Kentucky Historical Society
KHS Receives NEH Grant for ‘Civil War Governors of Kentucky’ Project

FRANKFORT, Ky. (Aug. 18, 2011) — The Kentucky Historical Society (KHS) has received a $210,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to develop the “Civil War Governors of Kentucky Digital Documentary Edition.”

The “Civil War Governors of Kentucky” is a multi-year documentary-editing project dedicated to locating, imaging, transcribing, annotating and publishing documents associated with all five of the state’s Civil War governors, consisting of three Union governors, Beriah Magoffin (1859-62), James F. Robinson (1862-63), and Thomas E. Bramlette (1863-67), and two provisional Confederate governors, George W. Johnson (1861-62) and Richard Hawes (1862-65). This edition will focus on the period between November 1860, the date of Lincoln’s election as president, and the end of December 1865, roughly corresponding with the ratification of the 13th Amendment, which ended slavery. Each of these national milestones signaled a pivotal change in Kentucky’s political and social order. “Civil War Governors of Kentucky” will provide new ways to look at the society of this era.

These funds are made available through the NEH Scholarly Editions and Translations program, and will allow project staff to conduct research and perform editorial processes necessary to develop the “Civil War Governors of Kentucky Digital Documentary Edition.”

“We couldn’t be more thrilled by this award,” said Darrell Meadows, Ph.D., director of the new digital documentary edition. “NEH funding for ‘Civil War Governors of Kentucky’ will not only allow us to make significant progress toward the completion of the project, which promises to be a significant legacy of the Civil War Sesquicentennial in Kentucky, but it furthers the Kentucky Historical Society’s mission to advance new scholarship in Kentucky, regional and national history.”

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An agency of the Kentucky Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet, the Kentucky Historical Society, established in 1836, is committed to helping people understand, cherish and share Kentucky's history. The KHS history campus includes the Thomas D. Clark Center for Kentucky History, the Old State Capitol and the Kentucky Military History Museum at the State Arsenal. For more information about the Kentucky Historical Society and its programs, visit the website at www.history.ky.gov.