As part of the Initiative for the Humanities and Culture, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (the Academy) is working with a consortium of humanities organizations to develop comprehensive data on the state of the humanities. Patterned after the influential Science and Engineering Indicators (published every other year by the National Science Board), the prototype currently under development will create a set of indicators that address the particular interests and concerns of the humanities.

The Humanities Indicators will help equip researchers and policymakers at universities, foundations, public humanities institutions, and government agencies with better statistical tools for answering basic questions about undergraduate and graduate degrees in the humanities, employment of humanities graduates, levels of program funding, public understanding of the humanities, and other areas of concern in the humanities.

NORC Senior Fellow (and Fellow of the Academy) Norman Bradburn and Francis Oakley (Williams College) will co-chair an executive committee for the humanities indicators project.  They are advised by a larger committee that includes senior figures in both the humanities and the social sciences. The advisory committee also includes representatives from professional associations in the humanities, including, among others, the Modern Language Association, the American Historical Association, the College Art Association, the National Humanities Alliance, and the American Council of Learned Societies.

The paper, Making the Humanities Count: The Importance of Data, available on the  Academy's site, summarizes the findings of the advisory group, including an evaluation of existing databases in the humanities as well as essays by Academy Fellows and others.

The initial set of Humanities Indicators will respond to the most immediate needs of national humanities organizations and will be expanded over time to provide useful information to a wide range of users. Interpretive essays will accompany the model indicators.

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation provided financial support to the Academy for the Humanities Indicators Project.
Read the Press Release.