June 30, 2021

NEH on the Road: A Fond Farewell

By Margaret A. Keough

Two women view an NEH on the Road exhibition

More than 2.4 million visited NEH on the Road exhibitions across the United States.

Since 2004, NEH on the Road exhibitions have traveled to 252 distinct communities, both large and small, reaching more than 2.4 million visitors at 275 venues across the country. From Wrapped in Pride: Ghanaian Kente and African American Identity to Power of Children: Making a Difference, this traveling exhibition program brought humanities-based topics and ideas to museums, libraries, universities and colleges, and more.

The exhibitions were drawn from larger shows, organized by some of the top humanities scholars and institutions, including the National Constitution Center, New York Botanical Garden, and the Minnesota History Center/Minnesota Historical Society, among others. Featuring robust educational materials, programming for children and adults was a core element of this initiative of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

On June 30, 2021, the cooperative agreement between the Division of Public Programs at the National Endowment for the Humanities and Mid-America Arts Alliance ended. All the currently touring exhibitions have been transferred and will tour through 2022 as part of ExhibitsUSA, a program of M-AAA for more than three decades. Through ExhibitsUSA, M-AAA looks forward to continuing to serve communities through traveling exhibitions in the arts, history, and humanities.

Program Map

Enjoy this map illustrating the places that NEH on the Road exhibitions have visited.

Exhibition Tours

Heroes in the Sky: Adventures in Early Flight, 1909–1939
February 2005–August 2010
Originating/Partnering Organization: Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation, Dearborn, MI

Asian Games: The Art of Contest
May 2005–March 2010
Originating/Partnering Organization: Asia Society Museum, New York, NY

Lee and Grant
April 2009–October 2011
Originating/Partnering Organization: Virginia Historical Society, Richmond, VA

Wrapped in Pride: Ghanaian Kente and African American Identity
September 2005–June 2012
Originating/Partnering Organization: The University of California, Los Angeles Fowler Museum of Cultural History, Los Angeles, CA

Farm Life: A Century of Change for Farm Families and their Neighbors
December 2005–January 2013
Originating/Partnering Organization: Chippewa Valley Museum, Eau Claire, WI

Going Places
September 2007–August 2012
Originating/Partnering Organization: Long Island Museum of American Art, History, and Carriages, Stony Brook, NY

Grass Roots: African Origins of an American Art
September 2008–August 2013
Originating/Partnering Organization: Museum for African Art, New York, NY

¡Carnival!
September 2008–March 2014
Originating/Partnering Organization: Museum of International Folk Art, Santa Fe, NM

The BISON: An American Icon
April 2010–March 2015
Originating/Partnering Organization: C.M. Russell Museum, Great Falls, MT

Our Lives, Our Stories: America’s Greatest Generation
November 2010–October 2015
Originating/Partnering Organizations: Minnesota History Center and Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul, MN

Wild Land: Thomas Cole and the Birth of American Landscape Painting
September 2011–August 2016
Originating Museum: Thomas Cole National Historic Site/Cedar Grove, Catskill, NY

For All the World to See: Visual Culture & the Struggle for Civil Rights
April 2012–May 2022
Originating/Partnering Organization: Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD

House & Home
September 2013–August 2018
Originating/Partnering Organization: National Building Museum, Washington, DC

Spirited: Prohibition in America
June 2014–January 2022
Originating/Partnering Organization: National Constitution Center, Philadelphia, PA

Power of Children: Making a Difference
April 2015–January 2020
Originating/Partnering Organization: Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, IN

Bandits & Heroes, Poets & Saints: Popular Art of the Northeast of Brazil
September 2015–October 2020
Originating/Partnering Organization: Con/Vida–Popular Arts of the Americas, Detroit, MI

Coney Island: Visions of an American Dreamland
April 2017–January 2022
Originating/Partnering Organization: Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT

Jacob A. Riis: How the Other Half Lives
April 2018–January 2022
Originating/Partnering Organization: Museum of the City of New York, New York, NY

Frida Kahlo’s Garden
November 2018–May 2022
Originating/Partnering Organization: New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, NY

Away from Home: American Indian Boarding School Stories
April 2020–October 2022
Originating/Partnering Organization: Heard Museum, Phoenix, AZ

WW1 America
April 2021–May 2022
Originating/Partnering Organizations: Minnesota History Center and Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul, MN

Margaret A. Keough Staff Writer

Margaret A. Keough is M-AAA's first Director of Advocacy, working to strengthen our region's arts and creativity sector through advocacy. For more than 30 years, she served in marketing and communications roles at M-AAA, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. Keough holds undergraduate degrees in art history and advertising from the University of Kansas and a master’s in business administration from Rockhurst University.