Willa Cather Archive Defunded: The Precarious Fate of Literary Preservation
By
Robert SlaytonOct 25, 2017
Summary
The article discusses the defunding of the Willa Cather Archive by the Department of Government Efficiency in April 2025, which terminated the final year of a three-year National Endowment for the Humanities grant, resulting in a loss of about $100,000. Andrew Jewell, co-director of the Center for Digital Research in the Humanities at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, expressed dismay at the lack of explanation or justification for the decision. The piece explores the broader implications for literary archives, both real and fictional, and reflects on the fate of cultural preservation in an era of funding cuts.
Source
Twitter / XWilla Cather Archive Defunded: The Precarious Fate of Literary Preservationlareviewofbooks.orgKey quotes
· 3 pulledThere's no explanation. There was no justification […] It was just a kind of destruction.
The defunding of such projects threatens the preservation of our literary heritage.
Archives are not just collections of papers; they are the memory of a culture.
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