Two Yale alumni are among 10 Americans who were awarded the first National Humanities Medal by President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton at a Sept. 29 ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House.
Businessman Richard J. Franke, a senior fellow on the Yale Corporation; and philanthropist Paul Mellon, whose financial support and donations of art made possible the Yale Center for British Art, were presented the medal by the Clintons. President and Mrs. Clinton also honored 11 distinguished Americans with the National Medal of Arts.
The National Humanities Medal, an annual award established this year, honors individuals or groups “whose work has deepened the nation’s understanding of the humanities, broadened citizens’ engagement with the humanities or helped preserve and expand Americans’ access to important resources in the humanities,” according to a National Endowment for the Humanties (NEH) press release. President Clinton chose the medalists from a group of nominees recommended by the NEH. The awardees received a bronze medallion from the President.
Mr. Franke, the former chair and chief executive officer of the Chicago investment banking firm John Nuveen & Co., has long been an active supporter of the humanities in American life. As chair of the Illinois Humanities Council (1988-90), he spearheaded the development of the Chicago Humanities Festival, a four-day event that brings together 26 of the city’s premier cultural institutions in a celebration of the humanities. He has served on the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities and is chair of Americans United to Save the Arts and Humanities. He serves as president of the National Trust for the Humanities and is a member of the board of the University of Chicago.
Mr. Mellon has contributed millions of dollars in support of the humanities and the arts. In 1941, he established the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, which has become the nation’s largest nonfederal funder of the humanities and is a major contributor to higher education programs. He has been the driving force behind the building of premier centers of art and culture across the country. In addition to the Yale Center for British Art, these include the West Wing of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, the Paul Mellon Arts Center at Choate Rosemary Hall in Wallingford, Connecticut, and the East Building addition of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. In addition, he has donated important works of art to a number of galleries and provided support for several of the nation’s libraries. His other donations to Yale include the papers of James Boswell, biographer of 18th century writer Samuel Johnson.
