NOTUS reported that when DOGE axed federal funding for state humanities councils last year, local libraries and historical societies were forced to abandon plans for the semiquincentennial. The councils, created by Congress around the 1976 bicentennial to fund small-scale history and civics projects, operate in nearly every state and territory.

In Trumbull County, Ohio, even a modest “passport” project encouraging visits to history sites had to be kept small because the historical society could not afford to print more booklets. Councils in West Virginia, Alabama and Washington state were hit too.