SDHC Looks Back at Its History… and Looks Ahead to Its Future
December 13, 2025
The South Dakota Humanities Council – originally known as the South Dakota Committee on the Humanities – was founded in 1972. Today’s SDHC began as an advisory group accompanied by a Council of Humanists that sought to “bridge the gap between its Indigenous and non-Indigenous people.” Supported by a $125,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), the Committee began its endeavors through an adult education program whose theme was “Indian and Non-Indian: Cultural Contributions for a Better South Dakota.”
The Council of Humanists was composed of 16 individuals – one member of the humanities faculty from each college in the state and two members each from USD and SDSU. The objective of forming this Council was to get the help of humanists throughout the state in keeping its focus of its program on the disciplines encompassed by the humanities.
At its inception in1972, the “humanities” was defined as “the branches of learning concerned with human thought and relations… values, history, culture, ideas.” Now in the midst of its 44th year, and after a variety of changes and adaptations to its programming and structure, the South Dakota Humanities Council still holds to that definition and seeks to expand its mission for a changing society. Over the coming weeks and months, SDHC will share more of its plans for the future by reflecting back on where we’ve been… and by sharing aspirations for where we’re going.
The role and value of the humanities is more important than ever, and one only needs to look back to a report from the Commission on the Humanities in April 1964 to understand that importance:
“The humanities are the study of that which is most human, Throughout man’s conscious past they have played an essential tole in forming, preserving, and transforming the social, moral, and aesthetic values of every man in every age. One cannot speak of history or culture apart from the humanities. They not only record our lives; our lives are the very substance they are made of. Their subject is every man. We propose, therefore, a program for all our people, a program to meet a need no less serious that that for national defense. We speak, in truth, for what is being defended – our beliefs, our ideals, our highest achievements.”
SDHC hopes all citizens will join in on a reinvigorated journey into the future; one in which literature is celebrated, civil conversation is promoted, and the stories that define South Dakota continue to be told.
Learn more about humanities programming in South Dakota by signing up for SDHC e-Updates!