural literacy practices, as well as those from other cultures and languages. 

Cook Memorial Library - One Book One Valley 2023:

2023 One Book One Valley program series featuring The Bear by Andrew Krivak

One Book One Valley, a regional community read program held in the fall of the year and in its 17th year, will strengthen and extend participation in Big Read New Hampshire in the northern part of the state.  

The Museum of the White Mountains at Plymouth State University:

An Enduring Presence: The Old Man of the Mountain 

On view until Sept. 15, the exhibition and lecture series presents a history of this iconic rock formation that used to jut out from Cannon Cliff in Franconia Notch State Park. The exhibition–featuring early drawings, prints, photographs, and paintings as well as objects and ephemera–explores the ways in which it played a central role in the state's identity in ways that endure even 20 years after its fall. The exhibit and lecture series, now underway, is accompanied by a traveling “pop-up” exhibition.

NH Civics - William W. Treat Lecture Series 2023: 

The 2023 Treat Lectures, featuring Gov. Chris Sununu, Dr. Richard Haass, and Professor Lawrence Lessig

This lecture series will explore the current state of civic health (including civility), civic strength (including engagement), and opportunities for civic learning in our localities, state, and nation, starting this September.

MINI GRANTS

Kimball Jenkins School of Art:

No Bears Film Screening & Intergenerational Panel Discussion 

Held in May, a screening of Jafar Panahi’s film, No Bears, was followed by a discussion featuring a panel four people, predominantly female-identifying Iranian and Iranian-Americans, that explored space and nuance in perceiving Iranian people. 

The projects listed above were supported by our Community Project Grants. Learn more about opportunities to fund a project in your community in the links below!

Upcoming Grant Deadlines

Summer Grant Deadlines: 

Major Grant final application: July 15 

Mini Community Project Grants applications (up to $2K) are accepted on a rolling basis. Learn more here: www.nhhumanities.org/new-grants

September 15: Major Community Project Grant draft proposals are due.  

For more information and to access the application materials, click here.

October 15: Major Community Project Grant proposals are due.  

For more information and to access the application materials, click here.

With your help, New Hampshire Humanities connects Granite Staters with ideas and each other, no matter what. Through the humanities we can come together to create community and connection through shared experience, curious listening, and respectful conversation. Click the blue circle to make a secure online gift.

Thank you – every gift matters!

BOARD PICK OF THE MONTH:

The Last Green Valley

Recommended by NHH Board member, Sam Witherspoon

I recently read the latest book by Mark T. Sullivan, The Last Green Valley. I had read and enjoyed one of his earlier works, Beneath the Scarlet Sky, and found The Last Green Valley to be very engaging. The Last Green Valley follows a family in Ukraine trying to emigrate West but caught between the advancing Soviet forces and the retreating Nazi army at the end of WWII. Both are great historical fictions that focus on the human experience during WWII. I found The Last Green Valley to be timely as it describes the challenges faced by Ukrainian civilians uprooted by war. Thank you, Sam!

Thank you to our annual partners who

provide critical year-round support for our work:

Lead Humanities Partner:

Bronze Partner:

Media Partners: