Dear editor:

Thanks to the National Endowment for the Humanities, almost 300 educators from around the country have participated in workshops at the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation to learn about the Japanese American experience during World War II. While they were in Wyoming, they stayed in local hotels and retreat centers, shopped in stores along Sheridan Avenue in Cody and ate in local restaurants. 

Many of our participants called it the most profound educational experience of their careers. They vowed to return to Wyoming to enjoy more of what our great state has to offer.

These are just some reasons why we have asked Wyoming’s congressional delegation to prevent the dismantling of NEH without the approval of Congress. We urge the Wyoming delegation to persuade the White House to stop this disregard of congressional authority that will hurt Wyoming institutions and citizens.

NEH provides 80% of the budget for Wyoming Humanities that supports institutions throughout our state. NEH has provided at least 12 grants since 1978 to the five-museum complex at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody, where hundreds of visitors gathered Monday to honor the life and career of Sen. Alan Simpson, a longtime supporter of the NEH and Heart Mountain. Programs such as those sponsored by the NEH support institutions that benefit Wyoming residents. We are grateful that Wyoming's congressional delegation has supported the NEH and its mission during previous attempts to end its funding, including in the last Congress. 

The history taught at NEH-supported institutions throughout Wyoming is American history that includes all that is good about our nation's values. It also includes the times when some of our ancestors lost sight of what makes America great and how they righted wrongs and vowed to do better. We need to preserve the NEH to help remember our nation's rich history.

Heart Mountain Foundation