Funding National Breath of Life

Funding for the National Breath of Life Archival Institute for Indigenous Languages (National BoL) has come from federal grants and private foundations. The National Science Foundation - Documenting Endangered Languages Program provided significant funding for initial workshop planning and the four workshops from between 2011 and 2017 (Awards #1160685 - 2011, #1160685 - 2013, #1360675 - 2015, #1561167 - 2017).

Significant development of the Indigenous Languages Digital Archive and of Module 2 advanced workshops held in Summer 2019 and 2021 were funded primarily by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Digital Humanities Advancement Grant Level III (HAA-261218-18).

Subsequently, National BoL advanced its training modules and began planning for wider distribution of the Indigenous Languages Digital Archive (ILDA). In 2021 National Breath of Life was funded through an NEH Preservation and Access Education and Training Grant (PE-277022-21) to develop self-paced training modules that reflect the Native American Philology Model, along with an apprenticeship program for Community Researchers. In 2021 the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation awarded additional support to further the impact and reach of the apprenticeship training and distribution of ILDA.

Over the years, substantial support has been provided by the Smithsonian Institution's Recovering Voices, the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma, and the Myaamia Center at Miami University, the University of Oregon’s Language Lab, and the Northwest Indian Languages Institute. Additional in-kind support has been provided by the National Anthropological Archives, the National Museum of the American Indian, and the Library of Congress.