Findings

Congress finds the following: (1) The observance and commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States are of major significance to the national heritage. (2) The 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States should inspire patriotism and national unity. (3) Documenting the full breadth of the American experience, including the history, culture, customs, folklore, and daily life of communities across all States and regions, will foster mutual understanding and national unity. (4) Nearly a century ago, the Federal Writers’ Project employed up to 7,700 people to document the American experience, producing— (A) the American Guide Series, which included 48 States, 40 cities, 18 regions and territories, and countless counties; and (B) more than 1,000 books and pamphlets covering local and regional histories, folklore collections, humor, and nature studies. (5) The commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the United States merits a new portrait of American life, capturing the history, culture, agriculture, industry, infrastructure, and communities that define this Nation, produced by a 21st-Century Federal Writers’ Project. (6) The National Endowment for the Arts is the appropriate Federal agency to administer a program supporting literary and documentary arts that capture the full diversity and vitality of the American experience, consistent with its mission under the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 951 et seq.). (7) American feature writers, photographers, and documentary artists possess skills uniquely suited to preserving a living record of American life for future generations.