Funding Jamestown’s Rediscovery

Jamestown Rediscovery staff film segments in preparation for a video tour supported by an NEH CARES grant. Image courtesy of Jamestown Rediscovery.

In 1995, the NEH awarded the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities a grant for a two-year archaeological investigation into the site of the original Jamestown colony in Virginia. The following year, the investigating team, led by William Kelso, announced that it had discovered remnants of the fort, which experts had previously believed were lost to history. The NEH continued to support this project, now known as Jamestown Rediscovery throughout the 1990s and in the 2010s. In 2020—amid the COVID-19 crisis—the NEH supported the organization with an NEH CARES grant, ensuring continued employment for its staff while making Jamestown’s tours digitally accessible.

An aerial view of historic James Fort. Image courtesy of Jamestown Rediscovery.

The rediscovery of the Jamestown Fort is one of the most significant archaeological projects ever funded by the NEH. In 2015, when the NEH celebrated its 50th anniversary, it named Jamestown Rediscovery one of the “essential” projects funded by the agency. The dig—which is still ongoing—has illuminated and shaped our understanding of these early settlers’ lives, helping us understand the sometimes brutal reality of an iconic moment in American history. In 2012, for instance, Jamestown Rediscovery announced that it had found evidence of cannibalism. The project has also had a significant economic impact on the surrounding rural area, attracting tourists by the thousands.

Jamestown Rediscovery staff develop video tours of the Jamestown Fort. Image courtesy of Jamestown Rediscovery.

Additional grants supported continued excavation, public programs on the evolution of slavery in the colony, and improved environmental conditions in Jamestown Rediscovery’s storage facility, ensuring that the excavated items will be preserved for the future. In 2020, an NEH CARES grant helped Jamestown Rediscovery reach a broader public through the development of new series of video tours of the site, as well as bringing together the living history the organization is known for, its archaeological discoveries, and digitized primary source materials. Tailored lesson plans for elementary and secondary school teachers help make the site more useful for teachers, who can incorporate the tour into their teaching units. Ultimately, this grant helped Jamestown Rediscovery weather the pandemic and make its site more accessible to Americans from coast to coast.