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NEWS RELEASE -- Immigration History Research Center (U of MN) Receives NEH Challenge Grant



The University of Minnesota has been awarded a $500,000 Challenge Grant
from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) in support of the
Immigration History Research Center (IHRC). The award is one of 26
challenge grants made nationwide by the NEH for the year 2000, including
only eight to colleges and universities. The University received the
maximum amount provided to award recipients in this year's competition.

Funds from the grant will be used to enhance the work of the IHRC, regarded
by many as the country's leading institution for the preservation and
promotion of the history of American immigration.  In conveying the award
to the University, NEH Chairman William Ferris remarked, "evaluators were
impressed by the IHRC's ability to sustain high quality in humanities
programming and resources.  In particular, they applauded the way in which
the Center has brought humanities perspectives to social issues."

The NEH Challenge Grant is a centerpiece of the IHRC's endowment campaign,
"Stories Worth Remembering, Stories Worth Telling." The campaign seeks to
provide permanent funding in four areas: 1) endowment of the Rudolph J.
Vecoli Chair in Immigration History; 2) care and development of the
archival collections; 3) research support; and 4) community outreach
(including work with ethnic organizations and K-12 educators).

As a result of the challenge grant, contributions to the IHRC's campaign
for the next three years will be matched by federal dollars on a 4:1 basis
(i.e., for every four dollars of private donations, the University will
receive an additional $1 of matching money).

The announcement of the challenge grant caps a momentous year for the IHRC,
beginning with the move last February into its new facility, the Elmer L.
Andersen Library. The IHRC's "Documentation of the Immigrant Experience"
was designated as an Official Project of Save America's Treasures, a
public-private partnership of the White House Millennium Council and the
National Trust for Historic Preservation.

The IHRC was founded in 1965 in response to keen interest in the role of
immigration in the making of America. Today the IHRC maintains a vast and
diverse archive of documentation on various immigrant groups throughout the
U.S. Included are diaries, memoirs, photographs, "America" letters,
newspapers, pamphlets, organizational records, oral histories, and much
more. The center also produces a wide array of programs and publications
aimed at fostering greater understanding of the immigrant experience.

For further information contact:
Immigration History Research Center
University of Minnesota
311 Andersen Library, 222 21st Ave. S.
Minneapolis, MN  55455.
Phone: (612) 625-4800
e-mail: ihrc@tc.umn.edu; Web: www.umn.edu/ihrc

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