Series IV: Projects, 1982-1996, inclusive

In its early years, the Humanities Council sponsored projects and programming related to Greenwich Village. In the late 1980s, it began to plan cohesive programming to celebrate the Greenwich Village neighborhood. Leslie Berlowitz and Rick Beard edited Greenwich Village: Culture and Counterculture, a volume of essays on the history and culture of the area published by Rutgers University Press in 1993. Many of the essays in this volume had previously been published in Around the Square, 1830-1890: Essays on Life, Letters, and Architecture in Greenwich Village, published by NYU Press in 1982. In addition to publishing Greenwich Village: Culture and Counterculture, the Council also collaborated with the Museum of the City of New York on an exhibit titled "Within Bohemia's Borders" which opened in 1989, and planned lectures, readings, receptions, art exhibitions, and other programs that took place on NYU's campus and in Greenwich Village from 1989 through 1991. A National Endowment for the Humanities grant partly funded the Greenwich Village project.

The Humanities Council began planning programming related to the 1989 bicentennial of the French Revolution in 1986, and facilitated related events in 1988 and 1989. Many educational and cultural institutions marked the Bicentennial with events, programs, and publications, and NYU was part of a New York City area consortium of institutions recognizing the milestone. The French government supported these efforts globally, and French President François Mitterand visited NYU in 1988 and gave a convocation speech. A National Endowment for the Humanities grant partially funded the French Revolution project at NYU. The Florence J. Gould Foundation funded "The French Revolution and its Modern Legacy" lecture series. Some of these lectures were also broadcast on WNYU.

In 1992, many cultural and educational institutions marked the quincentennial anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in North America, and the Humanities Council began planning its programs in 1988. The Council participated in New York City metro area planning groups, including the Columbus Consortium and the Columbus Quincentenary Jubilee Commission. The Council planned programming under the broader title "Crosscurrents of Culture." These events included lectures, symposia, and art exhibitions during the 1991-1992 academic year. They focused on topics related to European history during Columbus's lifetime and the effects of the arrival of Europeans in the Americas, including the expulsion of Jewish peoples from Spain, Indigenous peoples in the Americas, the development of science in the 15th century, and human enslavement. A National Endowment for the Humanities grant partially funded this project, and the Instituto Nazionale per il Commercia Estero [Italian Trade Commission] funded a lecture series titled "The Age of Discoveries and Italy's Economy."

In the late 1980s and 1990s, the Humanities Council planned other projects tied to historical milestones or with other institutions. In 1986, Council Director Leslie Berlowitz began working on America in Theory, a volume of essays published by Oxford University Press in 1988. The essays explored how social programs enacted by the federal government were explained, justified, and promoted with a discourse on "American Ideals." This work was not explicitly tied to the U. S. Constitution Bicentennial in 1987, but its themes relate to other discussions, events, and programs the Council was engaged with at the time. In 1991 and 1992, the Council again collaborated with the Museum of the City of New York on an exhibition titled "Democracy's Poet: A Walt Whitman Celebration" tied to the poet's 100th birthday. Between 1991 and 1995, the Council planned lectures and seminars commemorating the 150th anniversary of Henry James's birth in conjunction with similar events planned by Louisiana State University and the Henry James Society. In 1995, the Council hosted a conference titled "The Appropriation of African-American Culture by the Minstrel Show." This conference was part of a larger group of events, "Exploring the Problem of the Color Line," overseen by the Atlanta Center for History. The same year, the Council hosted a conference commemorating 100 years of film, which was, in turn, one of many events planned by New York City institutions to celebrate the centenary.